View of construction from corner of N 2nd Ave and N 2nd St. Photo: Author
Framing of the second story has begun on the new North Loop mixed-use development by Solaris Redevelopment Corp. and Weiss Builders. The project broke ground on a set of large surface parking lots in July 2018. When complete, the property will house 156 residential units and approximately 22,670 square feet of commercial space. For parking, the developer is building 186 stalls for residents, 3 stalls for resident guests, and no stalls for the commercial space. The parking maximums for the development were a combined 295-363 stalls.
In the future, the pedestrian walkway may connect with N 1st St, but that’s not in the scope of this development.
One feature that is included in this development and is popular in the area is a “pedestrian portal” or walkway, connecting in this case N 2nd St to a courtyard in the middle of the block. Above the ground-level walkway are the additional stories of the building. That should really come as no surprise, as the architectural agency, Snow Kreilich, also designed Brunsfield North Loop Apartments, which features similar pedestrian portal, leading to a similar courtyard, similarly blocked off by a vehicle alley. The sister development on the other side of the block with a different ownership may include a pedestrian walkway to connect, but there still is the vehicle alley.
Same corner of N 2nd Ave and N 2nd St, with rendering of completed development.
If you are a fan of gray brick, you will love this development. The developer is planning on cladding the entire property in gray brick, with some metal accents and glass windows mixed in. There was even a nice quote in CoStar about this:
“They are a very unique developer in that [Cohn] and Solaris really care about the aesthetics. They didn’t want to do what everyone else is doing,” Kreilich said on Monday. Solaris’ brick and metal clad building will be a minimalist and restrained structure, that pays subtle tribute to the North Loop’s industrial past, Kreilich said. The team opted to use small number of building materials and a limited color palette.
Newcomer from Colorado Will Break Ground in North Loop, CoStar, June 18, 2018
Lovely.
Future entrance to the underground parking via N 2nd Ave. Photo: Author
According to the land use application, no rezoning, variances, or conditional use permits were required as a part of the development. The Heritage Preservation Commission approved the project with conditions on November 7, 2017.
The project is projected to be complete by fall 2019.
Are you a fan of gray brick and minimalist minimalism? Do you enjoy walking through “pedestrian portal”s? Share your thoughts in the comments!
I prefer this aesthetic over the use of seven different finishes on one building. AND NO FIBERBOARD! Yay!
It’s a nice looking building. It’s almost like seven architects got together and decided on a nice finish, nice color, and one setback, instead of each the seven each got to pick their favorite color, finish, and setback, and then threw darts at an diagram of the building on the wall to decide what color, finish, and setback to apply to each section
This is one I can see from where I work, it’ll be a pleasure watching this go up. Nice way of using the existing alley curb cut for drop off driveway.
It’s a nice-looking building but it is a little funny that the general building shape/form is the same in the edge of downtown Minneapolis as many lower-intensity parts of the city and many suburbs: 5+1 stick frame.
Lack of large setbacks and surface-parking help up the density on the parcel, but it does feel like a bit of a shame that this is so common for spots that were cleared for redevelopment many decades ago.
That said — I used to work at a coworking space in Whitney Square, just to west, and walked past this parking lot every day. (As well as the parking lot now housing Velo, or sometimes past the parking lot now housing Maverick.) It is great to see this part of the city more filled out.
Man. That’s a lot of parking lots.
When I was in Detroit, the new infill developments tended to be only 3-4 floors. Some fit in with their surroundings. But there was one lot downtown where a 16 story hotel was torn down and a 6-story apt building was put in its place.
Compared to that, this seems like much less of a missed opportunity. The Maverick, however, is a miss. A location like that should be much taller.