mpls: Whitter Globe highlights

Well, let's see here... Two community meetings, many condos cookin'.

First, the Business Association Meeting, chaired by Erica Christ of Nicollet Avenue's Black Forest Cafe. Apparently a local develper named Huey Fung is proposing a new development on the corner or 26th and Nicollet. That's where a mid-size mixed-use project is about to open up (w/a new restaurant named Bad Waitress grounding the thing.) Fung's proposal, I'm not sure where it is, would have four stories of underground parking, and be six stories tall with 80 offices.

If that sounds really big, it's because it is. He's asking for a city variance on buiding height (so is everyone else, by the way), and for some city $ assistance b/c of the big parking lot.

The city feels that a variance in this case may set a precedent and encourage other builders to seek variances to et around the four-story limit. In terms of parking, the city wants to promote public transportation and feels that having such ample parking that close to downtown wuld encourage the use of personal vehicles. Fung sees the underground parking area not in terms of the "downtown effect' but as potentially helping parking issues in the immediate Whittier area.

If there's one thing everyone in Whittier can agree on, it's that there's not enough parking.

Second, the Whittier Alliance (the NRP group) met in September and approved measures of support for a new 12-unit development at 2809 Pillsbury Ave, and the preservation of the Midwest Machinery building at 2848 Pleasant Ave. It looks like the Cornerstone Group (the owner of the bldg) is trying to sell the property.