----- Original Message -----
From: "md" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (Madeline Douglass)
The architect's drawings of the 48 and now the 39 story structures
seems oddly out of proportion to reality...deliberately?
[TB] Out of proportion with what? My neighbors include the Target Towers
(2 blocks), US Bank/Piper Tower (4 blocks), IDS. The downtown skyway
connects to the building next door.
I was walking around Oak Grove and Groveland looking for the surviving
buildings of architect Edward Somerby Stebbins...two (or perhaps more)
of which have been devoured by condos or apartments and I wondered
if Loring Park is the most condo/apartment intensive neighborhood
in Minneapolis?
[TB] "Devoured by" for the most part that is the way the neighborhood was
built. It was before the time that the city had sprawled out past 31st
Street. Loring has had apartments since the late 1800's, it is not a new
trend. You can count the number of single family residential buildings in
Loring on one hand, granted some that were originally have been converted to
multi-unit or commercial.
And then there's "The Groveland" which makes no sense at all...
it looks like 7 floors, but it's spread all over the place like one of those
squiddy things from The Matrix and it's hovering over the edge of 35W.
Who would want to live there?
[TB] Bets here are that the people buying into that building would rather
live there than say, Kingfield. There was, or course, a somewhat serious
proposal to have an architectural review commission to prevent additional
"ugly" buildings downtown after City Center was built. Some are making the
same comments about the expanded Walker Art Center. One was even heard
asking a Walker security person where they could find "the more traditional
art."
Perhaps CLPC said "Yes!" to the Eitel project because they are mostly
condo/apartment dwellers and think another one is just fine...but
do they realize just how TALL 39 stories is?
[TB] Your point is? Look at the downtown skyline from a distance. It is a
nice looking skyline. Loring is part of it.
Is there some kind of greed-machine viagra fueled competition to
build the tallest condo in Minneapolis? Why agree to that?
[TB] Probably because it makes for a neat city. Even with this density,
Minneapolis will never be as dense as many large cities. We have acres of
parks, lakes and a river that will never be built on and provide both open
spaces and recreational opportiunities.
Neither Loring Park, Lowry Hill or Elliot Park need to be over-run
with these monolithic skypollutin towers. These neighborhoods
are the historic heart of Minneapolis. They should not be glassed
and steeled and Starbucksed to oblivion.
[TB] Elliot Park, by the way, has embraced Grant Park that was built in
that neighborhood. Same with a couple of other buildings being built there.
The reason these buildings are being built is that people want to live in
them, they want to live in a vibrant neighborhood.
Anyway...it's worth taking a moment to remember why Eitel hospital was built
and the people who lived or worked there...
http://www.mnmed.org/publications/MNMed2003/September/Holtan2.html
[TB] Harmon was at one time the center for Minneapolis auto business. Key
word being "was." Welcome to the 21st century.
Terrell Brown
Loring Park (30th Floor for the past 9 years)
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