New Park, Developments Reshaping Downtown East in Minneapolis

Peter Callaghan reported on the big reveal by San Francisco-based architects Hargreaves Associates of four design concepts for a proposed public park in Minneapolis Downtown East neighborhood that will site on the former site of the Star Tribune. Callaghan focuses specifically on the design challenge presented by Portland Avenue, "a significant arterial" that " will always be a physical and visual barrier in the middle of the proposed park." The article includes plan views of three of the design concept proposals.

In a separate article, Kristin Leigh Painter reports that "nearly two dozen projects have begun or been proposed…[in] an effort to turn the dissonant growth of Downtown East into an orchestrated masterpiece."

"Some development was expected on downtown’s east side since the deal legislators and the Vikings struck in 2012 to tear down the Metrodome and build a new stadium. But the combination of ultralow interest rates, a ­surging appetite for downtown living and changes at such neighborhood institutions as the Hennepin County Medical Center and the Star Tribune Media Co., which just moved out, appear to be triggering much greater activity on the roughly 100 square blocks composing the east side," adds Painter for some context on the conditions that are leading to the downtown building boom.

Some of the proposed projects include plans for two parcels behind the Wells Fargo towers, the redevelopment of the Thresher Square complex, the development of a parcel near the Guthrie Theater, and a new $191 million ambulatory center for the Hennepin County Medical Center.