Category 10: Best new building or development
Everywhere you turn there are cranes.
From the ashes of urban renewal arise towers of the new Millennium.
To you and me they all look the same.
But surely it is better that for one more parking lot we can write a Requiem.
On the face of every urbanist there is a smile.
Perhaps something stands out for its design or style[1].
[1] or its relationship to the street, or its plan.
Use the comments to argue in favor of a nomination to the category: Best new building or development.
Parkway West Apartments (on the corner of 46th & 46th in South Minneapolis).
Just that it finally happened after years and years of just being a hole in the ground? Or the actual building?
The actual building.
Brunsfield North Loop is a fantastic looking building.
Dark horse candidate: 222 Hennepin!
Tons of great infill projects opened up this year…if I had to pick one, maybe Mill & Main? St. Anthony Main is going to be so different in 18 months.
222 Hennepin gets my vote. Its awesome. It has everything you want in a good urban development. Lots of bike parking, beautiful below ground car parking for Whole Foods customers (seriously, check out the parking garage, its amazing), nice sidewalk dining area, sidewalk landscaping, and even a bus stop right near the entrance of Whole Foods (16 bus for those that are interested), and the building isn’t bad either–its got lots of windows and even some kind of gotham-type tower–not bad!
It may not turn heads or lead us into the future of urbanism, but its one of the most functional buildings I have seen in a long time. For an opposite example of a functional development, you only have to look across the street to the panopitcon that is the Minneapolis Central Library.