The new Minneapolis Value Capture District: Instead of channeling handouts to corporations, money will be devoted to public transit, specifically streetcars, and only for one line, on Nicollet. And the district is odd.
Instead of one vast stretch, it’s made up of five discrete parcels where development is already under way:
• One parcel, at the intersection of Hennepin Avenue, for example, is the site of the new Whole Foods supermarket and a five-story apartment house above.
• The second — a 33-story, 330-unit luxury apartment building called Nic on Fifth and the 4Marq Tower nearby with 262 units is slated for — well, I guess the names of the projects should tell you where.
• The third parcel, on 14th and LaSalle, will be the site of Magellan Tower, a 36-story, 355-unit high-rise.
• At Spruce Place and 13th, another couple of hundred units are under construction.
• And finally, across the Mississippi where Totino’s Italian Kitchen once did business, a development of 130 market-rate apartments, commercial space (maybe Totino’s will rise again) and a 900-square-foot dog run are under discussion.
More: How to fund Minneapolis streetcars? A complicated five-parcel Value Capture District
The long shelf life of Ry-Krisp
In 1904, immigrant baker Arvid Peterson gave a Swedish-styled cracker a modern American name and the country’s been eating Ry-Krisp ever since. Minneapolis has also been the one and only location where the product is made.
The current Ry-Krisp factory, built in 1922, happens to sit across the street from MinnPost towers. On days when we have the windows open we often smell the sweet, malty scents of toasting rye.
Images courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society.
I still have 19 months. There’s a big, long list of things we need to get done.
Over the past six years, MinnPost has grown to become one of the most successful online-only news outlets in the country. But we’re not done yet.
We need your help, your personal investment in what we do. Quite simply, we can’t do this without you.
The Northern Spark festival begins this Saturday at 8:58 p.m. in Lowertown St. Paul, and it goes all night.
Andy Sturdevant covered everything you need to know about exploring Union Depot during the festival.
See you there? We’ve got our collective fingers crossed for a bit of summer-like weather.
(Photo by Andy Sturdevant and Dusty Hoskovec.)
Streetcar service in Minneapolis ended about 60 years ago — except for the tourist trolley running between Lake Harriet and Lake Calhoun. But in a what’s-old-is-new-again twist, the city is looking to bring them back.
Read more: Bringing streetcars to Minneapolis: Some perplexing twists and turns | MinnPost
Grant Hart made a name for himself as co-founder of Hüsker Dü, the Minneapolis punk trio whose stormy split is as storied as its music.
Now, Hart is rising from the ashes of some personal travails. Read more in Jim Walsh’s Q&A with Grant Hart.
The Minnesota House passes gay marriage bill 75-59
The Senate will vote on the companion bill on Monday.
(Photo via MinnPost reporter James Nord.)
The Mobile Shanty, a community fixture, leads the May Day way
This was the Parade’s 39th year. Aztec dancers, crustpunks on tall bikes, old hippies, socialists and libertarians … all utterly and fully occupying the street and park, celebrating the arrival of warm weather together.
A few fun moments from MinnRoast 2013. We especially love that top picture of Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak with his mom.
All photos by Julie Thorleifson
“Minneapolis-St. Paul is among the 15 biggest cities in the U.S. Yet in my opinion, this market is incredibly underdeveloped for small, specialty coffee roasters and retailers. It could be an exciting time here.”
Read more: Caribou closings might mean indie coffee boom is brewing | MinnPost
I submitted an application for January 2015 to be a waiter at the Bachelor Farmer.
Pluses and lots of minuses of a new convention hotel in Minneapolis
El Grande, by the consultants’ estimate, would cost $304.5 million and would require a sizable subsidy from taxpayers, something in the neighborhood of $125 million.
Murals and signage give Lake & 5th’s automotive zone a unique vibe
Poet and top-fiver on any list of noted Minneapolis literary figures John Berryman once referred to Lake Street as the place “where the used cars live.” East Lake Street is second only to University as the car-craziest part of the cities. From the river to the lakes, it’s home to dozens of body shops, garages, used car dealers, car washes, auto painting businesses, parking lots, drive-in restaurants and liquor stores, and an absolutely absurd amount of auto-parts places.
