[Mpls] "Opus asks Mpls. to swap land"

[Steve Nelson]

Sheldon Mains
wrote


So, since the city is only getting 2/3 of the square footage in the
exchange, and is giving up one of the most visible blocks downtown, it seems
to me that the city could put some controls on the proposed Nicollet Hotel
site development--say keeping a green space on the Hennepin side to provide
a pedestrian friendly entrance to the City and keeping the Hennepin side of
the development very low rise (say 0 to 2 stories) to maintain a view of the
library and planetarium.  Also, getting the developer to pay for a skyway
link to the Library and a skyway link from the library across 4th
Street--the new library is designed for those links). (OK, I'm probably
asking for a lot but might as well start with the ideal)

ME
So why not swap their 50,000 square feet for 50,000 square feet of the other 
block and retain 25,000 for the greenspace proposed by Sheldon?

Steve Nelson
Willard Hay