[Mpls] Opus asks Mpls to swap land

[Ray of Minneapolis]

Sheldon,
You interested me to look into this, so I did a bunch
of research into Underground Bus Depots. There is an
excellent Finnish Architect called Pekka Helin whom
has done such a project for Helsinki. It is truly
amazing. Underground bus and rails, with green space
at street level. The relevent imagry is here
http://cic.vtt.fi/vera/Seminaarit/2001.03.27_Muuttuva_suunnitteluprosessi/Pekka_Helin/index.htm
Cycle through them. And here is a map of the facility
http://www.kampinkeskus.fi/images/en/800x1150_eng.gif

This is the best example of this concepts
implementation in the world today. makes for good
study.

Ray Rolfe

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2005 10:37:22 -0500
From: "Sheldon Mains" <smains at visi.com>
Subject: RE: [Mpls] "Opus asks Mpls. to swap land"
To: <mpls at mnforum.org>

The site OPUS wants is the old Nicollet Hotel block,
just north of the 
new
Central Library.  A block the city has been
unsuccessful at developing 
as a
joint project with a bus transfer facility. At one
time it was planned 
to be
part of the Central Library but when it was not
needed, the city 
restarted
its efforts for a joint private/public development. 

In an ideal world, the block north of the new Library
should be a park.  
It
would tie the library with the river, it could be a
fitting tribute to 
the
old Historic Bridge Square (although I believe Bridge
Square was one 
block
closer to the river).  The ideal could happen if the
city used the $10
million federal transportation grant it has to build
the bus transfer
facility underground with a park on top of it
(although I don't know 
what
the costs are for that option--it may be more
expensive than the $10
million).  But the city wants (needs??) a mixed use
development with a
private developer.  Also, the proposed OPUS land swap
would put the bus
transfer facility next to the light rail station--a
good thing.

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)

sheldon
...............................
Sheldon Mains
DFL and Labor Endorsed Candidate for Minneapolis
Library Board of 
Trustees
http://www.MainsForLibrary.org
Sheldon at MainsForLibrary.org, 612/618-7149
Mains for Library Committee, 2718 24th St. E., Mpls
55406 
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