The cost of new energy-efficient home appliances, plug-in electric vehicles and maybe even electricity itself could increase for Minnesotans next year if President-elect Donald Trump and Republicans in Washington, D.C., make good on promises to scale back or end popular clean energy incentives passed during President Joe Biden’s term. 

Thousands of jobs in the state’s booming clean energy sector could be at risk, too.

Since 2021, Minnesota has secured at least $12.2 billion in federal award money authorized by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, CHIPS & Science Act and Inflation Reduction Act, including nearly $3.5 billion in grants for projects intended to slow or adapt to the effects of climate change. And more than 100 clean energy generation and storage projects in Minnesota — representing nearly $11.1 billion in public and private investment and potentially creating more than 10,500 jobs — may be eligible for tax incentives authorized by the IRA, according to the Climate Jobs National Resource Center.

Federal funding authorized during the Biden administration has enabled significant investments in Minnesota manufacturing and infrastructure. But the Biden administration is winding down with tens of billions in awards yet to be finalized as a new president who has vowed to rescind unspent IRA funding prepares to take office.

“Everything is at risk, but particularly the equity-focused programs” like Solar for All, which aims to expand solar energy in lower-income communities, said Logan O’Grady, executive director of the Minnesota Solar Energy Industries Association. “I think we’ll see the Biden administration working really hard in the next month to make sure that money is encumbered.”

Trump’s executive-branch appointees could slow the flow of grants and loans authorized by the IRA while tightening eligibility for its generous clean-energy tax credits, but more significant changes are likely to come as part of a congressional deal to extend the expiring Tax Cuts and Jobs Act beyond 2025, according to energy policy experts on a November panel convened by tax credit marketplace Crux. 

For example, the Republican-controlled Congress could repeal the new elective pay rule that allows tax-exempt organizations to claim IRA tax credits along with an IRA provision that has enabled billions in private clean-energy project financing by allowing project developers and owners to sell tax credits to others, federal tax policy expert Jennifer Acuña said on the webinar.

Elective pay “puts our members on a level playing field to get renewable energy tax credits [and would be] a key building block going forward to continue building out renewables” in Minnesota, said Darrick Moe, CEO of the Minnesota Rural Electric Association, which represents 50 member-owned, not-for-profit electric cooperatives operating in Minnesota. 

Wind and solar energy

MREA members and end-users benefit from other IRA-enabled initiatives, like the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s New ERA program. Earlier this year, the USDA awarded $579 million to MREA member Dairyland Power Cooperative to procure 1,080 megawatts of wind and solar energy, enough to power more than 150,000 homes. Several other MREA members, including Great River Energy, are working to finalize Next ERA awards before Jan. 20, Moe said.

“Those programs are important to continue to carry out” to keep electricity reliable and affordable for MREA members, Moe said.

For Minnesota’s solar industry, the biggest concern aside from import tariffs on solar components — which have been in place for years and are expected to expand in Trump’s second term — is an early drawdown or outright repeal of the popular clean energy investment tax credit, which the IRA strengthened and extended, O’Grady said.

The ITC reduces by 30% the net cost of most eligible wind, solar and other clean energy investments that meet federal wage and apprenticeship requirements. For “energy community” projects benefiting areas historically dependent on the fossil-fuel industry, like the 710-megawatt Sherco Solar installation Xcel Energy is building to partially replace the output of the retiring Sherco coal-fired power plant, the potential credit is even larger.

Many ITC claims are made by private companies without public financial reporting obligations, making the credit’s cumulative impact on Minnesota’s economy more difficult to track than that of federal grants and loans, said Pete Wyckoff, deputy commissioner of energy resources for the Minnesota Department of Commerce. 

But “the Department of Commerce and Minnesota Public Utilities Commission wouldn’t tolerate [state-regulated utilities like Xcel and Minnesota Power] not taking advantage of tax credits if eligible, just from a ratepayer perspective,” he added.

Private sector benefits

Beyond clean energy production, the IRA and other Biden-era legislation have catalyzed significant manufacturing investment in Minnesota. 

Earlier this year, St. Cloud-based New Flyer was named “partner of choice” for more than $338 million in Federal Transportation Administration grants for low- or no-emissions buses enabled by the IIJA. New Flyer subsequently announced plans to ramp up hydrogen bus manufacturing at its central Minnesota plant.   

Employment in Minnesota’s clean vehicle sector grew by 13% in 2023, led by a 14.4% jump in jobs related to electric vehicles, according to Clean Energy Economy Minnesota.

In September, Canadian solar module manufacturer Heliene announced the closing of a $50 million tax credit transfer as it works to open a second Minnesota plant in Rogers early next year. The company’s Mountain Iron facility has churned out solar modules since 2018.

Also this year, heavy equipment firm Cummins disclosed that it received $10.6 million from the U.S. Department of Energy’s IRA-expanded 48C tax credit program to support production of proton exchange membrane electrolyzers at its Fridley manufacturing plant. PEM electrolyzers use electricity to split water molecules and produce hydrogen, a critical feedstock for ammonia and other chemicals that can also be used as a carbon-free transportation fuel. When that electricity is produced by non-emitting resources like wind or solar, the resulting product is “green” hydrogen — in contrast to the methane-derived, carbon-intensive “gray” molecule that accounts for the vast majority of hydrogen used today.

“The IRA is why you’re seeing a huge buildout in all parts of the solar manufacturing and supply chain … and why you’re seeing the existence at all of a green hydrogen supply chain,” Wyckoff said.

The IRA and IIJA offer broader benefits for Minnesotans whose livelihoods don’t directly depend on the state’s rapidly growing green economy. That includes anyone who drives a plug-in electric vehicle — about 7% of all Minnesota car buyers in 2023 — and anyone considering energy-efficient home improvements, the enabling workforce for which accounts for 71.7% of all green jobs tracked by CEEM.  

The IRA authorized up to $7,500 in federal income tax credits for qualifying buyers of new EVs and up to $4,000 in credits for qualifying used-EV buyers. Its $9 billion residential energy efficiency and electrification rebate program sets aside about $148.5 million for Minnesota properties, including up to $4,000 per household for qualifying retrofits and up to $14,000 for qualifying electric appliances or upgrades.  

Meanwhile, the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program — authorized by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and administered by the Federal Highway Administration — has made four of its five anticipated annual disbursements to help build out public vehicle charging infrastructure, said Jon Solberg, assistant commissioner for sustainability, planning and program management at the Minnesota Department of Transportation. About $13.5 million remains to be disbursed in fiscal year 2026, Solberg said.

That funding wouldn’t come through until after Trump, a vocal EV skeptic, takes office. The new administration plans to eliminate the consumer EV tax credit through legislative action next year, Reuters reported last month, and Trump’s vow to rescind unspent IRA funding raises questions about the fate of the remaining NEVI funding. 

But for now, it’s business as usual for MnDOT. 

“[We] are proceeding with our plans to build chargers [and will] continue to do what we’ve been doing unless we are informed by [the Federal Highway Administration] not to do so,” Solberg said. “MnDOT feels strongly that a strong network of EV chargers across the state is important to provide consumers [with] options … and we will keep working with partners at the state and federal level to achieve those goals.”

Brian Martucci is a Twin Cities-based freelance writer.

The post Clean energy investments could be at risk in Trump’s second term appeared first on MinnPost.

It’s been a banner half-decade for MSP’s brewing community. According to a CBRE report released earlier this year, the so-called Surly Bill — passed to much fanfare by the Minnesota legislature back in 2011 — touched off a bona fide brewery boom across the North.

Despite nervous chatter that the local craft beer market is reaching the saturation point, the good times continue to roll: aside from a small blip in 2012, Minnesota’s taproom occupancy growth chart shows a classic hockey stick pattern. (Fitting, right?)

If you’ve biked around the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District or St. Paul’s Creative Enterprise Zone recently, you don’t need a stats pack to accept the obvious: Craft beer is suddenly a big business in the North, particularly in MSP’s hottest neighborhoods. But if you’re not in the habit of believing your own eyes, this is Minnesota’s brewery boom by the numbers:

• Total taproom occupancy (statewide) is approaching 600,000 square feet, with another 110,000+ set to come online by year-end
• 45 metro-area brewery taprooms
• Just under 50% in retail storefronts; the lion’s share of the rest in repurposed industrial space
• $1.3 billion in statewide economic impact

The brewing industry’s breakneck growth can’t last forever; nor, as craft consumers’ sophistication increases, can the easy money for new operations. No one seriously expects every MSP brewery opening this year to be around in five; a few Greater Minnesota breweries have already closed or moved to new markets. But there’s plenty of time to be pessimistic. For now, here’s a look at seven planned and under-development craft beer concepts for 2016 and early 2017:

Broken Clock Brewing

Broken Clock Brewing is about to be the second cooperative brewery in Northeast Minneapolis. It’s zeroing in on a place to call home, and a June brew party offered a tantalizing taste of what could be on tap there: imperial saison, lavender-infused double IPA, blood orange Belgian wit.

Broken Clock is all about community, from its unflinching support of small MSP businesses (notably food trucks — great friends for any brewery to have) to its member-owned model.

“We settled on the cooperative concept because we really wanted to create a business that was focused on serving the needs of those that would be utilizing our goods and services, versus being beholden to a handful of private owners,” says cofounder Jeremy Mathison, who started the brewery with pal Jeremy Gharineh, events guru Stephanie Hubbard, and head brewer Will Hubbard.

According to Mathison, Broken Clock will complement its cooperative structure with a progressive labor model known as “workers’ assembly.”

“[Workers’ assembly allows] each employee the same equal say and ability to contribute to something that they can actually take ownership in,” he says.

Broken Clock is approaching 100 member-owners. Mathison and the team plan to launch a public crowdfunding campaign later this year, along with a members-only preferred stock offering. “If all goes as planned, we should be open by the end of the year,” he predicts.

If you can’t wait that long, show up at Broken Clock’s first-ever collaborative event, slated for July 30 in Minneapolis’ Como neighborhood.

Clockwerks Brewing

Continuing the clock theme, Clockwerks Brewing is setting up shop on a prime parcel within walking distance of Target Field and Target Center — right in the heart of downtown Minneapolis’ booming club district.

According to a late-2015 Kickstarter campaign, Clockwerks will have a distinctive steampunk vibe: “beautiful, opulent, and warm with a dark, imaginative side…[rooted] in the steam-powered technological advances of the Victorian era.” That should mesh nicely with the vintage turn-of-the-20th-century buildings on Clockwerks’ block — per Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal, cofounders Brett Michlitsch and Lonnie Manresa chose the building because it had “floors strong enough and ceilings tall enough for tanks.”

Clockwerks plans a full-spectrum beer lineup, with an emphasis on session ales and lagers. The buildout is well underway, though opening day isn’t set in stone.

Finnegan’s Expansion

This one doesn’t qualify as a new brewery opening per se, but it’s still exciting news. Finnegan’s, MSP’s poster child for socially responsible brewing, is openinga new destination facility that includes a 13,000-square-foot event center and 12,000-square-foot business incubator and coworking space known as the “FINNovation Lab.” It’ll be located smack in the middle of the resurgent East Town district, part of a larger mixed-use development near U.S. Bank Stadium.

Business innovation never tasted so good. Oh, and 100% of the site’s profits will “go to charities for the working poor,” according to the Star Tribune.

Utepils Brewing

Utepils Brewing is working furiously to wrangle a disused light industrial endcap in @Glenwood, near Theodore Wirth Park, into sudsy shape.

The former Bryn Mawr Brewing changed its name after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from a lawyer-owned Oregon hobby winery of like nomenclature, but otherwise appears none the worse for the wear. The brewery’s plumbing and liquid cooling systems are largely in place, with interior walls and fixed taproom elements to follow. Brewery president Dan Justesen expects brewing to begin within months, with the first beers (likely hefeweizen and alt styles) ready this fall.

“We had hoped to have beer by the State Fair,” says Justesen, “but delays with the city on plumbing issues pushed us back.”

Once beer is available and the space is occupancy-certified, Justesen plans a soft open; a grand opening celebration will follow about a month later, when Utepils’s flagship pils is ready. And, once capacity allows, Utepils plans to distribute five “always” beers in cans and taps around town and beyond.

Venn Brewery / Brewing

Venn, as in the Norwegian word for “friend,” not the diagram: Venn Brewery is part ode to all things Scandinavian, part place to drink really good, approachable beer that just happens to be gluten-reduced to celiac-safe levels (so Venn claims). Most styles will be familiar to casual craft drinkers: Munich helles, IPA, session pale ale, porter, Scottish ale, American pilsner. There’ll be a few gentle, and probably delicious curveballs: sahti (Scandinavian farmhouse ale), Belgian tripel, schwarzbier (black lager), Berliner weisse (a light, tangy, almost lemonade-y brew).

Venn is careening toward a second-half 2016 taproom opening. In the meantime, head brewer Kyle Sisco — who’s won countless awards over a decade-long amateur and professional brewing career — is pulling double duty as interim head brewer at Robbinsdale’s Wicked Wort Brewing Company. For a taste of what’s to come at Venn, pay him a visit out there.

Clutch Brewing

Clutch Brewing is the destination taproom St. Paul has been waiting for. At least, that’s what Clutch founders (and apparent gearheads) Max Boeke and Jordan Standish would have us believe. Boeke and Standish are experienced homebrewers and all-around Renaissance men; Standish has an extensive craft beer pedigree that includes a stint at St. Paul’s excellent Flat Earth Brewing Company.

Clutch Brewing’s beer list tends toward the adventurous without being aggressively out there. Planned styles include a milk stout, biere de garde, smoked porter, and chai infused rye IPA (okay, that last one’s pretty original). Opening date is TBD, but Boeke and Standish are aiming for “spring-summer 2017 if possible.” They’re in negotiations for space in an as-yet-undisclosed Lowertown address, and plan to do their part to support the neighborhood’s thriving artist community.

“Max and I are both musicians, and he does leatherwork as well, so we have a deep appreciation for the artists in the area,” says Standish. “We plan on doing a monthly collaboration with local artists interested in helping create … a style of beer they enjoy, and they can promote their art for the month in a dedicated space in the brewery.”

Looney Bin Brewing

St. Paul’s urbanist community was peeved when the owners of the Macy’s block announced they’d gut most of the windowless structure to make way for an above-ground parking deck. Sure, there would also be a regulation hockey rink, a drugstore, and smaller retail suites. But the real liquid silver lining: news thatLooney Bin Brewing would take part of the space for its brand new taproom.

While Looney Bin’s name and branding is offbeat, its founders are serious about beer. If their plans hold up, they could end up offering the most ambitious tap list of any new MSP brewery. Original takes on common, drinkable styles will mix it up with high-octane concoctions like Blacktooth Grin (a 12.7% ABV stout) and Delusions of Grandeur (a 16.7%(!) winter seasonal).

Looney Bin’s opening isn’t imminent; the timeline is dependent on reconstruction progress at the Macy’s site. Absent major setbacks, the property should be ready next fall.

This article is reprinted in partnership with The Line, an online chronicle of Twin Cities creativity in entrepreneurship, culture, retail, placemaking, the arts, and other elements of the new creative economy. Brian Martucci is The Line’s Innovation and Jobs News Editor. 

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MSP’s transit investments — the METRO bus and light-rail system, the emerging arterial bus rapid transit (aBRT) system, enhanced bus service and more — are helping to build a more populous, prosperous region.

Other cities are taking note. A recent Chicago Magazine piece heaped effusive praise on MSP’s efficient transit system and forward-thinking policies, contrasting our fair region’s transportation infrastructure with Chicago’s creaky, ineffective network. Writer Whet Moser marveled that transit-oriented development (TOD) — dense, often mixed-use projects built near major transit lines and designed with transit users in mind — actually get built in MSP.

Moser pointed to MSP’s unique system of regional governance — the Metropolitan Council — as a key driver for equitable TOD. Lucy Galbraith, the Met Council’s director of transit-oriented development, agrees.

“MSP and Portland, Oregon, are the only two major U.S. metros with strong regional government bodies,” she says. That doesn’t necessarily preclude strong transit authorities or ambitious transit projects: the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, a sprawling, 13-county area that’s much larger than MSP and has no direct analogue to the Met Council, boasts 90 miles of light rail track. MSP has just 23.

But thanks to the Met Council’s historic support of transit-oriented development (TOD), and lately Galbraith’s own work, MSP’s development patterns align well with the Metro Transit system — at least in the core cities and in many suburbs.

“Our job is to explain to cities and stakeholders why TOD is a good thing,” Galbraith says. “We are the region’s resource on TOD matters: a one-stop shop” for local governments, developers, institutions and community groups.

Bus and rail lines aren’t uniformly distributed across MSP, so it’s no surprise TOD isn’t, either. Still, let’s look at three transit-rich neighborhoods embracing, shaping and pushing back on TOD in their own ways.

Frogtown / Summit-University

Since the first conceptual plans were released in the mid-2000s, the Green Line has been a source of hope, apprehension and controversy for Frogtown’s diverse, largely working-class population. Locals rightly worried whether market-rate station-area TOD would price them out of the district. Business owners along University Avenue fretted over the financial impacts of scarce parking.

The predicted ill effects largely haven’t materialized, thanks to strong public-private partnerships anchored by empowered local stakeholders (like Aurora/St. Anthony Development Corporation or ASANDC) and community-driven regional organizations (like Twin Cities LISC). The Frogtown area is seeing a slow, steady, transit-driven improvement in its fortunes.

“We believe this work we’ve done on a neighborhood level is a model for other light-rail communities locally and nationally,” Nieeta Presley, ASANDC’s executive director, told The Line in 2014.

Frogtown’s TOD resurgence actually started when the Green Line was still just a gleam in city planners’ eyes and the 16 bus ruled the University Avenue roost. University Dale Apartments, a hulking structure at the southwest corner of University and Dale, went up in the mid-2000s and provided workforce housing in an area that sorely needed it. More importantly, University Dale pushed the limits of what was then deemed possible in Frogtown, paving the way for future TOD. And, as the home of the Rondo Community Outreach Library, it’s a key gathering place for local residents.

Kitty-corner to University Dale sits Frogtown Square, a newer mixed-use structure completed in 2011, three years before Green Line trains started running. The building’s first-floor retail space is a nice mix of locally owned and chain-operated businesses, all catering to locals; 50 units of senior housing occupy the upper floors. Across University, suburban-style Unidale Mall is ripe for a redevelopment push that preserves the vibrant, little-known summer farmers’ market — now thick with transit riders on warm, sunny days — in its front parking lot.

Frogtown’s community-driven TOD accelerated after the Green Line’s opening, when ASANDC’s Western U Plaza sprang up in and around the historic Old Home Dairy Building near Western Avenue Station. Like Frogtown Square, Western U mixes ground-floor retail and upper-floor housing, including (in a sign of the area’s improving economic fortunes) some market-rate units. The project is a powerful affirmation that workforce TOD doesn’t have to be drab, utilitarian or anti-historical. And it’s sure to serve as a model for Frogtown’s next crop of TOD projects.

Not every Frogtowner lives in multi-unit TOD along University Avenue, of course. Local homeowners who want to contribute to the neighborhood’s growth may soon have a “gentler” outlet: accessory dwelling units (ADUs) on owner-occupied, single-family lots. St. Paul’s proposal calls for ADUs within a half-mile radius of University Avenue. Though the idea isn’t without controversy,Minneapolis’ ADU program seems to be working well, and Frogtown-area ADUs could provide a valuable source of income for owner-occupants — not to mention more foot traffic for University Avenue businesses.

Lowertown

St. Paul’s skyline isn’t teeming with cranes. That’s not for a lack of TOD in its downtown core. Rather, much of the transit-oriented development happening in St. Paul’s historic heart involves repurposing and refurbishing underutilized buildings for 21^st-century uses. Projects like Rayette Lofts, Custom House and the Macy’s Building redevelopment, all within walking distance of the Green Line and several high-frequency bus lines, are drawing new residents and businesses to the area.

That’s good news for the local tax base. But it’s not so welcome in Lowertown’s creative community, which is feeling the squeeze from rising rents. Constrained by its compact geography and historic building stock, Lowertown isn’t likely to add millions of square feet of new commercial and residential space (as is currently happening in Minneapolis’ Downtown East district). As millennial-friendly companies like Three Deep Marketing and West Academic move to the area from suburban office parks, long-established artists and craftspeople are looking for cheaper space along West 7th Street and farther-flung neighborhoods.

“Our biggest concern around transit-oriented development is displacement,” says Galbraith. “There was a time, not long ago, when developers wouldn’t touch downtown cores. Often, once a demonstration project is built and demand surges, there’s a wholesale [development] rush into the area — and then, suddenly, everything is unaffordable.”

That’s why community-led development initiatives that preserve affordable housing and mixed-use streetscapes are so critical. Galbraith cites St. Paul’s Creative Enterprise Zone (CEZ) centered on the Green Line’s Raymond Avenue Station, as an example of a mixed-use area that’s developing equitably. Particularly crucial, she says, is CEZ’s “freight-oriented development” model: development patterns that preserve and accommodate light-industrial uses, including fabrication facilities and warehouses, without impeding pedestrian-friendly residential and retail.

Ideally, community-led initiatives are paired with city-developed “station area plans,” like the plans governing Lowertown’s Green Line stops. “Cities and neighborhood councils are being more intentional about zoning and planning along transit corridors,” says Galbraith.

These plans set out a vision and framework for equitable (or at least organized) development. In Lowertown, advance planning has likely prevented wholesale displacement to this point, though it’s hard to assign clear cause and effect.

Snelling / Midway

A few miles west of Lowertown, Snelling Avenue is among MSP’s liveliest TOD corridors. The A Line, the first of a dozen proposed aBRT lines around the metro, is slated to connect Rosedale Mall with the Blue Line’s 46th Street Station, with Snelling and Ford Parkway as its primary rights of way.

By connecting MSP’s two busiest transit lines with considerably faster and more frequent service than the existing 84 bus, the A Line will dramatically change the transit calculus in an already busy corridor.

MinnPost photo by Peter Callaghan

The A Line is slated to connect Rosedale Mall with the Blue Line’s 46th Street Station, with Snelling and Ford Parkway as its primary rights of way.

Consider this, Galbraith says, by way of comparison: “In the early days of the telephone network, when there were just a handful of users, phones weren’t very valuable. You could only call so many people. Today, nearly everyone has a phone and it’s hard to live without one.” The same principle, albeit in less dramatic fashion, applies to transit. Now that it’s much easier to take transit to key points on Snelling, interest in TOD is accelerating there. (The Green Line’s opening had a similar effect on the Blue Line, adds Galbraith: connections create value.)

The new Vintage on Selby, for instance, a joint venture of Ryan Companies and Excelsior Group, is a massive structure including more than 200 apartments, townhomes and penthouses arrayed above and around a gleaming new Whole Foods Market. Its 20 floorplans are named for classic film stars (Bogart, Astaire, Monroe). Rents for one-bed, one-bath units start at $1,350: workforce housing this is not. But for affluent professionals taken with the eclectic, up-and-coming Merriam Park neighborhood and enticed by the prospect of a 25-minute transit ride to either downtown, it may be enticing.

Vintage on Selby probably won’t be the last out-of-scale market-rate development to plop down at a major Snelling intersection. And at the moment, local stakeholders are interested in a much bigger prospect: the Minnesota United stadium and adjacent Midway Superblock redevelopment, slated to transform 34.5 acres of prime, currently underutilized real estate near the Snelling-University intersection.

It appears likely that the stadium will be built, though much needs to be worked out: parking, traffic flow, pedestrian connections, water infrastructure upgrades. The Midway Superblock is a bit hazier, but it’s likely to include a rebuilt street grid, office buildings, market-rate and subsidized housing, retail, a high-end cinema, ample public space and “district systems” components (such as shared stormwater management).

Though the project is city-sanctioned and draws on input from local stakeholders, the stadium-area redevelopment clearly isn’t community-driven (Frogtown) or historically aware (Lowertown). It’s big, ambitious, disruptive, and potentially game-changing for what’s now among MSP’s most transit-rich districts. Done right, it’ll create the A Line’s single most popular destination, and the Green Line’s top three or four (after the two downtowns and the East Bank). It could also foment an entirely new community — what St. Paul’s plan describes as “a new neighborhood district respective to surrounding existing neighborhoods.”

Planning for a transit-rich future

Frogtown, Lowertown and the Snelling corridor don’t have a monopoly on TOD in MSP. Other districts along major transit lines, notably Prospect Park and the North Loop, are changing dramatically, too. The effects of these changes aren’t always clear. The North Loop has thus far avoided the displacement issues vexing Lowertown, “largely because there weren’t many residents there before,” says Galbraith, though newly established residents now appear to be finding their collective voice and pushing back on out-of-scale projects, for better or worse. Prospect Park is in the throes of a residential building frenzy, but city-sanctioned plans for a futuristic innovation district there — MSP’s first true live-work-play neighborhood built around 21^st-century technology — present a host of unknowns for current residents.

How might future transit projects, and associated TOD, affect other transit-dependent communities across MSP? On the Northside of Minneapolis, Metro Transit’s long-term planning calls for three aBRT lines there, plus a segment of the Blue Line extension. The Northside’s first BRT line, the Penn Avenue C Line, could enter service as early as next year. Community-driven, public-private developments like Penn Commons and Broadway Flats offer promising clues about what future TOD could look like along Penn Avenue.

But, per Galbraith, more transit means more value: what’s to stop the North Loop’s $1,500 studio rents from creeping north and west, dragging working-class, transit-dependent Northside residents in their wake? Similar issues loom on the horizon for St. Paul’s Greater East Side and West End districts, whose newly affluent pockets may one day connect to the city’s revitalized downtown via a BRT or streetcar.

In the end, it’s probably best for local stakeholders to internalize Frogtown’s simple, powerful lessons: Build what locals need and want, when they need and want it, and adjust as those needs and wants evolve.

This article is reprinted in partnership with The Line, an online chronicle of Twin Cities creativity in entrepreneurship, culture, retail, placemaking, the arts, and other elements of the new creative economy. Brian Martucci is The Line’s innovation and jobs news editor.  

The post Transit-oriented development in St. Paul: connections that create value appeared first on MinnPost.

Whether you’re a coastal transplant still struggling to comprehend the physics of a polar vortex or a born-and-bred Northerner who doesn’t even feel the cold anymore, you’re probably not used to welcoming winter visitors to MSP.

You know the “winter visit” conversation: “Please come to MSP. It’ll be so much fun! Just, you know, wait until May or so. It’s … better … then.”

Seriously though. As anyone who’s spent a winter in MSP knows, the pace of life here doesn’t drop with the temperature (or the snow … the snow). From Wirth Park to the St. Paul riverfront, Walker Art Center to the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, MSP bustles with life from November to April. So convince family and friends to visit this winter. And once they’re here, show them a great time with these classic MSP winter activities.

Minneapolis

Theodore Wirth Park
Theodore Wirth Parkway between I-394 and Golden Valley Road
Though sprawling Wirth Park is a delight in any season, it arguably puts its best foot forward in winter, when its 15 miles of groomed Nordic ski trails draw active visitors from all across the metro. If you don’t have your own skis, rent them on Saturdays and Sundays at the Wirth Par 3 Clubhouse, near Theodore Wirth Parkway and Plymouth Avenue. Snowshoe rentals are available at the nearby Wirth Chalet. What better way to introduce your out-of-town friends to the most traditional of winter sports?

CC/Flickr/Jenni Konrad

Though sprawling Wirth Park is a delight in any season, it arguably puts its best foot forward in winter.

Lake of the Isles
Lake of the Isles Parkway
Stately mansions look great in winter, too, so strap on some snow boots (or grippy shoes) and take your friend on a walking circuit of this exclusive body of water. By the end, you’ll have figured out a tactful way to break the bad news: Josh Hartnett no longer lives here. Want a closer look? Lake of the Isles has a public skating rink (conditions permitting) with organized hockey games. Retreat to the warming hut (or the coffee shops of Hennepin Avenue, within walking distance) after executing your double salchows.

Minnehaha Falls & Minnehaha Park
4801 S Minnehaha Park Drive
Frozen waterfalls are cool; falling water in suspended animation. For best viewing, visit after a cold snap.

CC/Flickr/katie wheeler

Frozen waterfalls are cool.

Walker Art Center
1750 Hennepin Avenue
The Walker Art Center is in the midst of a $75 million renovation and expansion that promises a bold new entrance to the grounds and a host of new sculptures in the adjacent Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. Give your friend a glimpse of the pre-expansion garden — no, they don’t take the sculptures down for winter — before heading across the street to the Walker’s main building. Once inside, check out two limited-time exhibitions: Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia (through Feb 28) and Andrea Buttner: Piano Destructions (through May 15).

Mia
2400 3rd Ave S
Need more art? Head southwest to the Minneapolis Institute of Art, or Mia, the Walker’s bigger, older cousin. Drop by on Thursday, Feb. 18, for the museum’s monthly Third Thursday gathering. This month features a preview of State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now, running Feb. 19 through May 29. On your way out, cut through the adjacent Minneapolis College of Art & Design campus, and head to Eat Street for a bite at Peninsula, Black Sheep Pizza or the Copper Hen.

Guthrie Theater
818 S 2nd Street
It’s hard to miss the Guthrie Theater on the Downtown East riverfront, though the iconic blue structure is a bit less conspicuous now that it’s literally in the shadow of U.S. Bank Stadium. What better way to warm up after a long day of MSP winter fun than to get a closer look — and enjoy a world-class theatrical performance for the bargain? For lighter fare, try “Two Comedies in One Night” (The Critic and The Real Inspector Hound), or go for a weightier alternative: You For Me For You, a poignant study on North Korean exiles.

American Swedish Institute
2600 Park Avenue
Before MSP was a cosmopolitan melting pot, it was the North American hub of the Swedish diaspora. The American Swedish Institute proudly carries the Swedish cultural banner today, celebrating the contributions of early Scandinavian Minnesotans and maintaining ties with the home of Ikea. And there’s no better time to teach your out-of-town friends about MSP’s Nordic roots than winter: that most Swedish of seasons. Check out The Troll With No Heart (through Feb 28) and The Watercolor Worlds of Lars Lerin (through May 22), then grab a bite at FIKA — just named “best lunch in Minnesota” by the Star Tribune!

Midtown Global Market
920 E Lake Street
The inside of the Midtown Global Market is always a comfortable 70 degrees, give or take a few ticks in either direction. It’s the perfect place to warm up after your half-mile walk from the Swedish Institute — either with a quick bite from El Burrito Mercado or Hot Indian Foods, or a craft pint from ever-popular Eastlake Brewery & Tavern.

St. Paul

Como Park
1431 Lexington Parkway N
Downhill skiing and snowboarding within St. Paul’s city limits? Yep, at the Como Park Ski Center. With two rope tows and a 150-foot vertical drop, Como Park isn’t exactly Aspen (or even Lutsen), but it’s a lot closer and a lot cheaper. After a few runs, warm up at the Como Park Ski Chalet or sit down for a longer meal at Como Dockside. Then venture into the Como Park Conservatory, particularly the Tropical Encounters area, for a relaxing, steamy mini-vacation to Costa Rica.

CC/Flickr/Drew Geraets

You don’t have to head north of the border to experience the joy of curling.

St. Paul Curling Club
470 Selby Avenue
You don’t have to head north of the border to experience the joy of curling. Just make your way to St. Paul’s ascendant Cathedral Hill neighborhood and drop in at the St. Paul Curling Club. Refreshments are available at the club, but for a longer craft beer and cocktail list (and full menu), head next door to the Happy Gnome, a Cathedral Hill institution. And if curling is really your thing, hit the Frogtown Curling Club too.

Science Museum of Minnesota 
120 Kellogg Blvd W
As you wander the halls of the Science Museum of Minnesota, you’ll soon forget the cold outside. And, if you and your visitors catch Omnifest (through March 3), you’re liable to forget you’re in Minnesota at all. It’s like the Sundance Film Festival for giant-screen nature movies.

Red Bull Crashed Ice
Downtown St. Paul
The Red Bull Crashed Ice extreme winter sports series makes the Winter X-Games look like a knitting circle. If your winter visitors are inclined to see grown men and women doing ill-advised, probably highly dangerous things on steep, iced-over tracks (this year’s course has a 12-story drop: what?), convince them to visit Feb. 26-27. Just be sure to arrive early: The last St. Paul event attracted more than 100,000 people over two days, according to Red Bull.

CC/Flickr/Sarah

The last St. Paul Crashed Ice attracted more than 100,000 people over two days.

Park Square Theatre
20 W 7th Place
Park Square Theatre isn’t as well-known as the Ordway or as glamorous as the Guthrie, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth a winter visit. From Renaissance classics (Romeo & Juliet, Feb. 12-13) to edgy modern shows (Nina Simone: Four Women, March 8-26), Park Square’s schedule is engaging and well rounded. After the show, walk over to Tin Whiskers Brewing or Bedlam Lowertown.

Ordway Music Theatre and Concert Hall
345 Washington Street
The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts is among the North’s finest theatres. Give your out-of-town visitor a dose of MSP high culture with a performance by SEOP Dance Company (March 5), Minnesota Opera’s rendition of Tosca (March 12-26), or a St. Paul Chamber Orchestra performance (various dates). After (or before) the show, meander over to Cossetta Alimentari or Bad Weather Brewing Company’s new taproom.

This article is reprinted in partnership with The Line, an online chronicle of Twin Cities creativity in entrepreneurship, culture, retail, placemaking, the arts, and other elements of the new creative economy. Brian Martucci is The Line’s innovation and jobs news editor.  

The post Where to take winter visitors in MSP: 14 time-tested activities appeared first on MinnPost.

If you’re a fair-weather cyclist, as most upstanding MSPers are, you’ve probably already taken your last ride of the year. You’ve stashed your bike comfortably (or haphazardly) in the basement or garage. You’ve traded your helmet for a warm hat. You’re sliding (hopefully not literally) into your winter commute — car, bus or train — routine.

You still see a few hardy souls — or, at least, you assume they’re souls, if each person-astronaut shape is an accurate guide — pedaling easily down Summit Avenue, Nicollet Mall or wherever your commute takes you. They don’t appear to be suffering too badly, succumbing slowly to frostbite or skidding uncontrollably through busy intersections. (Actually, they seem more in control of their pedal-powered commute than many of your fellow drivers.)

Northeast Minneapolis resident Mike Mommsen is one person who crunched the numbers and made the switch from car to bike commute in the winter. “Driving [20 miles round-trip] to work each day, I burned through about 50 cents per mile,” he says — $10 per day.

Driving and maintaining a car costs thousands of dollars per year. Minnesota’s harsh climate makes care maintenance particularly costly. Road salt and chemicals corrode vehicle bodies and dull performance over time, necessitating spendy repairs. If biking through the winter means you don’t have to buy a personal vehicle, it’s liable to save you money — despite the startup costs.

So allow yourself to imagine a day in a bike commuter’s boots. How does he or she prepare before walking out the door? How do they stay comfortable behind Arctic fronts and snow curtains — even the dreaded polar vortex. How does one weather an MSP winter on two wheels? How exactly could you follow in their oversized, centrifugal footsteps? According to the experts, here’s how.

‘There’s no such thing as bad weather …’

According to Gene Oberpriller, owner of One on One Bike Studio in Minneapolis’ North Loop, “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.” Oberpriller identifies three basic clothing items all winter bikers should use:

• Merino-wool base layers: Ditch the cotton socks and opt for wool underlayers made from near-miraculous merino wool. The mountain-dwelling merino sheep is “one of the world’s most ancient breeds … and one of the toughest,” according to performance clothing manufacturer Icebreaker. Lightweight and moisture repellant, merino wool wicks away sweat and traps heat close to the body. Pricing varies. Polypropylene, a synthetic fabric with merino-like properties, is an option as well.
• Vapor-barrier outer layers: Vapor-barrier outer layers — not to be confused with structural vapor barriers, which insulate buildings — essentially function as high-tech windbreakers, stopping airflow and moisture, while keeping you warm. Moisture that forms underneath vapor-barrier layers never comes into contact with the wind generated by your movement, so it doesn’t actively cool you down. Layers start at $50 to $60 new.
• Waterproof footwear: Standard-issue winter boots will do in a pinch, but they’re not particularly safe or comfortable for longer rides. MSP-based 45NRTH makes a host of bike-specific boots for varying levels of frigidity: Opt for Wolvhammer ($325) down to 0 degrees, then switch to Wolfgar ($450), which work down to -50 degrees with appropriate base layers. When it’s not super-cold, waterproof shoe covers are a budget-friendly alternative.

Clothing visibility is just as important as durability and permeability. Kevin Ishaug, owner of Minneapolis-based Freewheel Bike, recommends bright-colored, preferably reflective clothing — even if it means wearing “fashion colors” like hot pink and orange. “You need to be visible to all vehicles, from bikes on bike paths to plows on city streets,” he says.

Don’t skimp on clothing accessories, either. Handlebar pogies ($50 and up for locally made 45NRTH varieties) “create a little microclimate for your hands,” says Ishaug. Lobster claw gloves, which keep your fingers together without compromising dexterity, work too. For your head and neck, use a balaclava or cowl; for your eyes, don adjustable ski goggles that seal tight.

What else? For liquids, you’ll want an insulated mug (for your hot morning beverage) and water bottle (for hydration). A slightly grosser alternative, ideal for longer rides, finds a Camelbak water pouch flush against the skin of your torso, where it won’t freeze. (Even if you don’t feel thirsty, warns Ishaug, remember to hydrate: The dry winter air relieves you of moisture in a hurry.) To protect against frostbite and windburn, apply petroleum jelly to exposed skin, particularly the tip of your nose.

If this all sounds intimidating, “remember that many of these clothing items and accessories are already in your closet,” says Ishaug. And you can accumulate specialized items over time, he adds, as your budget allows.

Deck out the bike 

Oberpriller calls out three essential pieces of cold-weather bike gear:

• Winter Tires: Winter tires come in several forms. Fat tires (4 inches or wider) and studded tires (normal diameter, but with variable numbers of super-strong studs embedded for grip) are the most popular. Ishaug and Oberpriller recommend studded tires, which can last up to 20,000 miles (when properly maintained) on pavement. Fat tires are better for groomed snow trails, but don’t really improve grip on ice.
• Fenders: Fenders protect your bike’s gearbox and chain from corrosive salt and sludge, reducing repair frequency and cost. (“Fenders make a huge difference,” Ishaug emphasizes.)
• Lights: Front and rear lights are essential for safe riding in darkness and gloom. Ishaug recommends at least 500 lumens for your handlebar light and 75 lumens for the rear light — a total investment of $150 for high-quality lights, though “LED lighting prices are coming down.” Headlamps (headlight-grade lights affixed to your helmet) are highly recommended. They sync your illumination with your gaze and are difficult for motorists to ignore. If you’re using dark bike paths, opt for dim-able lights “that don’t burn holes in other cyclists’ retinas,” says Ishaug.

While tires, fenders and lights are table stakes for urban winter biking, Ishaug stresses that cyclists can always be more winter-ready — “prepared bikers are safe bikers, and that’s the most important thing,” he says. Your preparation is limited only by your budget and imagination.

For instance, “[y]ou really can’t have too many lights,” he says. Ishaug recommends affixing a few reflexive “pixie sticks,” which cost a few dollars each, to your spokes. Valve stem lights (about $15 each) move with your wheels, “creating a streak of motion through the night,” he says, making you more visible to drivers in your blind spots.

It’s also hard to over-maintain your bike, he adds. Ishaug recommends cleaning and lubricating your bike chain immediately after each ride. If you’re riding in subzero weather, you’ll likely need special cold-weather lube — a copper-laden substance with the consistency of peanut butter.

Last and perhaps most important for perennial winter cyclists: All the preparation in the world can’t completely keep the elements at bay. Daily riders “need to be prepared to bring [their bikes] in for a complete overhaul come spring,” says Ishaug, particularly if they’re commuting on city streets.

In fact, some seasoned cyclists use “burner bikes” that they either only take out when the weather turns or discard completely after a single season. “You definitely shouldn’t ride your flagship bike on winter roads,” says Ishaug. “Instead, use a less expensive, workhorse-type bike that you’re not upset about abusing.”

How one guy did it

To prepare for his Cedar Lake Trail commute out to Hopkins, Mommsen bought a durable, locally designed Surly Steamroller bike — not quite a burner, but not the fanciest ride either — and a set of sturdy 45NRTH Xerxes studded tires. He’ll ride the Steamroller-Xerxes combo until the snow melts, then switch to a more delicate summer bike.

An avid Nordic skier and lifelong Northerner, Mommsen already had most of the clothing and accessories necessary to survive winter on a bike — “two changes of everything,” he says, to ensure every item has a full day to dry between rides. He did buy a pair of shoe covers earlier this year, but otherwise “plan[s] on solving things iteratively,” he says. “I’ll buy additional clothing items if and when I find out that it’s an issue not to have them.”

This year, Mommsen budgeted about $1,000 for his winter bike, gear, clothing and maintenance. If he commutes an average of three days per week by bike and drives (he shares a car with his girlfriend) or takes the bus the other two, he figures he’ll break even or come close. Assuming he reuses the same bike and gear, he’ll come out well ahead next winter — and every winter thereafter.

“I thought a goal of three biking days per week would be realistic,” he says. “I want the flexibility to commute by other modes when it’s really dangerous out, and to work longer hours on non-biking days so that I minimize how long I need to bike in the dark.”<

To stretch his budget farther, Mommsen plans to run non-studded tires whenever possible — early and late in the season, and if there’s a dry midwinter stretch with little ice. He hopes to get several seasons out of the Xerxes tires, midseason replacements for which would be costly and inconvenient. “I’m stoked to maintain my fitness over the winter without a gym membership,” he says.

Plan your commute 

“First-time winter commuters are sometimes surprised to find that the routes they took for granted in nice weather aren’t there” or aren’t particularly safe when the snow starts to fly, says Ishaug. This is particularly true after heavy snowfalls, when rights-of-way get narrower on busy city streets and cars struggle to avoid one another, let alone cyclists and pedestrians they can barely see.

If you’re serious about commuting year-round, advises Ishaug, speak with staff at your local bike shop or more experienced peers to identify a relatively direct route that you know is going to be open and safe. Dry-run it on a weekend, preferably before the first heavy snowfall, to get a sense of how long it’ll take in ideal conditions. Then add a time buffer to account for traffic, bad weather, poor path conditions and other obstacles.

“Your body and bike are both going to run a little slower in winter, especially if it’s snowy or really cold,” says Ishaug. Dry-running your route ensures that you’re not late for work the first bad day of winter — and that you don’t compromise safety while trying to beat the clock.

Meanwhile, these trails and streets are bike-friendly year-round. Happy trails!

• West River Road: West River Road is beautiful any time of year and it’s usually among the first Minneapolis parkways cleared on snow days. Plus, the road connects the University of Minnesota, downtown Minneapolis and (indirectly) the Midtown Greenway. “[West River Road] is a favorite for rec riders and north-south commuters alike,” says Oberpriller.
• Midtown Greenway: Midtown Greenway takes some work to clear — usually a day or two after a heavy snowfall. But that’s what studs are for. The Greenway is ideal for people who live, work and play in Uptown and Midtown; numerous north-south connections help downtown Minneapolis commuters, too.
• Cedar Lake Trail: Plow coverage is great in the North Loop and along 394, but can be more uneven farther out. Still, this is a great trail for anyone who lives, works or plays in downtown Minneapolis and points southwest.
• Light Rail Trail: The relatively narrow Light Rail Trail is easy to plow after heavy snowfalls, though it’s usually not salted down to pavement. It’s ideal for north-south commuters looking for more exercise than they’d get standing on the train. Just don’t try to beat the train.
• Summit Avenue: St. Paul’s grandest street (sorry, Grand Avenue) has wide bike lanes, good plowing and great views. Ideal for east-west commuters to downtown St. Paul or St. Paul’s private college cluster (St. Thomas, Macalester, St. Catherine’s).
• Pierce Butler Route: Pierce Butler is the most bike-friendly east-west route through St. Paul’s northwestern quadrant. If you live or work in St. Anthony Park, downtown St. Paul or anywhere in between, Pierce Butler is your route.
• Theodore Wirth Park: They’re not much use for commuters, but the mountain biking trail network at Theodore Wirth Park is your best bet for off-road winter rec riding anywhere in MSP.

This article is reprinted in partnership with The Line, an online chronicle of Twin Cities creativity in entrepreneurship, culture, retail, placemaking, the arts, and other elements of the new creative economy. Brian Martucci is The Line’s innovation and jobs news editor. 

The post Make the switch from car to bike commute this winter: Here’s how appeared first on MinnPost.

CC/Flickr/Ameetav Nangrani

Since 2009, the nonprofit Downtown Improvement District (DID) has done much to make the Minneapolis’ core friendlier, safer and more accessible.

Minneapolis’ North Loop is one of Minneapolis-St. Paul’s hippest neighborhoods — a haven for techies, artists and upwardly mobile young professionals. Newcomers are more likely to spend Saturday afternoons sampling Nordic appetizers at the Bachelor Farmer or perusing high-end handmade fashions at Filson and Shinola than speeding through the Northwoods on a Minnesota-made ATV or snowmobile.

So why is Arctic Cat, a (soon-to-be formerly) Plymouth-based power-sports manufacturer, packing up its suburban headquarters and relocating to a 107-year-old warehouse space just around the corner from Target Field?

“People are realizing that for us to be able to grow and compete on a global basis, we need a more global footprint that allows us to attract diverse business, and a diverse workforce,” CEO Christopher Metz told the Star Tribune recently. “We think this is a step in that direction.”

Beginning in mid-2016, Arctic Cat plans to bring up to 200 employees — product developers, creatives and senior leadership — to its new 55,000-square-foot location. The company is completely renovating the structure (at a total cost of $5 to $7 million, according to the Strib) and adding two glass-heavy top floors, bringing the total floor count to six.

The goal is to remake the building in Arctic Cat’s image, even as Arctic Cat reinvents that image. Though Arctic Cat’s core demographic is more NRA than Mia, there’s still nothing like a cosmopolitan address to draw the sorts of talented young professionals who might otherwise flock to Target, Field Nation or Olson.

Arctic Cat’s reasoning resonates with a growing cohort of corporations that, until now, have been perfectly content with rural or suburban perches. Though precise motivations vary, most see a clear link between location and competitiveness: Suburban office parks and small-town campuses might be cheaper in the short term, but MSP’s increasingly amenity-rich downtowns offer irresistible quality-of-life benefits that help firms attract and retain top talent.

Here’s a closer look at a few of the companies moving to the core downtowns of Minneapolis and St. Paul, what’s drawing them, and why they could be on the leading edge of a much bigger wave of downtown relocations.

Not just the usual suspects

About 10 miles from the North Loop, digital marketing firm Three Deep Marketing is celebrating more than half a decade in St. Paul’s Lowertown district. Originally located in a North St. Paul office park, the growing firm began looking for larger digs in the late naughts.

“We looked at office parks in Roseville and along the 280-35W office cluster [on the outskirts of Minneapolis],” says VP of sales Dan Derosier. “We didn’t need a gleaming, high-rent tower, just more space.”

The team took a close look at downtown St. Paul. Rents were collapsing in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, but “downtown still would have been tens of thousands of dollars more expensive annually,” says Derosier.

So Three Deep approached St. Paul and asked, basically, “What can you do for us?” The answer, it turned out, was “a lot.” The city gave Three Deep a grant out of its Strategic Investment Fund, created to attract businesses downtown, on a promise that the then-25-person company would maintain or increase staffing levels over the subsequent five years.

“We now have nearly 50 employees,” says Derosier, “all of whom eat lunch downtown every day. That’s a good deal for the city.”

“Literally none of our employees had worked downtown previously,” he adds, “and they just love it: the skyway access, restaurant options, bank branches nearby, shops in Lowertown, public transit and everything else happening here.”

Three Deep is still growing, so it’s moving again — but not as far this time. According to Derosier, the company is finalizing the purchase of a “commercial condo” in the renovated Market House building.

“Our intention is to make a permanent home in downtown St. Paul,” Derosier says. “We can scale to 85 employees in Market House. If we grow beyond that, we’ll probably open satellite offices in other cities” rather than find even bigger digs in MSP.”

Though Derosier is quick to point out that Three Deep is “more metrics-driven than some other marketing firms,” the company undeniably plays in a creative space, and is therefore a natural fit for Lowertown’s creative, hip, increasingly affluent denizens.

Three Deep is part of a “creative migration to downtown St. Paul, joined by the likes of software marketing/loyalty firm Augeo (recently relocated from Midway) and fast-growing workforce software developer When I Work (currently located in the downtown-adjacent West Side Flats, but shopping for additional space in the heart of downtown).

On the other hand, many recently relocated firms operate in sectors perceived (fairly or not) as stodgy or boring.

Take legal education publisher West Academic, a Thomson Reuters spinoff that in 2013 moved to downtown St. Paul from its former parent’s sprawling Eagan campus. Though legal publishing is somewhat insulated from the macro forces that periodically rock other publishing sectors, the firm sought to build a young, innovative workforce capable of meeting whatever challenges lay ahead.

“We knew moving to St. Paul would help us recruit talented people,” says president & CEO Chris Parton. “People want to work — and be — in city centers again.”

CC/Flickr/Joe D

“Emotionally, we wanted to be in St. Paul,” says West Academic president & CEO Chris Parton.

Also a factor in West Academic’s move: the company’s historical ties to downtown St. Paul. As an original component of century-old Thomson Reuters, generations of West employees lived, worked and played in the city’s core.

“Emotionally, we wanted to be in St. Paul,” says Parton.

The transition was smooth. West’s workers enthusiastically supported the downtown move, Parton says, and “the city and Chamber of Commerce could not have been more accommodating.” The company received an $80,000 Strategic Investment Fund grant based on its then-55-person workforce. Two years hence, West’s workforce is 85 strong and growing.

Most of West’s grant went toward a more spacious, open office. The company also holds, and raffles to employees, St. Paul Saints season tickets. According to Parton, the central location is a net positive for West’s far-flung employees. In Eagan, just one person took the bus on a daily basis; today, about a quarter of the company bikes, buses or takes the train to work.

Another recent downtown St. Paul arrival: Cray Inc., a Seattle-based supercomputer and digital storage firm. For years, the company happily ran a major satellite campus in suburban Mendota Heights. But in 2009, the powers-that-be decided that a downtown move was Cray’s ticket to a competitive, millennial-friendly future.

So the firm’s 225 employees picked up and moved to Lowertown’s Galtier Plaza, which was rechristened Cray Plaza in its honor. Cray got a $400,000 Strategic Investment Fund grant in exchange for a promise to keep at least 200 employees in town for five years; a Pioneer Press profile found the firm’s employees loving their new digs a year on. Though most of the work was completed before the move, Cray’s St. Paul engineers put the finishing touches on the XT5 “Jaguar,” the world’s fastest supercomputer.

Fulfillment of the live-work-play promise

The allure of a vibrant downtown is to some extent intuitive. Many folks — young professionals, empty nesters and retirees alike — crave action, excitement, options. But what does that look like on the ground in MSP’s twin downtowns?

In Minneapolis, public-private partnerships shine. Since 2009, the nonprofit Downtown Improvement District (DID) has done much to make the city’s core friendlier, safer and more accessible: DID’s green- or blue-clad “ambassadors” provide invaluable advice for visitors and residents alike; the organization is responsible for much of the district’s new greenery, too.

Meanwhile, the Minneapolis Downtown Council (MDC), whose member list is a who’s-who of downtown-based businesses, continues to build momentum around its signature Downtown 2025 Plan.  Both DID and MDC are member-funded and operate in close cooperation with the city of Minneapolis, which runs its own booster programs — notably Meet Minneapolis, the city’s prolific business outreach and tourism arm.

And the past decade has seen a run of high-profile “anchor” projects, designed to spur nearby development, that have thus far worked as intended: North Loop’s Target Field; Mill District’s Guthrie Theater; and Downtown East’s yet-unfinished U.S. Bank Stadium.

In St. Paul, the city’s government and Chamber of Commerce branch take the lead. Since 2009, the St. Paul Strategic Investment Fund has actually exceeded expectations, says Ellen Muller, manager of St. Paul Economic Development: Five recipients have created about 575 jobs between them to date, against a promised 390.

Muller and her team have long focused on “building a sense of place and supporting amenities that attract young people, entrepreneurs and long-term residents,” she says. Since the recession, bold new housing projects like Farmers Market Lofts and the Penfield, and the subsequent arrival of the Green Line, contributed to a sharp rise in the downtown population. Anchors like the St. Paul Saints’ CHS Field and collaborative spaces like COCO St. Paul draw local residents and outsiders alike well into the evening.

“You can predict with 98 percent accuracy when there’s a game on at CHS Field,” says St. Paul Chamber of Commerce president Matt Kramer, “because the streets are filled with pedestrians, local restaurants are full and there’s just a buzz in the air.”

More people, in turn, create new opportunities for local service providers and auxiliary businesses. Notable local restaurants and breweries like the Bulldog, Barrio and Bad Weather Brewing Company have opened St. Paul outposts or relocated entirely, complementing St. Paul originals like Tin Whiskers Brewing Company, Heartland Restaurant (previously relocated from St. Paul’s Mac-Groveland) and Cossetta Alimentari. The area now has a full-service grocery store: the Lunds & Byerlys in the Penfield.

“Business owners aren’t opening in downtown St. Paul because they’re bored or want a challenge,” says Kramer. “They’re opening here because there are actually more people downtown.”

St. Paul’s growing cohort of business owners won’t have to wait long to tap an even bigger pool of prospective customers. The long-awaited Macy’s redevelopment, complete with a rooftop practice facility for the Minnesota Wild, is gathering steam. The Custom House project is poised to inject energy into St. Paul’s high-end housing market next year; it’s fair to assume that many of its inhabitants will seek work within walking distance. Though the details are still sketchy, the ambitious River Balcony project could (literally) turn downtown St. Paul toward the Mississippi River by the end of the decade, boosting the city’s tourism bona fides.

Plenty of room to run

The commercial real estate market is notoriously tricky to predict, but recent occupancy trends suggest that the downtown shift isn’t simply anecdotal. Moreover, the numbers hint that the shift could have real staying power, barring external economic shocks or other unforeseen scenarios.

For starters, both downtowns saw positive absorption (increases in occupied office space) in the 12-month period ending in July. St. Paul’s absorption rate was particularly impressive, shooting up nearly 280,000 square feet in the second quarter alone (per DTZ, a Chicago-based research firm). Minneapolis’s absorption was more modest: just a tick over 10,000 square feet.

Downtown gains were nearly offset by negative absorption in the West/Northwest and Southwest suburban subregions, which collectively lost about 285,000 square feet of occupied space.

Despite the shift, there appears to be plenty of room for downtown growth, particularly in St. Paul. In Q2 2015, St. Paul’s CBD’s headline vacancy rate was 17.4 percent, compared to 14.2 percent for the MSP metro (including suburbs) overall.

With a CBD-wide vacancy rate north of 22 percent in Q2, St. Paul’s Class B office submarket appears particularly underutilized. Class B space isn’t as sought-after as Class A space, which typically has upscale finishes, state-of-the-art building systems and excellent accessibility. But Class B space is ideal for small firms and startups uninterested in (or unwilling to pay for) top-of-the-line square footage.

Higher vacancy rates often translate to lower rents or better lease terms, potentially powerful incentives for suburban and rural firms mulling downtown moves.

The densification trend

A not-unrelated trend toward intra-office “densification” — basically, allocating fewer square feet of office space for each employee — affects the commercial space calculus, too. Office designers “densify” by configuring cubes more efficiently, eliminating separate offices in favor of shared workspaces (a key perk for millennial workers, per Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal), and merging non-productive areas (such as break rooms) with productive space.

Last year, Twin Cities Business Magazine flagged densification as a key drag on the MSP region’s office market: According to the magazine’s real estate sources, contemporary guidelines allow as little as 175 square feet per employee, down from 225 to 250 square feet in the pre-digital age.

Since densification allows companies to literally do more with less, it can dampen demand for new space and hamper absorption. On the other hand, densification is cost-effective; at least in theory, it increases productivity per square foot. For firms relocating to expensive commercial markets, such as the North Loop and Minneapolis’ historic downtown business district, redesigning office floorplans for density may partially offset the one-off cost of the move and ease the pain of higher per-square-foot rents.

In other words, by reducing or eliminating the premium firms pay to relocate downtown, the densification trend could augur a long-term shift in the rural-suburban-urban commercial space calculus—especially given the other, non-financial benefits of a central location.

Sticking around for the long haul

Back in the North Loop, Arctic Cat is selling its move as more than a play for its fair share of the urban talent pool. The company’s new headquarters is merely the most visible prong of an ambitious long-term growth strategy.

CEO Metz is aiming to roughly double Arctic Cat’s revenues, to more than $1 billion, by 2020, and significantly grow the firm’s workforce during the same timeframe. Even as the company reinvents itself as MSP’s most urbane powersports manufacturer, it’s investing nearly $30 million to modernize manufacturing facilities in St. Cloud, in central Minnesota, and Thief River Falls in northwestern Minnesota.

Metz clearly hopes Arctic Cat’s plans pan out. Regardless, the company’s lease on the new space isn’t set to expire until the late 2020s. That means a couple hundred Arctic Cat employees will have a great view for the foreseeable future, and the North Loop’s ever-expanding business and real estate communities will have plenty of chances to sell them on downtown living.

This article is reprinted in partnership with The Line, an online chronicle of Twin Cities creativity in entrepreneurship, culture, retail, placemaking, the arts, and other elements of the new creative economy. Brian Martucci is The Line’s innovation and jobs news editor. 

The post Why MSP’s amenity-rich downtowns are prime spots for relocating businesses appeared first on MinnPost.

The first leg of the METRO Green Line just celebrated its first anniversary and MSP’s transit community is abuzz with a bevy of planned or under-construction projects: the Snelling Avenue ‘A’ Line, the Green Line extension, the Orange Line Bus Rapid Transit line, possible rapid transit along West 7th Street and more.

“Metro Transit has an ambitious vision for bus rapid transit,” MnDOT transit advantages coordinator Shawn Combs Walding said in a recent interview with The Line. “[Bus rapid transit] is a great example of doing what we can with what we have. We need to make these types of investments while we continue the conversation about more ambitious transit alternatives.”

So it’s not surprising that MSP’s first major fixed-rail transit project of the post-streetcar era — the METRO Blue Line — isn’t top-of-mind for most residents and planners. The initial excitement around the line’s opening, back in 2004, has faded; even for the more than 25,000 regular riders who board its trains each weekday, the Blue Line is just another way to get to work, the airport or the Mall of America.

But the Blue Line isn’t all business. There’s plenty to see and do along MSP’s original light rail line outside the 9-to-5 grind — or, if you’re playing hooky from work, any time at all. If you’re looking to get reacquainted with your hometown, start with these five Blue Line stops.

1. Minneapolis’ Most Successful Live-Work Play District
Station: Target Field

It’s hard to believe that Target Field Station, one of the most important stops in the Metro Transit system, wasn’t included in the original Blue Line plans. The line’s first service trains rumbled to a stop at Warehouse District Station, a few blocks south of the shabby surface lot that would become Target Field. There just wasn’t much reason to venture farther north.

These days, there’s no containing the hotness emanating from Target Field Station and the surrounding North Loop. The North Loop is arguably Minneapolis’ archetypal live-work-play district, though Prospect Park and Northeast are giving the neighborhood a run for its money. Whether you’re taking transit to a baseball game or simply hitting up one of the North Loop’s many happy hour spots after work, the Blue Line is your ticket to ride.

Breweries and Restaurants: Too many to name. Highlights include Fulton Brewery, 414 N 6th Avenue; Modist Brewing; Kieran’s Irish Pub, 85 N 6th Street; 508 Bar and Restaurant, 508 N 1st Avenue

Cultural Attractions: Target Field; Target Center; Mill City Nights; Fine Line Music Cafe, The Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts

Special Events: Twins home games (April through September); Timberwolves home games (October through April); Open Streets Downtown (various times); Twin Cities Pride (late June), Mississippi Minute Film Festival (late October).

What to Watch For: Several office and apartment building projects are planned or under construction in the North Loop. Longer-term, the Bottineau Line (Blue Line extension) is slated to punch through the North Loop’s northwestern fringe, strengthening connections with Near North and other North Minneapolis neighborhoods.

2. A Revitalized Downtown East (East Downtown) Neighborhood
Station: Downtown East

Whether you call it Downtown East or East Downtown (either is correct, according to local geography experts), the district bounded by I-35W, Hennepin County Medical Center, Fifth Avenue South and the Mississippi River is rapidly changing.

Formerly a dingy, low-energy expanse of surface parking lots and under-utilized industrial buildings surrounding the old Metrodome, Downtown East is lately among MSP’s hippest, fastest-growing neighborhoods — a proximate complement to a resurgent North Loop. A replacement for the Metrodome, a signature park, and a slew of new condo and apartment buildings all promise to inject additional life in the coming years.

Breweries and Restaurants: Day Block Brewing, 1105 S Washington Avenue; Grumpy’s Downtown, 1111 S Washington Avenue; Sea Change, 806 S 2nd Street; Spoonriver, 750 S 2nd Street; Hubert’s, 601 S Chicago Avenue; Crooked Pint Ale House, 501 S Washington Avenue.

Cultural Attractions: The Guthrie Theater, 818 S 2nd Street; Mill City Museum; Open Book; Gold Medal Park / Mill Ruins Park

Special Events: Mill City Farmers Market; Vikings home games (beginning fall 2016) at U.S. Bank Stadium; Super Bowl LII (February 4, 2018); NCAA Men’s Final Four (early April 2019).

What to Watch For: Several new hotels, apartment buildings and condo complexes are planned or under construction within walking distance of Downtown East Station. Downtown East Commons, a four-acre park near the heart of the neighborhood, will take shape in 2016 and 2017.

3. Vibrant Cedar-Riverside
Station: Cedar-Riverside

One stop south of Downtown East is Cedar-Riverside, a vibrant cultural melting pot. The heart of the city’s East African community is also a popular stomping ground for hipsters, artists and U of M grad students. If you’re in the mood to sample a new cuisine, discover MSP’s next musical export, or expand your intellectual horizons at a West Bank lecture hall, punch your Blue Line ticket for Cedar-Riverside.

Breweries and Restaurants: Town Hall Brewery, 1430 S Washington Avenue; Republic West Bank, 221 Cedar Avenue; Acadia Cafe, 329 Cedar Avenue; Hard Times Cafe, 1821 Riverside Avenue; Palmer’s Bar, 500 Cedar Avenue; Nomad World Pub, 501 Cedar Avenue; Triple Rock Social Club, 629 Cedar Avenue.

Cultural Attractions: The Southern Theater, 1420 S Washington Avenue; The Cedar Cultural Center

Special Events: West Bank Neighborhood Association Block Party (early September); Franklin Avenue Open Streets (various times).

What to Watch For: Many of Cedar-Riverside’s bars and restaurants, notably Acadia and Palmer’s, double as performance venues. Check websites for information about special events and shows. Also, look out for Cedar Cultural Center’s revamped outdoor plaza, slated to become an all-season neighborhood hub.

4. Beautiful Minnehaha Park (and Falls)
Station: 46th Street and 50th/Minnehaha Park

You forgot that Minnehaha Falls is accessible from the Blue Line, didn’t you? That’s not surprising. By the time the typical outbound Blue Line train makes it to 46th Street, most of the folks left onboard are either on their way out to jobs at the VA or the Bloomington strip, or heading to the airport for a flight out of town. They’re not thinking about the Grand Rounds, Minnehaha Falls, or any of the seasonal jewels (picnic areas, hiking trails, Sea Salt) tucked within Minnehaha Park.

CC/Flickr/Justin

You forgot that Minnehaha Falls is accessible from the Blue Line, didn’t you?

But if the sun is shining, there’s no better place to be. Pack your bike, check your events calendar and choose from two convenient Blue Line stops serving Minnehaha Park.

Breweries and Restaurants: Sea Salt Eatery (open April through October), in Minnehaha Park; Cap’s Grille, 5000 S Hiawatha Avenue S; Town Hall Lanes, 5019 S 34th Avenue.

Cultural Attractions: John H. Stevens House Museum; Hiawatha Statue; Pergola Gardens

Special Events: National Public Lands Day (volunteering opportunities on warm-season weekends); Bike with a Ranger Day (various warm-season Saturdays); Music in the Parks (Memorial Day through Labor Day, Wednesday-Friday).

What to Watch For: Frozen Minnehaha Falls is one of MSP’s top natural wonders. In a typical year, the falls freeze by late December and stay solid until March.

5. Historic Fort Snelling
Station: Fort Snelling

If you grew up in or around MSP, you probably visited Fort Snelling on a school field trip. In case you were tuning out your teacher and/or interpretive guide on your last visit, you need to know that Fort Snelling got its start as a rough-and-tumble outpost on what was then the United States’ northwestern frontier before contributing to at least three major war efforts before its mid-20th century decommissioning.

These days, Fort Snelling is a well-kept ruin on a high bluff overlooking the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers on one side, and MSP International Airport on the other. Already a bustling destination for schoolkids and history buffs, the old fort stands to get a lot busier thanks to the nearly 200-unit Upper Post redevelopment, a planned workforce housing project slated to repurpose about two dozen old structures on part of the site.

For now, hop the Blue Line to Fort Snelling for a leisurely jaunt back through two centuries of military and civilian history. Don’t forget your bike or hiking shoes: The Minnesota Valley Trail is part of dozens of miles of riverfront and woodland trails along the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers.

Breweries and Restaurants: Not many. For pre- or post-visit fuel, hop back on the Blue Line and head north to 38th Street (four stops) or Lake Street (five stops).
Cultural Attractions: Fort Snelling State Park; Historic Fort Snelling & Visitor Center; Minnesota Valley State Trail.

Special Events: World War II Weekend (mid-June); Civil War Weekend (mid-August); World War I Weekend (early September); Independence Day celebration (July 4).

What to Watch For: The Upper Post redevelopment is the big item on the agenda for Fort Snelling and environs. With a bigger daytime population, the area may be able to support a handful of local shops, restaurants, and perhaps even a brewery.

Bonus: Nicollet Mall, Reimagined
Station: Nicollet Mall

Big things are afoot along Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis’ de facto Main Street. Already a cultural hotbed, the famous pedestrian street is in the early stages of a $50 million revamp that includes hundreds of new street trees and planters, ultra-modern LED lighting, new paving and wayfinding elements, outdoor seating, public art, and right-of-way accommodations for the proposed Nicollet-Central Streetcar line.

The Blue Line runs along 5th Street, about two-thirds of the way up Nicollet Mall. But no point on the pedestrian thoroughfare is more than a half-mile walk (or free bus ride) from the station. If you’re reticent to brave the elements on a cold winter’s day, never fear: Minneapolis’ extensive skyway system offers easy, climate-controlled access to most of the mall.

Breweries and Restaurants: Too many to name. Highlights include the Foreign Legion, 105 S 5th Street; 8th Street Grill, 800 South Marquette Avenue; Hell’s Kitchen, 80 S 9th Street; The Local, 917 Nicollet Mall; Brit’s Pub, 1110 Nicollet Mall; Lakes and Legends Brewing, 1368 Lasalle Avenue.

Cultural Attractions: Minneapolis Central Library, 300 Nicollet Mall; First Avenue/7th Street Entry, 701 1st Avenue N; Pantages Theatre, 710 Hennepin Avenue; Gallery 13, 811 Lasalle Avenue; Brave New Workshop, 824 Hennepin Avenue; Dakota Jazz Club, 1010 Nicollet Mall; Minnesota Orchestra, 1111 Nicollet Mall; Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1200 S Marquette Avenue.

Special Events: Holidazzle Village (late November through mid-December, though for 2015 it will be relocated to Loring Park); Minneapolis Farmers Market (Thursday 6 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.; on Hennepin Avenue during construction); Twin Cities Pride (late June); Minneapolis Aquatennial (late July).

What to Watch For: Everything. Areas of particular interest include an outdoor Reading Room seating area between 11th and 12th Streets; two new green spaces (Loring Woods and Mississippi Woods) bookending the mall; a high-tech Light Walk between 6th and 8th Streets; and a totally reimagined Theatre in the Round performance space between 3rd and 4th Streets.

This article is reprinted in partnership with The Line, an online chronicle of Twin Cities creativity in entrepreneurship, culture, retail, placemaking, the arts, and other elements of the new creative economy. Brian Martucci is The Line’s innovation and jobs news editor. 

The post 5 stops not to miss on the Blue Line appeared first on MinnPost.

It’s a beautiful Tuesday afternoon in late summer. You hop on your bike and pedal to Midtown Global Market, passing lush yards and bountiful vegetable plots. Once there, you park your bike and make a beeline for Kitchen in the Market, where your weekly CSA share awaits. You peer into your share box, marveling at the perky lettuce heads, just-picked tomatoes and colorful summer squash. You feel like the luckiest home cook on Earth.

Plenty of CSAs deliver delicious, fresh-picked produce to markets and garden stores around MSP. Why is this one so special?

Because it’s administered by Shared Ground Farmers’ Co-op, a new, growing agricultural collective with “strong commitment to making environmentally sustainable farming a living wage job for any who chose to pursue it,” according to the collective’s website.

Three of Shared Ground’s five founding farms are Latino-owned and -operated spreads in rural Minnesota and Wisconsin. The fourth, near Amery, Wisconsin, belongs to a U.S.-born couple. And the last is Stone’s Throw Urban Farm, an ambitious partnership that cultivates at least 15 individual plots in Minneapolis and St. Paul — nearly three acres of land, all of it USDA certified organic.

As Shared Ground’s only urban member, “Stone’s Throw serves as the [cooperative’s] storefront and distribution arm,” says Caroline Devany, who handles land use and permitting issues for Stone’s Throw. “We also provide many of the perishable crops that don’t require a lot of space, like tomatoes, lettuce and cooking greens.”

Urban farms: New methods, new markets

Stone’s Throw isn’t the only urban farm that contributes to a CSA. Growing Lots, an organic (though not yet USDA certified) urban farm based in Seward, operates its own 22-week CSA, plus a supplemental fall share that keeps the root veggies and other storage crops coming until Thanksgiving.

Stone’s Throw and Growing Lots will be joined in spring 2016 by an even more ambitious urban agriculture operation: Frogtown Farm, a 5.5-acre parcel tucked into a 12.7-acre park between Minnehaha Avenue, Lafond Avenue, Chatsworth Street and Victoria Street in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood.

According to the Pioneer Press, Frogtown Farm — a collaboration between the Wilder Foundation, the Trust for Public Land and the City of St. Paul — will be one of the country’s largest contiguous urban farms. Frogtown Farm plans to directly supervise production on about three acres, distributing harvested produce to low-income residents through a subsidized CSA and donations to local food shelves. The remaining 2.5 acres will be subdivided and set aside for community use; the Pioneer Press reports that Youth Farm, a Minneapolis nonprofit, is interested in a plot on site.

Given obvious space and resource constraints, larger urban farms like Stone’s Throw and Frogtown have to get creative — and thrifty. Stone’s Throw uses 300 yards, or about 400,000 pounds, of compost each year. According to Devany, the organization is ramping up its use of vermicomposting (worm-aided composting) to speed the decomposition process and reduce the amount of trucked-in soil needed to sustain operations. Stone’s Throw also has a tractor, which dramatically improves tilling efficiency on larger plots.

Thanks to a nearly $60,000 Knight Green Line Challenge grant, Stone’s Throw is building its first year-round growing operation on a plot at 625 N. Dale Street, in St. Paul. According to Devany, the organization’s year-round greenhouse and two season-extending hoop houses will be the first permanent, soil-based agricultural structures in St. Paul. (Urban Organics has an indoor hydroponic operation at the refurbished Hamm’s Brewery site.)

Stone’s Throw and others are leveraging these innovative, sustainable practices to achieve impressive economies of scale. Stone’s Throw plants and harvests from more than 4,000 tomato plants each year, for instance. In fact, the organization produces more tomatoes, lettuce and cooking greens than can fit in its portion of the Shared Ground CSA.

Stone’s Throw sells the surplus direct to the public at two farmstands, one in Frogtown and the other in Midtown Minneapolis, and at Mill City Market in Minneapolis. Stone’s Throw has a growing lineup of restaurant accounts, too; regulars include Ngon Bistro, Lucia’s, Tilia and the Corner Table. These non-CSA sales represent a vital link in MSP’s increasingly robust local food system, not to mention a valuable revenue stream that Stone’s Throw can plow back into its operations.

“Nowadays, many chefs and restaurant owners keep extensive local grower contact lists,” and readily source hyper-local produce during the growing season, says Mark Granlund, longtime arts and gardens coordinator for the city of St. Paul and enthusiastic urban agriculture booster. “Ten years ago, few restaurateurs knew even a single local farmer by name.”

“It’s exciting to see urban agriculture transforming from a theoretical concept into an actual, functioning system,” he adds.

Opportunities for small-scale growers

MSP’s urban agriculture ecosystem isn’t confined to larger growing operations that the mimic sustainable, family- or cooperatively-run market farms (like Shared Ground’s non-urban members) popping up just beyond the region’s sprawl. The most exciting urban ag developments are increasingly found at the smaller end of the spectrum, as individuals and small business owners rediscover the joys and benefits of growing food for their own use — and, often, extra income.

The most visible examples of MSP’s small-scale urban ag movement are community gardens, where single people, families or small groups grow produce for themselves and, sometimes, a small farmers market stall. The region’s community gardening scene has exploded in recent years, with far too many individual gardens to name. Gardening Matters, an urban gardening and agriculture organization, maintains a comprehensive map of community gardens in Minneapolis and St. Paul using data supplied by the gardens themselves.

According to Gardening Matters’ annual Community Gardening in Minnesota: A Snapshot report, nearly 350 community gardens existed across MSP in 2014. Of those, more than 250 produced food. Most are owned and operated by city governments, nonprofit institutions, faith institutions or private individuals.

“[Community gardens] are very creative at finding land to support their activities,” says Granlund, citing churchyards, tax-forfeited and foreclosed lots, and land leased by local businesses.

The communal gardening community clearly sees itself as a force for public good. About 35 percent of food-producing gardens statewide (Gardening Matters doesn’t break out data by city) donate some or all of their harvest to local food shelves. Donations are either made piecemeal — a gardener loads up a few boxes and takes them to a local shelf — or through a specific program, such as the city of Minneapolis’ Healthy Food Shelf Network.

Meanwhile, about 40 percent of all community gardens statewide, and an even higher percentage in historically disadvantaged parts of MSP’s urban core,  “intentionally involve youth.” For instance, Project Sweetie Pie recruits and trains young people to tend gardens in several North Minneapolis neighborhoods.

McKinley Urban Farm, also located in North Minneapolis, caters to kids but accepts volunteers of all ages. McKinley is one of the few community gardens with its own CSA, an 18-week affair filled with produce grown on a handful of vacant residential lots.

Many community gardens don’t donate their entire harvest to charity or operate their own CSAs. In many cases, individual growers at such gardens operate their own farmers market stalls. According to Granlund, folks who cultivate on private property are free to buy a vendor permit at their farmers’ market of choice and sell whatever they grow. Due to public use codes, food grown on city-owned land, including in parks, can’t be sold commercially.

Rebuilding a sustainable local food system

Thanks to organizations like Stone’s Throw, Gardening Lots and McKinley Urban Farm, not to mention thousands of individual cultivators, MSP is closer to developing a legitimate hyper-local food system than at any point in the previous two generations. Much of the region’s progress is down to proactive measures taken by the two core cities in the 2000s and early 2010s, as well as groundwork laid by private and nonprofit organizations as far back as the 1990s.

“Back in the 1950s, [local decision-makers] decided that farming didn’t really belong in the city limits anymore,” says Cam Gordon, a City Council member for Minneapolis’ Ward 2. “It took years to undo that damage.”

Both Minneapolis and St. Paul have active “food councils” that engage individuals and organizations on food security and food systems issues. In both cities, the councils’ core duties include ensuring stable, long-term land access — a key issue in any urban center — for growers of all stripes.

Minneapolis’ City Council, along with city agencies, is loosening the requirements necessary for community gardens to secure long-term (three- to five-year) leases on vacant properties — previously, properties “had to be basically undevelopable to qualify,” says Gordon. According to Homegrown Minneapolis, at least 30 city-owned lots qualify for long-term leases. One-year leases are available on each of 29 North Minneapolis lots that have been vacant since the 2011 tornado.

Meanwhile, the powerful Minneapolis Park Board has a parallel urban agriculture program that’s currently exploring the possibility of cultivating food-bearing perennials, like fruit trees and berry bushes, on existing parkland — potentially ensuring a long-term supply of healthy produce for residents without access to farm plots.

In St. Paul, Frogtown Farm — a permanent, public-private urban agriculture resource — clearly showcases the power of land tenure. Though contiguous 5.5-acre parcels are rare in either city, Gordon and Granlund note that there’s an abundance of marginal or unsuitable-for-development land that could well be relegated to agricultural use on a semi-permanent basis.

The Twin Cities Agricultural Land Trust (TCALT) is responsible for much recent progress on the land tenure issue. Conceived years ago as a partnership between “Gardening Matters, the Land Stewardship Project, Minnesota Project, City of Lakes Community Land Trust, Farmers’ Legal Action Group, and the Association for the Advancement of Hmong Women, among others,” says TCALT board chair Valentine Cadieux, TCALT advocates for community agriculture groups and networks with landowning entities (including Minneapolis Parks) to improve land access and tenure.

“If you look around, there’s a lot of green space here, which is part of what makes [MSP] such an amazing place to live,” says Cadieux. “Permission to use more of that land in the longer term for food could create more public gardens and orchards, food production programming in parks and schools and hospitals that’s integrated with the food served there, and the possibility for more people to gain a livelihood from growing food in ways that create many public benefits for the rest of us.”
 
Sustainability is a major challenge for eco-minded urban farms, too. In particular, maintaining organic certification is difficult for thinly staffed organizations operating on shoestring budgets. According to Stone’s Throw’s Devany, who oversaw her employer’s USDA certification process, the process took several months and involved more forms than she could count.

“Organic certification is challenging for urban growers because they tend to be so dispersed,” she says. For each of Stone’s Throw’s 15 urban plots, Devany contacted adjacent landowners — often several per plot — to ask about pesticide use during the previous three years. She also had to convince each neighbor to maintain a 10-foot spray buffer, beyond which they weren’t allowed to apply pesticides. Going forward, she’ll have to submit to an annual USDA review of existing properties — and go through the process all over again for each new property Stone’s Throw obtains.

But these challenges aren’t insurmountable. And as the dizzying proliferation of urban CSAs, community gardens, hyper-local farmers market stalls and farm-to-fork restaurants attests, MSP’s urban agriculture ecosystem is only getting stronger.

“As recently as a few years ago, I personally knew almost everyone involved with urban agriculture” in MSP, says Granlund. “Today, there are just too many participants to keep straight.”

This article is reprinted in partnership with The Line, an online chronicle of Twin Cities creativity in entrepreneurship, culture, retail, placemaking, the arts, and other elements of the new creative economy. Brian Martucci is The Line’s innovation and jobs news editor.  

The post Urban agriculture in MSP: growing, diversifying, sustainable appeared first on MinnPost.

Courtesy of 56 Brewing

The beers at 56 Brewing

Another month, another craft brewery opening.

These days, MSP seems to have more independent craft beer producers than adults of legal drinking age. And yet the brewery announcements, grand openings and expansions keep coming. Are we reaching peak craft beer?

Not quite yet. Thanks in part to the fact that taprooms weren’t legal here until 2011, when the Minnesota State Legislature passed the so-called Surly Bill, MSP and Minnesota remain underserved by the craft beer industry relative to neighboring states.

According to Lakes & Legends Brewing Company founder and CEO Ethan Applen, who conducted extensive market research before deciding to locate in Loring Park, Wisconsin and Michigan both have higher rates of local craft beer penetration than Minnesota. In other words, when Wisconsinites or Michiganders head to the bar or liquor store, they’re more likely than their Minnesotan counterparts to quaff a craft brew produced in their respective home states. (Applen’s research excluded local macrobrews, like Milwaukee-made Miller.)

By contrast, Minnesotans are more likely to drink craft beers produced out of state, or eschew craft beer altogether and head for the macro fridge. To Applen, MSP’s relatively low market penetration presented an impossible-to-ignore opportunity — which is why the California native chose to open his brewery here, not in Madison or Detroit.

But MSP’s relative paucity of craft beer doesn’t mean the taprooms and production house boom can continue unabated. The five breweries profiled here, all of which opened earlier this year or are set to open within months, take a more disciplined approach to the art and science of beer. Nearly all plan to focus on a particular stylistic (such as Belgian-style brews) or a social (such as active, sporty folks) niche.

Many have raised $1 million or more in startup capital, a hefty sum by independent craft brewery standards, in the hopes of “starting big” and avoiding the “constant cycle of expansion” that often trips up smaller breweries, says Bryn Mawr Brewing’s Dan Justesen.

Here’s a look at what to expect from MSP’s newest craft breweries — and some thoughts on when we can expect the craft beer boom to take a breather.

56 Brewing

Tucked into an industrial district in Northeast Minneapolis, between vast railyards and the Mississippi River, 56 Brewing isn’t exactly easy to find. But finding 56 Brewing is almost beside the point. While 56 Brewing does have a functional taproom, its main differentiator is the fact that it operates as a CSB — Community Supported Brewery.

Just like a CSA, 56 Brewing sells shares to members. CSB members get a set amount of free beer on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis, depending on share size; members located in Northeast Minneapolis can get free home beer delivery. CSB members are also privy to new release pre-order opportunities, free brewery swag and a 10 percent discount on all other purchases. A portion of each CSB share’s proceeds supports 56 Brewing’s growing network of local agricultural suppliers.

For those who can’t visit the taproom or don’t want to purchase a CSB share, 56 Brewing’s beers are on tap at a handful of MSP bars, mostly in Northeast Minneapolis.

Lakes & Legends Brewing Company

Lakes & Legends Brewing Company sounds tailor-made for tough-as-nails North Woods gullets, not Loring Park’s presumably more discerning palettes. But after opening this fall, Lakes & Legends will share high-end LPM Apartments’ ground-floor retail space with Chicago fave Eggy’s Diner’s much-anticipated MSP outpost. Lake and Legend’s charge is to bringing complex, delicately balanced Belgian-style ales to a neighborhood not normally associated with craft beer.

Co-founders Ethan Applen and Derrick Taylor are confident they can pull it off. Both are successful professionals with keen business minds: Applen worked for years as a strategist and tech specialist for Warner Brothers, while Taylor spent more than a decade in sales and distribution for Red Bull.

“We looked at the ‘usual suspects’ sites,” says Applen, like industrial buildings in Northeast Minneapolis, Midway and St. Paul’s West End neighborhood. “We expected to be priced out of downtown Minneapolis.”

Ultimately, Applen decided Loring Park was both underserved by craft brewers and too densely populated — “there are around 6,000 people within a six-block radius,” many of whom actually live in the LPM Building, he notes — to ignore.

Though Lakes & Legends will have plenty of Belgian- and farmhouse-style offerings, Applen and Taylor aren’t style-exclusive. According to Applen, they’re happy to brew anything that fits their “farm-to-bottle” philosophy, sourcing local hops, malts and other ingredients whenever possible.

“One of the reasons we chose [MSP] over another city is that, once you get outside the built-up area, there’s a tremendously strong agricultural tradition here,” says Applen. “That makes the farm-to-bottle approach easier.”

Lakes & Legends’ rustic ties will be on full display in the 3,500-square-foot taproom, which Applen describes as an “urban farmhouse” with earthy décor and regular live music.

Bryn Mawr Brewing Company

Slated for a winter (early 2016) opening, Bryn Mawr Brewing is one of the more ambitious breweries to hit MSP of late. The brewery’s leadership team just signed a final lease on an 18,000-square-foot space in the new @Glenwood complex near Theodore Wirth Park, where it’ll abut a three- or four-story office building, revitalized Bassett Creek waterfront, and (eventually) a rehabilitated Fruen Mill with restaurant, retail and housing components. The taproom and patio should sit at least 200 people, though plans are still being finalized.

Bryn Mawr caters to a niche that’s sorely underserved by local craft breweries: local sports enthusiasts, from cyclists and Nordic skiers to club rugby and soccer players. As co-founder Dan Justesen told The Line recently, “We’re surrounded by parks and recreation amenities here,” including Wirth Park and sports-friendly Bryn Mawr Meadows Park, so it makes sense to be a hub for active drinkers.

Bryn Mawr has a specific beer niche in mind, too: European-style beers, led by a “sessionable” flagship called Utepils. Justesen, who cut his chops as owner of Vine Park Brewing Company in St. Paul, sees value in accessible, refreshing styles that attract casual drinkers and lack the strong flavors or high alcohol levels of more experimental beers.

Bryn Mawr’s big plans are costly: The brewery recently announced an equity crowdfunding round, limited to accredited investors, which aims to raise $1.25 million this fall. For those who can’t invest directly, Bryn Mawr is also offering “free first beers for life,” brewery swag, purchase credits and other goodies through its VIPer program, which costs $1,000 per individual and $1,900 per couple.

Lake Monster Brewing

St. Paul’s Lake Monster Brewing, opening this October near the Green Line’s Raymond Station, technically isn’t a new brewery. But the outfit hasn’t had a proper home since it first began selling beer in late 2013. Instead, owner Matthew Zanetti has worked with a local contract brewer to get his beer on store shelves across MSP.

“Contract brewing worked for a while, but our production capacity was severely limited” due to competition for tank space, says Zanetti. “Having our own space will boost our capacity many times over.”

Zanetti expects Lake Monster’s pilsners and IPAs to appeal to ab road cross-section of casual drinkers, with seasonals (like a fresh-hopped ale made with hops grown in Wisconsin) attracting more experienced enthusiasts.

But Lake Monster’s brewery/taproom is the main attraction and the brewery’s insurance against future craft beer downturns. Housed in a 100-year-old, red-brick railroad exchange warehouse on Vandalia Avenue, the 10,000-square-foot, truss-framed space is “completely open,” says Zanetti.

“The taproom and brewery are literally separated by a high-top drink rail and nothing else,” he adds. “We had to knock down a couple walls to achieve the effect.”

Including seating in the two outdoor patios flanking the space, Lake Monster can fit about 340 patrons. And the 175-space parking lot is a luxury that many neighborhood taprooms can’t afford.

“We’re three blocks from the Green Line, seconds from I-94, and right around the corner from the [neighborhood favorite] Dubliner Pub,” says Zanetti. “It’s hard to get more convenient than that.”

Modist Brewing

If Bryn Mawr Brewing epitomizes fealty to European-style purity, the North Loop’s soon-to-be-open Modist Brewing (pronounced “modest”) strives for the exact opposite effect.

“Modist is a brand, a mentality, a lifestyle,” says Keegan Knee, head brewer and co-founder. “We don’t feel obligated to stick to the traditional style guidelines” that hamper other breweries.

“We want to make beers you haven’t had before,” he adds.

Perhaps wisely, Modist is pairing its eclectic approach with an intense program of patron education. Part of its taproom will be set aside for informal chats, seminars and demonstrations, with regular tours during open hours.

“[Beer] education is really important to us,” says co-founder Eric Paredes. “Beer is more approachable and less snobby than wine, but it’s still intimidating to casual drinkers. We want people to feel comfortable with our product.”

Some six years in the making, Modist is a collaboration between four friends and business partners: Knee, who previously brewed at Dangerous Man Brewing Company in Northeast Minneapolis; Paredes, a native Californian who cut his chops in the wine industry; Kale Anderson, the brewery’s business and operations specialist; and John Donnelly, a down-to-earth sales guru.

Modist’s North Loop location, about two blocks from Target Field and Fulton Brewing, is prime real estate these days. And like Bryn Mawr, the brewery is going big from the get-go: According to a Minnesota Business Journal report, investors are sinking at least $1 million into the place. The four co-founders say they’re on track for a December opening.

Are we approaching peak craft beer?

Each new or expanded MSP brewery has an ambitious, creative growth plan and a distinct niche to fill. While Applen’s admittedly self-serving research indicates that MSP has yet to hit peak craft beer, local industry wags note a shift in the past year, and acknowledge that breweries lacking a superior product or defensible niche face a real risk of failure.

Scott Ebert, a Minneapolis-based Baker Tilly partner who works closely with craft breweries and beer distributors, sees several signs of a temporary peak in the craft beer boom, or at least of a craft beer scene less hospitable to upstart breweries.

For starters, “[t]he big boys” — macrobrew conglomerates — “are starting to get into the craft beer segment,” through acquisitions, he says. Though MSP hasn’t seen a high-profile buyout, big companies are encroaching: Anheuser-Busch InBev purchased all of Chicago-based Goose Island Brewery’s outstanding shares in 2011. Belgian conglomerate Duvel recently bought out Kansas City-based Boulevard Brewing Company. Summit, Surly and other bigger MSP breweries could eventually be takeover targets, though Ebert doesn’t see that happening in the near-term.

More troublingly, Ebert sees the conglomerates pushing local alcohol distributors toward exclusive distribution deals, which were the norm until recently. Exclusive deals limit how much “outside product” — often from independent craft breweries — distributors can carry. For instance, Anheuser-Busch InBev might require an exclusive distributor to purchase at least 25 percent of its total inventory from Anheuser-Busch InBev.

Distributors don’t mind exclusive deals, notes Ebert, because drinkers have “very little brand loyalty to specific breweries in the craft segment,” he says. “They’d rather buy four six-packs from four different breweries than four six-packs from the same brewery.” By contrast, macrobrew drinkers tend to stick with a specific label, like Coors Light or Miller High Life, enabling distributors to better predict sales volumes and revenues.

Even non-exclusive distributors are pickier about what beer styles and brands they carry, says Ebert. “We’re seeing distributors wary of carrying ‘out-there’ and experimental styles,” due to concerns about the product’s appeal, he says. “Distributors are increasingly saying, ‘Keep those eight rotating styles and give me your two flagship beers’” — typically accessible styles like pilsner, India pale ale or American pale ale.

Ultimately, Ebert sees two paths to success for members of MSP’s current craft brewery crop. Larger, more established breweries — Summit, Surly, Fulton, Indeed — will thrive thanks to name recognition, quality (and predictable) products, and ample brewing operations that allow for multi-state distribution. According to Ebert, these breweries’ strengths play to “casual craft drinkers,” the folks who don’t rush out to try every new beer that hits the street.

Smaller, less established breweries can differentiate themselves with inviting, neighborhood-style taprooms and niche-oriented approaches to brewing and hospitality, says Ebert, as most of the newcomers profiled here plan to do. While this isn’t a recipe for breakneck growth, the predictable crowds at even modest-sized MSP taprooms attest to brisk demand for welcoming spaces that serve quality beer.

A third way for local craft brewers?

MSP’s craft brewers may have a third, yet-untested, outlet for their product: “super-taprooms,” or drinking establishments dedicated exclusively to craft beer. For instance, Community Keg House, a soon-to-open super-taproom in Minneapolis’ Northeast Arts District, plans to devote 16 tap lines to locally produced craft beer. Patrons sample different styles in tasting glasses, then take their own pint glasses to a supervised “pouring room” arranged by theme or style: “fall beers,” “stouts and porters,” and so on.

To the extent possible, Community Keg House plans to be hyper-local. “We want to be the hub for all things Northeast [Minneapolis], at least when it comes to beer,” says co-founder Nate Field. Whenever Community Keg House can’t source enough product from within easy walking or biking distance, it’ll add brews from metro MSP and outstate Minnesota to the mix.

As a macrobrew-free zone, Community Keg House “is the perfect place to bring that craft beer-loving friend from out of town,” says Field. And with so many local beers on tap, Field’s taproom should serve as an easily accessible hub for local enthusiasts to find out (and taste) what’s new on the scene, without trekking to multiple taprooms or agonizing in front of the local beer store’s cooler.

Though Community Keg House can’t singlehandedly support every MSP brewery, the “super-taproom” concept can likely be applied to other brewery-friendly parts of town: Midway and St. Anthony Park in St. Paul, downtown and the North Loop in Minneapolis. A proliferation of such craft beer clearinghouses could prolong MSP’s craft beer boom — even if locally made pilsners and pale ales come to dominate the tap lines.

This article is reprinted in partnership with The Line, an online chronicle of Twin Cities creativity in entrepreneurship, culture, retail, placemaking, the arts, and other elements of the new creative economy. Brian Martucci is The Line’s innovation and jobs news editor. 

The post Has the Twin Cities reached peak craft beer? appeared first on MinnPost.

Imagine life science and IT startup clusters connected by woonerf-like streets to vastly expanded University of Minnesota lab facilities; dense, live-work-play developments that spur further transit investments and draw ambitious people from across MSP and beyond; shared energy allocation, water management and parking facilities for thousands of residents and workers; bustling breweries, inspiring pocket parks, and vastly improved pedestrian and bike connections throughout.

Sound like an urbanist’s idle daydream? Perhaps. But the Prospect North Partnership is serious about implementing this vision in the densely populated, already busy Green Line corridor between the U of M and Highway 280. The partnership’s target area, dubbed (for the moment) “University Avenue Innovation District,” covers parts of Prospect Park in Minneapolis and St. Anthony Park in St. Paul.

“With the opening of the Green Line and continued growth at the U, the University Avenue Innovation District (UAID) area is going to develop and fill in one way or another,” says Prospect Park 2020 principal and local architect Dick Gilyard, an early UAID booster who remains central to the planning and implementation processes. “Local stakeholders are asking, ‘Is development going to happen to us, or are we going to shape what’s planned and built?’”

Prospect North’s growing membership — nearly 20 distinct entities in all — includes the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul; the Minneapolis Public Housing Agency; Xcel Energy; Mississippi Watershed Management Organization; Greater MSP; Prospect Park 2020; and various U of M entities, among others. All share an ambitious, innovative vision for development and urban problem solving that, done right, could set a national standard for 21st-century city building.

Sharing resources in a dynamic ‘city within a city’

The University Avenue Innovation District builds off of the City of Minneapolis’s Stadium Village Station Area Plan [PDF]. But the UAID is the most cohesive, comprehensive and outside-the-box neighborhood development vision to be attempted anywhere in MSP in a generation.

Built around existing neighborhood anchors, such as the U’s life sciences laboratories, Surly Brewing Co. and the renowned Textile Center, UAID will be a mixed-use, resource-efficient urban village that draws talented workers and ambitious entrepreneurs, many of whom (it is hoped) will choose to live within walking or biking distance of their offices. Over time, the vibrant culture of innovation will attract business incubators, existing employers and deep-pocketed startup investors, creating the sort of virtuous cycle that’s currently on display in the North Loop and parts of Northeast Minneapolis.

“We’re creating a living laboratory for urban development,” says Gilyard. “[UAID is] a catalytic city within a city where people want to live, work and justbe all the time.”

Fully realized, UAID could support anywhere from 5,000 to 7,000 jobs, and grow the local tax base from $2 or $3 million to $25 million annually — a huge boon for local governments.

To achieve these lofty targets and create a functional and appealing enclave, UAID local stakeholders and decision-makers are fundamentally rethinking urban infrastructure management, resource allocation and problem solving. The district’s success hinges on effectively sharing systems and resources on a scale never before seen in MSP.

“We’re implementing systems and tackling challenges on a district-wide basis, rather than a piecemeal, project-by-project basis,” explains Gilyard. He identifies five broad engineering systems to be addressed at the district level: stormwater management, hot and cold water delivery, parking, public realms and energy.

Most systems apply existing solutions or technologies on a larger scale. “None of this requires technologies or processes that haven’t been tried before,” says Gilyard.

For instance, the hot and cold water system would simply produce and store potable water at one or more shared hubs within the district, then distribute it to a housing unit or office after a toilet flush or tap turn. District energy would be handled in similar fashion, with the area’s energy supply distributed as needed through a communal, highly efficient, inter-building system connected to the national grid and possibly augmented by sustainable local generation.
 
Meanwhile, the district parking system would resemble the U’s existing parking model, which finds students, faculty and staff using university-owned parking garages based on where they work or take classes. In the UAID, local residents, workers and visitors would likely share space in parking facilities owned by Prospect North Partnership, Minneapolis and/or St. Paul, or another entity.

The shared stormwater plan is particularly innovative and eco-friendly. Mississippi Watershed Management Organization is spearheading the construction of aboveground and/or underground reservoirs to store stormwater runoff from private properties. Stored water could be recycled and reused for landscape irrigation, sanitation systems, and even (after thorough purification) drinking and bathing water.

UAID’s public realms could turn out to be the most ambitious of the five envisioned systems. According to Gilyard, Prospect North Partnership’s long-term goal involves connecting the neighborhood to Minneapolis’ Grand Rounds park system, which runs along the nearby Mississippi riverfront.

As part of the planned Grand Rounds integration, the Trust For Public Land is spearheading the creation of a wedge-shaped “signature green space,” he says, that would begin at the Prospect Park Green Line station and extend north, encompassing the Kemp’s creamery overflow site and possibly incorporating the “United Crushers” mill into a destination park. The space would likely be owned by the Minneapolis Park Board or by a private landowner that agrees to allow public use. And any onsite water features could tie into Mississippi Watershed Management Organization’s stormwater storage system.

Nearby, five blocks of 4th Street SE — currently an ordinary side street flanked by apartment and office buildings — are slated for a total revamp. Dubbed “Green Fourth,” the re-imagined 4th Street will be a woonerf-like “demonstration project designed for people, not cars,” says Gilyard. Ample seating, lighting, mini-plazas and parklets will dot the span, inviting street-level engagement and spurring imaginative new land uses.

“The goal is to create a ‘green spine’ for [UAID] that ties future real estate developments and green spaces together, enhancing the end-user’s experience,” says Sarah Harris, managing director at University of Minnesota Foundation Real Estate Advisors, a Prospect North Partnership member. Two blocks of Green Fourth should be fully constructed by the end of 2017, with the rest to follow on a yet-to-be-determined timeline.

Prospect Park 2020

“The goal is to create a ‘green spine’ for [UAID] that ties future real estate developments and green spaces together, enhancing the end-user’s experience,” says Sarah Harris, managing director at University of Minnesota Foundation Real Estate Advisors.

“We’re using infrastructure as an organizing principle for the entire district, as well as a spur for private development, without ever losing sight of how the built environment affects patterns of activity,” Harris explains.

Lessons learned, challenges to come

The innovation district concept isn’t unique to MSP. The Brookings Institution highlights numerous examples in various stages of planning and execution. According to Harris, the Prospect North Partnership looked closely at the Kendall Square district in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where MIT and local partners built a vibrant residential research-and-startup district out of an ordinary urban neighborhood.

Kendall Square exemplifies a long-term trend: “the rise of innovation districts as R&D moves away from siloed [university] campuses and into amenitized urban districts, the continuing evolution of public-private partnership as a strategy for delivering enhanced urban places,” and the decisive embrace of sustainable development in the planning community, says Haila Maze, a long range planner with Minneapolis’ Community Planning and Economic Development department.

But there’s no true case study for district-wide system integration on this scale, notes Harris. “We’re really taking a step beyond previous innovation district models here,” she says, “and building a replicable ‘city of the future’ model that demonstrates how urban development should occur locally and nationally.”

So far, UAID’s public-private model has proven effective at inducing compromise-oriented, workable solutions to thorny issues. For instance, says Gilyard, the Textile Center was instrumental in building support for a district parking scheme.
 
The partnership had initially envisioned a piecemeal parking approach that emphasized site-specific parking. As the area’s density increased, the Textile Center fretted that there wouldn’t be enough excess parking capacity on local streets and adjacent parcels to support its occasional users, many of whom drive into MSP from rural and suburban areas with sewing machines, fabric rolls and other bulky equipment. The district parking model guarantees the Textile Center enough parking on busy days without affecting density or shortchanging other land uses.
 
By the same token, businesses moving into the UAID appear willing to compromise on issues that don’t align with the district’s vision. When Surly Brewing Company was scouting sites for its new destination brewery, it initially deemed Prospect Park’s available parcels too small to work with. “They wanted something on the order of 20 acres,” says Gilyard, “which wasn’t going to happen here.”

The Prospect North Partnership prevailed on Surly’s owners to reconsider, pointing to the district’s transit amenities and future potential. They succeeded, of course, and the brewery’s gleaming seven-acre site is now one of the neighborhood’s hottest properties.

New stakeholders are buying in, too. Awakened by a hot regional property market and intoxicated by the innovation district’s potential, developers can’t wait to break ground until UAID’s shared systems are in place. But they’re still heeding UAID’s vision. According to Harris, five in-progress residential developments have “flexible infrastructure components” that can be integrated with shared energy and water systems, and the partnership has prevailed on at least three residential developments to include a wider range of housing types — affordable, market-rate, public and ownership-oriented— than initially planned.
 
The biggest remaining challenge is simply arriving at an enforceable framework for the district’s shared systems: who’s responsible for their construction and initial costs, ongoing operation and funding. Though initial approval of shared systems’ construction will go through the normal city council processes, Gilyard says that agreements governing ongoing funding and maintenance need to be legally sound and permanently attached to UAID properties themselves, not individual property owners. Otherwise, landlords who arrive after the shared systems are finalized and implemented might choose to opt out, threatening the whole arrangement’s stability.

Prospect North Partnership’s members have all agreed on these issues in principle, but creating enforceable agreements for unknown future stakeholders is easier said than done. “It’s easy to agree on these things in principle,” notes Gilyard. “Problems tend to come when you’re working out the details.”

The shared systems issue presents real, though manageable, risks for UAID’s founding organizations. For instance, Mississippi Watershed Management Organization agreed to cover the initial cost of the shared stormwater system, and then charge back those costs to eventual system users over a multi-year period. The long repayment period could affect MWMO’s financial position and raises the specter of an outright loss.

But even before the shared systems’ logistical and financial headaches are worked out, Gilyard, Harris and city staff are optimistic that UAID’s physical development — complete with “plug-ins” for eventual shared systems — will continue to accelerate. The area could well be one of the first fully built-out Green Line neighborhoods.

“We would like to see build out of this area within a 10 year period,” says Maze. “With several development projects in the pipeline already, this is highly achievable.”

A blueprint for future innovation hubs

Gilyard, Harris and others involved in University Avenue Innovation District’s planning say it’s too early to tell how UAID’s development will shape other areas of MSP that could benefit from similarly ambitious visions. Gilyard is quick to point out that UAID’s name isn’t even set in stone yet.

” ‘University Avenue Innovation District’ is a working title,” he says, noting that, “University Avenue extends from Fridley to the East Side of St. Paul … so we’re mulling names that better capture the district’s essence.”

But government decision-makers in both Minneapolis and St. Paul are buying into the innovation district concept. Led by Councilmember Cam Gordon in Minneapolis (Ward 2) and Councilmember Russ Stark (Ward 4) in St. Paul, both city councils are finalizing work on parallel innovation district frameworks [PDF] to facilitate planning and build out for future live-work-play innovation hubs across MSP.

The frameworks broadly outline the characteristics necessary for innovation district designation, such as minimum land area, association with nearby institutions, likelihood of securing state and federal grant monies for development, expected population growth and expected economic benefit. The frameworks also govern city support activities, such as planning assistance, basic infrastructure improvement, funding for new housing and commercial space, and city-level policy changes necessary to facilitate development.

The innovation district frameworks could set expectations and reduce perceived risk for entrepreneurs, utilities, developers and local employers involved in any future innovation districts, says Harris. Plus, with UAID as a thriving example of the model’s possibilities, interested parties would face a shorter learning curve — and thus be more likely to participate. Though no specific plans exist, Harris points to the Upper Harbor Terminal site along the North Minneapolis riverfront and the city-owned, Kmart-anchored shopping center at Lake and Nicollet as potential focal points for future innovation districts.
 
Then again, hard-to-control economic and logistical factors can stymie large-scale redevelopment plans, particularly those reliant on substantial private investment. Previous plans for parts of UAID have soured in the past, says Kjersti Monson, CPED’s long range planning director. “The innovation district location was the site of past city planning for bioscience business development,” she notes, “but due to the recession and other factors related to infrastructure planning, those early ideas didn’t move forward.”

For now, Minneapolis, St. Paul and other Prospect North Partnership members are focused on getting UAID (or whatever its permanent name may be) right. University Avenue Innovation District “is MSP’s greatest single laboratory for new ideas,” says Gilyard. “We can’t afford to waste it on ordinary development” or compromise its expansive vision. Other innovation districts can wait.

“If we can create a district where brilliant, ambitious people desperately want to be, we’ll have succeeded,” he adds. MSP — and perhaps cities around the country and world — can build from there.

This article is reprinted in partnership with The Line, an online chronicle of Twin Cities creativity in entrepreneurship, culture, retail, placemaking, the arts, and other elements of the new creative economy. Brian Martucci is The Line’s innovation and jobs news editor. 

The post An urbanist’s dream: New MSP innovation district would create national standard for city building appeared first on MinnPost.