Development Part 11: Renewed Interest in the Core

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DevelopmentPart 11 Renewed Interest in the Core
Geography of the Twin Cities

• David A. Lanegran
• Geography Department
• Macalester College

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The downtown leadership has responded with
facilities that require centrality and proximity.
The Convention business seems ideally suited to
downtowns. In addition, developers have worked
hard to make plans work for multipurpose office
towers. In practically all cases, these new
buildings have been facilitated by government
programs.
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Minneapolis has some spectacular examples of
post-modern architecture. This is the I. M. Pei
building, designed as the headquarters for
Norwest Bank.
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The 1990s were a time of excitement in the
development and architecture communities. This is
the building that would be headquarters for the
First Bank System.
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This building, built by speculators, lacks a
major tenant but is an excellent example of a
post-modern structure. We see the fanciful top,
the bands of colored masonry, and the denial of
the idea that form should follow function with as
little decorative trim as possible.
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This view of downtown Minneapolis in winter shows
how abruptly the built-up portion of downtown
ends. We can see the surface parking lots and
armory as indications of the limited economic
power of the city center. Much of the surface
parking in this picture was cleared some 30 years
ago.
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Here we see the potential of downtown the
high-rise core with its beautiful and efficient
high-rise skyline, the open land around the Metro
Dome, and the University of Minnesota. Many
believe that an effective link between University
research and downtown business will cause another
growth spurt in the urban economy, akin to the
computer boom of the 1960s and 1970s.
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Perhaps the most disappointing development scheme
put forward by the downtown business community
was the Hubert H. Humphrey Metro Dome. The
downtown interests forced the move of the Vikings
and Twins into downtown from Bloomington with the
expectation that an entertainment and lodging
boom would follow. These optimists apparently did
not study the land use around the Met Center. In
any event, Bloomington got the Mega Mall and
Minneapolis has been forced to cope with the
illogical economics of professional sports. Even
the world championships of the Twins could not
bring development to this part of the city.
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The small and compact center of St. Paul seeks a
new identity. It can no longer be thought of as
competition to downtown Minneapolis, but it
clearly is not an edge city.
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What heavy industry that remains in the metro
area is located in the suburbs where there is
space and few neighbors to complain. This is the
refinery in St. Paul Park.
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Suburban development continues apace but
economies of scale are producing high density
developments so the simplistic thoughts about
single family suburban and commercial downtowns
have proven untenable.
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Some manufacturing and headquarters activities
have moved to the suburbs to take advantage of
accessibility and space. This is a portion of the
Deluxe Check corporation in Shoreview.
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The Land-O-Lakes Headquarters seems to defy
common notions about Corporate culture. This
building is not visible from the roads around the
site.
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Close up of the Land-O-Lakes Headquarters.
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The need to compete with the Mega Mall forced the
owners of Southdale to expand and remodel their
historic shopping center.
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Southdale was the world's first
climate-controlled shopping mall. It is now
dwarfed by the larger malls and lacks the
entertainment functions that were added to malls
in the 1980s. It is basically a covered,
air-conditioned street.