David Brauer wrote...
"I can't think of a stretch of territory that works southwest"
I respond....
Does your or anyone else's thinking change when I say a ballpark could
fit on the equivalent of 2 typical South Minneapolis blocks. The
problem of course with saying this is that no one is suggesting
removing two city blocks of housing for a ballpark. Nonetheless, I
make the comparison to help understand the physical size of the thing.
To look at it another way, the new Midtown Y is located on a site
slightly smaller than what would be required for a compact urban
neighbohood ballpark. Is the Y a big building? Yes. Is it mind
dumbing large, totally inappropriate and a disaster for the
neighbohood? I don't think so. Heck, I can think of a few parking
lots in town that are larger than what would be needed for a ballpark.
Is paving any more desireable than a ballpark? (Probably not....then
again, I don't think 40,000 people a day use the paving)
Nevertheless, from a physical standpoint, this thing does not need
Shoreham Yards, Humboldt Yards, the Impound Lot, SEMI, or someother
huge space. In fact, urban ballparks (and all urban buildings) are
best when the site is constrained by other urban things such as
streets, buildings, and corridors. These constraints force the
building into being "neighborly". Therefore if the 50 some odd acres
of land in one of these locations becomes available I'd suggest that
giving anything more than 8 or 10 acres to a ballpark would be a
mistake. Give it 8 acres and use the other 42 for a neighbohood.
Therefore, if someone wanted to mull over possible non-downtown
locations for a ballpark, I'd encourage them (and others) to think
about small sites - underutilized sites - sites that have reasonable
regional and local access - sites that can channel traffic onto
primary corridors - sites that are or can become a part of a
neighborhood.
Granted, all this ignores ceratin matters of access, parking,
funding, soils, etc......but that is another (yet related) issue
altogether
Andrew Dresdner
Lyndale Neighbohood
Home of Nicollet Park
Andrew Dresdner, AICP
Cuningham Group
(612) 379-5558
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Andrew Dresdner, AICP
Cuningham Group
(612) 379-5558
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
