Sustainability : Development News

The annual Twin Cities Bike Walk Week stresses the benefits of biking and walking as an alternative to driving a car.

The daily festivities, scheduled from June 9 to 15, include all kinds of community gatherings, food, entertainment, prizes and more. (For a full schedule of events, check out the Bike Walk Week website.)

Every year, a number of local government agencies, nonprofit organizations, businesses and other community groups come together to make it happen, according to Nick Olson, a Bike Walk Week planner for the city of Minneapolis. Their mission is to “incentivize and encourage biking and walking,” especially people who are new to the idea, he says.

Among the week’s highlights are a series of commuter “pit stops,” at multiple places in Minneapolis and St. Paul. The “pit stops,” which take place at peak commuting hours, give people the opportunity to get their bike tuned up or to ask questions about routes, Olson says. Free bike lights will also be given away. “It’s a very direct way to get people out,” he says.

On Wednesday, breakfast will be offered for free to those on bike or foot at the Greenway Building on the Midtown Greenway at 28th Street in Minneapolis. “I recommend it. It’s a popular one,” says Olson.

Thursday is Bike Walk to Work Day. The celebration, which will happen at several locations throughout the day, includes a wide variety of vendors plus a couple of speakers. They’ll talk about “how biking and walking are a key part to communities and to business,” he says.  

People who pledge to bike or walk at least once within the week will be entered in a drawing to win a new bike or transit fare for a year, according to the website. People can sign up to take the “commuter challenge” individually or in teams.    

Besides showing people how to get from point A to point B, the activities demonstrate “how biking or walking can be tons of fun.”

Source: Nick Olson, Bike Walk Week event planner, city of Minneapolis
Writer: Anna Pratt

The Midtown Greenway, a 5.5-mile biking and walking trail in South Minneapolis, is too dark in some places.

This was a key concern raised by the Midtown Greenway Coalition’s crime-prevention task force, which recently studied the Greenway’s safety, according to Soren Jensen, who leads the organization.  Jensen says the coalition’s Trail Watch, a volunteer group of bicyclists who patrol the Greenway nightly, tries to keep an eye on things.  

But the group has been working to go beyond that to ensure safety along the path. “We wanted to see if we could come up with more ways to keep crime low in the Greenway,” he says. That’s what led the organization to form the crime-prevention task force a number of months ago.

To evaluate conditions along the Greenway, the task force members, armed with light meters, went out one night “measuring the amount of light in the corridor,” he says.  

In the end, they found too many shady spots, going by national trail standards, he says. Of particular concern are “very dark stairs and ramps,” at some points along the trail.

Although the Greenway has a low crime rate, "When there have been late-night muggings, they have tended to be near the dark stairways.”

To get a better handle on the situation, the task force produced a Google map; it’s an internal document that pinpoints the worst places along the Greenway, in order of priority, he says. Soon, the coalition hopes to see more lighting installed and signage that lets people know they’re under surveillance on the Greenway.

“We have prioritized about 15 sites so far, mostly between Interstate 35W and Hiawatha Avenue, and will continue to roll out our rankings of dark spots as the city moves to fix them,” he says.


Source: Soren Jensen, executive director, Midtown Greenway Coalition
Writer: Anna Pratt

ReUse Minnesota, a new nonprofit trade association, promotes reuse as a more efficient alternative to recycling. The group hopes to keep items that are still useful in circulation, and not in landfills, according to ReUse information.

Anna Arkin, the organization’s coordinator, says the membership-based group is for “any sort of business that expands the life of a product through reuse or repair,” or an individual or nonprofit agency working in this capacity.  

While most people recycle, reuse is “preferred environmentally,” she says. Reuse can shrink one’s ecological footprint by cutting down on “new purchases which require virgin raw materials and energy,” a prepared statement reads.

Thrift stores, secondhand bookstores, electronics repair and consignment, and architectural salvage shops are just a few examples of businesses working in this area, Arkin says.

However, there’s a lack of consumer awareness on this front, she adds.

Although the association has already begun recruiting members, the group is hosting an official launch event on June 26 at the Summit Brewery in St. Paul.

The group is an outgrowth of the local chapter of the national Reuse Alliance. In 2012, members decided to create a separate organization “to focus on promoting and facilitating reuse at the state level, rather than the national, level,” a prepared statement reads.   

Already, the organization has pulled together a variety of local businesses, government organizations, and individuals dealing in the reuse, rental, or repair sector. ReUse Minnesota is also working with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to document the impact of reuse. “The goal is to make reuse happen, so we create a stronger reuse community,” Arkin says.


Source: Anna Arkin, coordinator, ReUse Minnesota
Writer: Anna Pratt

In April, the St. Paul City Council gave the go-ahead to the parks department to enter into a development agreement with Frogtown Gardens.

The agreement lays out the next steps to make the five-acre urban agriculture demonstration site a reality. Frogtown Gardens “will encourage residents to start their own backyard gardens and will promote healthier eating habits,” a prepared statement reads.

The land for the garden once belonged to the Wilder Foundation, which has since moved its offices. St. Paul is working with the Trust for Public Land to acquire the property this year, according to St. Paul information. In the meantime, the trust is trying to raise the $3.45 million needed to buy the land and to jumpstart development and programming.

Mike Hahm, who leads the parks department, says the development agreement with Frogtown Gardens helps flesh out those details. “It’s the next important step to bring this thing to life,” he says. Frogtown Gardens speaks directly to a need for parkland in the neighborhood, a need that the parks department identified a while ago.

As a part of the project, more than half of the property will become public parkland. “We’re super excited about the project. It hits on so many priority issues for Frogtown and St. Paul as a community,” Hahm says. It goes without saying, he adds, that parkland “is important for the community for so many reasons.” Parkland contributes to sustainability and livability, both of which are big goals for the city, he says.

Another part of the acreage will be used for growing fruits and vegetables. “The city is facilitating the partnership between the Frogtown Gardens group and the public, which will own the land,” he says.

Frogtown Gardens is an example of a community-driven effort. “It was the community that raised its hand repeatedly and said it had a vision for this property as a park and an urban agricultural center,” Hahm says, adding, “It caught the attention of various officials and captured the imagination of others in the community.”


Source: Mike Hahm, director, St. Paul Parks
Writer: Anna Pratt

Through a partnership with a group called CityLabs, which works with a nonprofit consortium called the Associated Colleges of the Twin Cities (ACTC) on various sustainability projects, a number of student designers will soon be making their mark on St. Paul streets.

The students, who come from Hamline University and Augsburg College, came up with a stencil design for stormwater drains throughout the city.

On Thursday, that design, and other pieces the students put together as a part of a larger campaign to create awareness around stormwater drains, will be unveiled in a special event at Hamline.

Jason Maher, a spokesperson from CityLabs, explains that the city is required to do a certain amount of education and outreach concerning stormwater drains. That’s where CityLabs and ACTC are able to have an impact: For the stencils, the city “proposed that to us in project form and then we match that with existing coursework,” he says.  

The idea is that the stenciled designs calls attention to the stormwater drains, which often end up conveying much more than runoff, he says.

Typically, the city works with the Friends of the Mississippi River (FMR) on these types of initiatives, and FMR will be coordinating the stenciling part of this project in the coming weeks. At Thursday’s event, people can sign up to help out with that, he says.   

The reason that this project came up has to with the fact that the current designs on the city’s stormwater drains are 20 years old, so the city “wanted a redesign of that campaign.”

Also as a part of this campaign, students designed eye-catching handles to flip over storm doors and coasters for area bars to use.

As the project progressed, the dynamic between the classes and the city was much like that of a graphic design firm and client, “with lots of feedback and give and take,” he says, adding, “Someone from the city works with the students to make sure the outcomes are there and they guide the work.”

Students started out with around seven design concepts, which they narrowed down to three and then one winning design. Along the way, the students came up with lots of “ideas that are super fresh and innovative,” he says.

Source: Jason Maher, spokesperson, CityLabs
Writer: Anna Pratt

An old autoworkers' union hall in St. Paul is getting a new life as a bike shop.

The former Ray Busch United Auto Workers Union Local 879, a one-story building that overlooks the closed Ford plant, will be the first St. Paul location for the local Erik’s Bike Shop chain, according to owner Erik Saltvold.

This is an area that the bike chain had been looking at for a long time. “We were pleased when it became available,” Saltvold says. “It’s a great urban biking area off of River Road, with blocks of fantastic biking options.”

Plus, the area’s demographics are “perfect for us,” with plenty of active-minded people, he says.

It’s noteworthy that this building “used to be an auto union hall and we’re changing from autos to bikes. We’re trying to be a first part of this whole transformation,” at the Ford plant--where bike- and pedestrian-friendly amenities are an emphasis for future redevelopment plans.

Although the building is something of a landmark, having hosted many banquets through the years, its appearance makes it fade into the background. “Our facelift will make it pop,” giving it more of a presence on the street, he says. For starters, the company will be redoing the building’s front, to make it more inviting and more modern, with bigger windows. At the same time, the design will keep intact its 1950s “retro chic” look.

“We’re playing with the building’s classic design,” he says, explaining that the idea is to make it “feel more like a retail store,” he says. “It’ll feel fun and active.”  

By the time the remodel wraps up, “When people come inside, they won’t even recognize it. The inside will be totally redone.”

When the shop opens in late summer, “It’ll be convenient for a lot of people biking and recreating in that area,” he says. “It’s going to be a great resource.”


Source: Erik Saltvold, owner, Erik’s Bike Shop
Writer: Anna Pratt

The new UP Café at 1901 traffic St. N.E. in Northeast Minneapolis is gearing up for its May 3 grand opening.  

The café had a soft opening earlier this year in the building it shares with its parent company, the Upper Midwest Gourmet Company, which distributes coffee and supplies to cafes across the region.

Over the past year, to make way for the cafe, the space that the company previously used as a showroom for products, including its Flamenco Organic Coffee, went through an extensive remodeling process, according to Michael Applen, an accounts manager for the three businesses.

The showroom was an aging part of the industrial building. The company saw an opportunity to turn it into a “state-of-the-art café with everything that we sell,” Applen says. The idea was that the artisan café would also serve as a training facility, to model coffee “being brewed correctly,” in real circumstances, he adds.

The project invovled a total overhauling of the space, with new floors and larger windows put in. The dropped ceiling and carpet were removed. “Everything was updated,” says Applen. The bright yellow walls, natural light and higher ceiling “opens up the space a lot,” while one can also peer into the roastery.

In the coming months, the café plans to add outdoor seating and a garden for growing vegetables and herbs.

A local potter, Joel Cherrico, supplied the coffee shop with handcrafted serving dishes,

UP Café is a “third-wave” coffeehouse that focuses on where the coffee comes from, Applen says. “We have direct relationships with the growers,” as evidenced by the photos from the company’s trips abroad, which are mounted on the café walls. The company roasts only small batches of coffee at a time. “We don’t let it sit on the shelf and go bad,” says Applen.

In an area where high-quality food options are limited, “We hope it gives people a healthier local option,” he says.


Source: Michael Applen, accounts manager for Upper Midwest Gourmet Company, UP Café and the Flamenco Organic Coffee Company
Writer: Anna Pratt

The Beez Kneez, which delivers local, raw honey by bicycle, has a $30,000 Kickstarter campaign going to fund a new local Honey House.

The company wants to develop a headquarters in Minneapolis’s Longfellow neighborhood, according to Beez Kneez founder Kristy Allen. The reason is, “Beez Kneez needs a space to harvest and extract honey and bottle it,” she says.

As it is now, the company has to go to other beekeepers’ places to do those things. This can get expensive and it’s time-consuming, she says. Also, the company needs “a place to store things and operate,” along with retail space. A regular office space can serve an educational purpose, as well. “It can be a place where we can meet with people and talk about bees,” she says.

The community-minded company plans to rent out space for people to use the facility for a small fee.

Longfellow is an ideal area because it’s an up-and-coming area of the city, she says, adding, “It’s focused on urban agriculture, too. A lot of people have gardens where they plant flowers or vegetables. We want to add to that.” The neighborhood even has a number of beekeepers, she says.

Beez Kneez are catering to people "who want to harvest honey, but who don’t want to do it in their kitchen or to buy the equipment,” she says.  

The Honey House would also make creative use of the bicycle element--as an energy source. “We keep bees in hives with frames, and extracting is the process of taking honey from these frames--by spinning,” its Kickstarter page reads.

So far she’s found that “People are very positive and are very interested in having [this] resource.”

Source: Kristy Allen, Beez Kneez
Writer: Anna Pratt

Sandcastle, a new eatery taking over the concession stand at Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis, will open this spring.

The concession stand has been empty for the past couple of years, according to Amy Greeley, who is a co-owner of the restaurant with her husband, chef Doug Flicker, along with Chele Payer (see photo at left).

Flicker is well known for his award-winning restaurant, Piccolo, in Minneapolis.

Greeley and Flicker live nearby in the Longfellow neighborhood.

Greeley says the opportunity came out of a unique relationship with the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board (MPRB), which granted the trio a contract in December.

Construction at the site is planned to start in the coming weeks, according to Greeley.

The existing lakeside structure is getting a fresh look, but the place will "hold true to the concession beach feel," she says. She describes the design as reminiscent of the Boardwalk in New Jersey's Atlantic City, "But it'll feel more modern."

A new full kitchen will be enclosed, with big windows so that people can see food being prepared inside. Heat-treated wood paneling will go on the building's exterior. "The wood will be treated in a unique fashion, like they do it in Finland," she says.

Between the stylized wood paneling and other colorful materials, "At different times of the day, with the way the sun hits it, the reflection or the aspect of the building will look different."

Sustainability, both in the build-out and in the business operations, is a big priority. "We want to get as near to zero waste as possible," she says, adding, "We're talking with people about how to achieve that," including a master recycler.   

So far, the community has been receptive to the new restaurant. "What we heard a lot was that people wanted a place to sit down and have a snack and enjoy something close to their homes, that they can bike or walk to."

"We want it to be community-focused, with good, healthy and fun food," and to "be a place where people can spend time and make memories."

The restaurant is slated to open in May.


Source: Amy Greeley, Sandcastle
Writer: Anna Pratt

When it comes to transit, the Twin Cities has lagged behind other areas across the country.

Last Friday, 10 metro-area mayors and commissioners who gathered at the state Capitol agreed that the region needs to catch up. In a press conference, they voiced support for Governor Mark Dayton's transit initiative.

The plan addresses the need for several different modes of transit; it provides for additional bus service, funding for the Southwest Light Rail Transit line and new bus rapid transit or streetcar lines over the next 20 years, according to a prepared statement about the event.

To make it happen, the Governor's budget lays out that $250 million a year will come from a regional one-fourth-cent sales tax.

That allocation will help grow the transit system by 1 percent annually, according to event materials.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, a speaker at the press conference, said it's about creating a "first-class region when it comes to transportation," where people "choose to live in communities that have great networks of transportation options."

A number of cities across the country have already prioritized transit. "In so many different measures, they are beating us on the things that matter," he said.

That includes job creation, growth and in-migration of talented workers, as just a few examples, he added.  

But he's hopeful that as the region expands its transit system, the Twin Cities "will be second to none, in terms of the quality of life, in terms of the ability to attract talent and the ability to attract jobs."

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak seconded that, adding that the plan "will allow us to make dramatic and incredible improvements in transit infrastructure that grows jobs."

Residents need to be able to move easily throughout the region, from home and work. "You can't grow a region if you're stuck in gridlock."

Transportation needs to be addressed as a system, not in a piecemeal fashion. "It's critically important and it says a lot about our future," he said.  


Source: Press conference
Writer: Anna Pratt

Gastrotruck, a food truck that specializes in “artisanal street cuisine,” is expanding with a straight-up restaurant in Northeast Minneapolis. Its brick-and-mortar counterpart will go by another name, though that hasn’t been publicized yet, according to City Pages.  
 
The food truck will continue to circulate between Minneapolis and St. Paul in the warmer months.

Catherine Eckert, who owns the food truck, describes the changes that are underway at the building it purchased at 2400 University Avenue N.E. as a “complete property renovation.” In general, sustainability is a guiding principal for the restaurant, both in terms of construction and its offerings.   

For starters, the restaurant is going for LEED certification, which has benchmarks for green building, the City Pages story reads.

Also, Gastrotruck intends to grow as much as half of its food on the restaurant’s grounds. This will happen in part through vertical grow walls, a green roof and a greenhouse, the story adds. Recycled water runoff will play into that system.

In terms of the restaurant’s interior look, “I am striving for a farmhouse chic feel,” Eckert says.This dovetails with the food truck’s emphasis on products from local farms and companies and handcrafted ingredients.  

Gastrotruck, which plans to open the restaurant in the fall, is “all about respecting food and the environment in which it comes from,” its website states. Eckert has high hopes that the restaurant will fill a unique niche in the neighborhood: “We are super excited to offer our neighbors a restaurant that serves sustainable modern Midwestern cuisine that is approachable and affordable,” she says.  

Source: Catherine Eckert, owner, Gastrotruck
Writer: Anna Pratt

FROG  (For Recycling on Grand) recently hashed out a plan for continuing its mission this year: to boost recycling and cut down on waste along Grand Avenue in St. Paul.  

A pilot program that originated in 2009, FROG brings together representatives from the Grand Avenue Business Association, Summit Hill Association, Macalester Groveland Community Council, the city of St. Paul, and Ramsey County, according to Jenna Bowman, a member of the group who works for the Business Association.

Last year, FROG placed 13 blue recycling containers along Grand Avenue to make it easy for passersby to recycle. “We monitored that and used that information,” for planning next steps, she says.

The group has also worked to connect area businesses with Minnesota Waste Wise, an environmentally minded St. Paul nonprofit organization; it's a connection FROG hopes to build on. “We’ve seen a lot of success stories with that,” she says.

One way that FROG will continue these efforts is by focusing on recycling at Grand Old Day, the annual summertime festival on Grand Avenue.   

More broadly, the group is also working on putting together some sort of recognition program to showcase what local businesses are doing recycling-wise, she says. This could involve visuals, like decals on storefront windows, which tell those stories.

For example, maybe a business has found a way to save on packaging or cut down on how many plastic bottles are out there, she says. To take the efforts a step further, “We may have an awards program that acknowledges businesses that go above and beyond, who are leaders in the industry in what they recycle,” she says.  

Additionally, the group will continue to work with partners that provide valuable insight and feedback on its initiatives. It helps that “The city and the county are working to increase their green efforts,” she says.

Source: Jenna Bowman, staffer, Grand Avenue Business Association
Writer: Anna Pratt

In recent years, Minneapolis has earned a solid reputation as a bike-friendly city.  

The city’s 12-member Bicycle Advisory Committee is just one of many groups that are working to ensure that the city is attuned to the needs of bicyclists.

Recently, the body made a recommendation that city officials broaden an ordinance that requires large downtown developments to provide certain amenities for bicyclists, according to City Council member Gary Schiff, who represents the ninth ward.

Under the ordinance, which dates back to 2001, new projects of 500,000 square feet or more need to have a number of bicycle parking stalls, showers, and lockers.

The problem is that buildings with the same height and scale outside of the business district are left out of the equation, he says.  

This has put off some potential bike commuters. “The number-one deterrent, when people are asked, is a lack of facilities at work to shower and change,” Schiff says, citing various surveys of residents.

One place where he has seen that happen is Coloplast, a medical device company that received city funding to build its headquarters in North Minneapolis.

Even though a bike path is visible from the building, Coloplast employees “still don’t find it convenient without an available facility to use,” he says. This is because the building, which lies outside of the business district, wasn’t required to have bike facilities, he says.

To address that, the Bicycle Advisory Committee would like to see big buildings across the city adhere to the same guidelines as downtown developments. The possibility will be introduced to the full City Council at its next meeting on February 8.

Schiff is an advocate for the recommendation. “This is all about making bike commuting easier,” he says.

Source: Gary Schiff, Minneapolis City Council member  
Writer: Anna Pratt

The District 12 Community Council in St. Paul is looking to join the international Transition Town movement to “rebuild resilience and reduce CO2 emissions.”

As a starting point, the council is hosting a community meeting on Jan. 17 at the St. Anthony Park United Methodist Church, to discuss ways the community is already responding to this challenge.

Tim Wulling, a member of the council’s Environment Committee, which is heading this effort, says, “We want to pull people together to share what’s happening, to be inspired by each other.”

For those who want to learn more about the topic beforehand, the group’s energy resilience subcommittee will also be screening a movie titled “In Transition 2.0” on Jan. 9 at the Joy of the People Center and on Jan. 12 at the St. Anthony Park Branch Library.

The movie tells about what other Transition Towns around the world are doing to make a difference in this area.

It comes down to the fact that “The human species lives too large on earth, creating climate and environment disruption,” Wulling says, adding, “It’s a real concern for our children and grandchildren.”

That’s what motivated the District 12 Community Council's Environment Committee and its energy resilience subcommittee to tackle the problem.

The Transition Town movement, which originated in the U.K. a handful of years ago, emphasizes that problem solving should happen at the local level, he says. Today, the movement is at work in at least 400 communities around the world.

To help build awareness around the issues in St. Anthony Park, related movie screenings, speakers, and meetings will be planned throughout the year, he says. Later on, if the neighborhood group formally joins the Transition network, it will need to come up with a plan for reducing energy use and CO2 emissions, to be vetted by the network.

The initiative also poses big questions such as “Is there another way of living that would be better?” and “Where will we be in 20 or 30 years from now? What life do we want?”

In St. Anthony Park, “We’re fortunate here to have a community feeling,” Wulling says. “It’s a well-knit area. That’s the key. We want to build on that.”

Source: Tim Wulling, St. Anthony Park Community Council committee member
Writer: Anna Pratt

This summer, a group of students from Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC) transformed an empty lot downtown into an urban farm.

A number of students who were interested in gardening started up the MCTC Urban Farm Collective, which is extracurricular, according to Katherine Kragtorp, the group’s advisor.  

Although it’s tough to find a spot to garden downtown, the student group, which has 11 core members, connected with Brian Short, a private landowner. He let them use a vacant lot alongside Gethsemane Episcopal Church for the urban farm. 

The students began working the land earlier in the summer, putting in long hours and even expanding Gethsemane’s small garden nearby. “It really was mind-boggling what these students did, coming together, wanting to make this work,” she says. 

Today, the greenspace is divided into a community garden and a separate area for six-foot-by-six-foot individual plots. It also has a butterfly-shaped sensory garden that’s filled with herbs and a children’s section.

In the community garden, which has all kinds of fruits and vegetables, including squash, carrots, beets, pumpkins, raspberries, tomatoes, beans, and more, “The goal is to raise food and get fresh produce to those experiencing food insecurity,” she says. “They want to make it part of the community.”  

The students are working with the church to provide fresh produce to its weekly food shelf. Already, the group has donated more than 500 pounds of food to the food shelf.

Even passersby have gotten involved. “What’s neat about this is that it’s a point where the community can come together and make connections with [people from] all different backgrounds,” she says.

Soon, the urban farm collective hopes to set up “hoop houses,” or miniature greenhouses, in the garden, to extend the growing season, she adds.

Source: Katherine Kragtorp, MCTC’s Urban Farm Collective
Writer: Anna Pratt

If a proposal to renovate the vintage Hollywood Theater in Northeast Minneapolis “pencils out,” financially, local developer Andrew Volna could make an offer on it within the coming weeks.

For the moment, the theater’s future is still up in the air.

Volna, of Noisland Industries and Apiary Workspaces, is working with Meghan Elliott, an engineer whose company is Preservation Design Works, to come up with a plan to buy the city-owned building.

They sought feedback from community members at a Sept. 10 public meeting with the Audubon Neighborhood Association at the Gustavus Adolphus Lutheran Church.

Right now, they’re still doing their due diligence to figure out whether a rehab project is doable, he says.

However, they wanted to gauge the neighborhood’s response before moving forward.

“It will be an extremely expensive project to do,” Volna says. This has partly to do with the fact that it’s an historic building that comes along with preservation requirements.

At the same time, “There’s significant damage to the inside of the building,” he says, adding, “It’s a theater on the outside only.”

Although it’s unclear what kind of tenant would go into the building, “I’ve always thought of something in the creative industry that would benefit from the unique features"--features that include a large open space and Art Deco design elements.

At the meeting, people were receptive to the idea. “It would be a huge net gain for 29th and Johnson," he says. "The commercial node is stuck until the south end of the block gets dealt with.” In his view, “It could bring business to the area, and bring the south end back to life.”

However, because of the unknowns, he's proceeding with caution, Volna says.


Source: Andrew Volna, Noiseland Industries
Writer: Anna Pratt

Earlier this month, the Gateway Food Coop received a $10,000 matching grant from the Food Coop Initiative (FCI), a national nonprofit organization that promotes the cooperative economy.

Gateway was one of 10 coops across the country to get the seed funding, according to Gateway information.

The coop, which began organizing last year, wants to bring a sustainable, natural foods coop to St. Paul’s diverse East Side.   

Elizabeth Butterfield, who co-chairs the coop’s steering committee, explains the way the grant works: “For every dollar we spend of the Seed Grant money, we are expected to spend a dollar of our own money.” The money will go toward community outreach and member-owner recruitment efforts, including hiring a part-time community organizer.

Additionally, FCI will provide expertise to the coop, “noting if there are techniques that can be repeated in other similar areas throughout the country,” she says.

This kind of relationship building is important for meeting its goals, according to Butterfield. For example, shortly after finding out about the FCI award, "We were approached by Mississippi Market to compete for a $14,000 gift,” which will be given out in October, she says. “Their members will vote to award the money to three out of five nonprofits that are competing for the funds.”

Separately, Phalen Ovenworks is hosting a wood-fired pizza party to benefit the coop on October 6.

The place also raises money for the coop through bread sales on Sunday nights.  

So far, the coop has 84 members, a number it hopes to grow through events this fall. But at this point, it’s too early to say where on the East Side the coop might be go. The coop has yet to do a thorough market study, Butterfield says.  
 
 
Source: Elizabeth Butterfield, organizer, Gateway Food Coop
Writer: Anna Pratt


 

ArtsHub, a coworking space at Intermedia Arts that’s geared to creative types, has become a “full and thriving space” since it started last fall.  

Maggie McKenna, who hosts ArtsHub, says that between its brightly-colored mezzanine, gallery meeting spaces, weekly table tennis matches, and a newly furnished ArtsHub West in the adjacent building, “The facility has been inspiring,” resulting in unlikely collaborations.

It has achieved near capacity with a diverse group of artists, community organizers, nonprofit organizations, and businesses that are permanent members.

“Every day I come in and strike up a conversation with someone and it seems like a new project lands on my desk, or I’m helping solve a problem, or I just get to hear about a lot of different things happening,” she says.

The place is filled with “the kind of creative people who are willing to talk to strangers and share ideas.”  
That has led to new developments at ArtsHub, including an urban farm, with vegetables and herbs, on its grounds.  

It serves as a demonstration garden for the Permaculture Research Institute Cold Climate, one of the ArtsHub members. The garden is also accessible to coworkers, she says.

Volunteers helped to “construct a growing space out of nothing,” this spring, along with picnic areas, she says. “We worked this summer to create outdoor spaces as well as indoor spaces.”  

The greenery helps to soften the boxy concrete building. “It’s exciting to watch that grow,” she says.   

Separately, this fall ArtsHub is launching several new programs, including workshops for artists and creative entrepreneurs, free health clinics, and more.

That’s part of the benefit of this type of environment. “There are a lot of ways the community members can learn from each other,” she says, adding, “I can’t imagine being in a traditional office space again.”


Source: Maggie McKenna, ArtsHub at Intermedia Arts
Writer: Anna Pratt

Recently, the American Indian Family Center on St. Paul’s East Side underwent a $50,000 renovation.
 
The center provides family and employment support services to American Indian families, many of whom live in the neighborhood. 
 
Funds for the project came from Drops of Good: The Maxwell House Community Project, which awarded grants to three similar centers across the country, according to center information.
 
Renovations at each center began in July, according to the program’s website.
 
Minneapolis’s Rebuilding Together Twin Cities, a nonprofit organization that focuses on home repair, nominated the American Indian Family Center for the grant.
 
Michaela Brown, a spokesperson for Rebuilding Together Twin Cities, says via email that the project has helped to create a “more welcoming and functional space for the 800 families served each year by the Center.”
 
It’s a visible transformation, inside and out. For starters, the building’s exterior went from a drab gray to bright yellow, with a decorative trim that has Dakota and Ojibwe designs. The site has been landscaped as well.  
 
Over the summer, 250 volunteers helped knock down interior walls, tear out carpet and ceiling tiles, paint walls, and more, an East Side Review story states.  
 
One major addition to the building through the remodeling project is a “teaching kitchen,” where the organization can expand its programs related to nutrition and cooking, Brown explains.
 
Previously, the center, which works to prevent diabetes, had to rent kitchen space elsewhere.
 
The lobby and play area have also been upgraded.
 
Janice LaFloe, a center staffer, says in the East Side Review story, "We're in a pretty worn and used building and so certainly the significance for me is to create that new, fresh, welcoming environment."
 
In a thank-you note to those who pitched in, Elona Street-Stewart, president of the board overseeing the center, adds that the “miracle makeover” puts the agency in a better position to serve the people who come in its doors.
 
 
Source: Michaela Brown, Rebuilding Together Twin Cities
Writer: Anna Pratt
 

 
 
 

Last month, Cycles for Change, a nonprofit bike shop, celebrated its expansion along University Avenue in St. Paul.

The shop, which has been around since 2001, strives to increase bike access for low-income and underserved populations in the surrounding neighborhoods, according to its website.

It has grown a lot over the past few years, and it needed more space to accommodate that, according to development and outreach director Jason Tanzman.

To carry that out, recently the shop, which was formerly known as the Sibley Bike Depot, received a $30,000 grant from the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative. 

As a part of the project, the shop added 600 square feet to its existing 3,000 square feet, he says.

Through the project, the administrative area and workshop (where customers can work on their bikes), got more space, he says. The retail section moved to the storefront area while the walls got a fresh coat of paint and the floors were refinished.   

The shop has also been able to get improved signage for better street-level visibility, which is especially important considering the challenges of Central Corridor light rail transit line construction, he says.

Prior to the expansion, the bike shop was a bit out of the way in the building, he says.

Besides the phsyical changes, the place was able to increase its retail hours.   

All in all, the changes “enhance our ability to be a community organization and promote biking as a way to get around in combination with public transit," he says. 

Despite the momentum around biking right now, it can still be cost-prohibitive, especially for minorities and low-income people. “We need a level of intentionality about it so it’s not an upper-middle-class white thing, and that we’re able to expand the circle of who has access,” he says.   


Source: Jason Tanzman, development and outreach director, Cycles for Change
Writer: Anna Pratt

This spring, Frogtown Gardens got to work on a new community garden at a former brownfield site in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood.

It took $3,000 to set up the 30-plot community garden, called Our Village Gardens, according to Patricia Ohmans, who is a spokesperson for Frogtown Gardens.  

Frogtown Gardens is a nonprofit organization that’s in the process of establishing a demonstration farm park and sanctuary in the neighborhood.

Financial support for the water, materials, compost, and mulch at Our Village Gardens came from Terry and Margie Commerford, who own the land, she explains. The couple runs the River of Goods home decor shop and Terrybear Urns and Memorials out of a new development on the site.

A combination of neighborhood volunteers and employees of the Commerfords’ businesses cultivate the plots, she says.   

The gardeners are a diverse group, including Hmong, Somalis, Latinos, Vietnamese, African Americans, European Americans and others. “There's lots of energy and cross-pollination among them,” Ohmans says.

“We still need to do a lot of beautification around the communal spaces of the garden,” including the butterfly garden, rose border, and raspberries, “but the garden is already a great success and a truly diverse stomping ground.”  

Frogtown Gardens also sponsors Amir's Garden, a permaculture demonstration garden on a vacant, privately owned lot, along with the Pop-Up Tree Park, which is a temporary tree nursery on a city-owned lot in the neighborhood.

Amir's Garden's excess produce will go to the local food shelf, according to Ohmans.

“We are also closely tracking the production of that garden, to get a sense of how much food can actually be grown on a household lot,” she adds.


Source: Patricia Ohmans, Frogtown Farms
Writer: Anna Pratt

It was a conversation about the possible closure last year of North High School in North Minneapolis that inspired Project Sweetie Pie. 

The soon-to-be-nonprofit organization is all about getting local youth into urban farming, close to home, while also developing their business know-how, according to one of its founders, Michael Chaney.   

Initially, some of his friends and colleagues had been brainstorming ways to boost the high school and its community. The city's various recent efforts to encourage local food production came up, he says.

As it happens, North High is home to a greenhouse, which, at the time, it wasn’t using, he explains.

“Project Sweetie Pie is an urban farm movement designed to promote healthy food and physical activity in urban areas and to promote economic opportunity in the food distribution system,” its website reads.

Project Sweetie Pie takes it name from the sweet potatoes it first began growing and selling for commercial pie making at the nearby Kindred Kitchen, which is a business incubator for food-related ventures.

The project helps youth and others to assume ownership over pieces of land and become stewards, Chaney says.

Chaney belongs to a group called Afro-Eco, which looks for opportunities to connect people to the land through sustainable practices. Afro-Eco is also the fiscal agent for Project Sweetie Pie, which started last year.

He’s been approaching schools, churches, and individuals to build up the project, including adding new growing plots and market locations. So far, more than 130 youth have participated in the project, growing well over 1,000 vegetables and fruits.

“We want youth to be part of the solution instead of labeled as the problem,” he says. “We’re planting the seeds of change." 

Source: Michael Chaney, founder, Project Sweetie Pie
Writer: Anna Pratt

The Wirth Cooperative Grocery, which has been in progress for nearly four years, is getting closer to becoming a reality.

Although a site for the coop hasn’t been finalized, the plan is to locate it in North Minneapolis’s Harrison neighborhood, according to coop board member Jenny Warner. The North Side is “an area that really needs this amenity,” she says. “It could use a business that creates that kind of communal space.”  

But instant results aren't to be expected. “For any organic process it takes time to build those relationships,” she says.

Right now, the coop is working on a business plan and trying to increase membership--efforts that a $30,000 McKnight Foundation grant helped fund, she says.

The coop has nearly 100 members, with new people signing up all the time, thanks to word-of-mouth, she adds. 

The coop is also carrying out focus groups with community members to figure out what it will offer. The products, which will include fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats, need to be affordable.

“We have a culturally and economically diverse neighborhood, so we really are trying to do our best to meet its needs for fresh, healthy food,” she says.  
 
She expects that the coop won't look like others in the community. “We hope it looks like something that nobody has seen before,” she says. “We hope it reflects the community’s needs and we want everyone to shop there, not just people who are used to going to coops.”

The board, which draws volunteers from all over the city, aims to open the coop on Earth Day in 2013.

Source: Jenny Warner, Wirth Cooperative Grocery
Writer: Anna Pratt

On June 2, Minneapolis’s Kingfield neighborhood is hosting a tour of several new solar projects at local businesses.

The tour includes Quality Coaches, Twin Town Guitars, and Pat’s Tap; tour participants can check out the businesses at their own pace.

TenKsolar, which developed the solar arrays, will be on hand displaying solar models at each stop. There’ll also be other activities at each site, including live music and a solar oven cooking demonstration.  
 
A $10,000 city climate change grant that the Kingfield Neighborhood Association (KFNA) received last year enabled a couple of the projects, according to Sarah Linnes-Robinson, the executive director of KFNA. Around the same time, Pat’s Tap pursued its solar installation independently, she says.
 
Through the project, she says, “Our goal was to remove barriers for small businesses to install solar.”
 
In some cases, solar installations can mean a lot of upfront costs, but in the end, “people are saving money,” she says. “We want to highlight that this is doable,” even for private homes. 

To help introduce area businesses to solar technology, the neighborhood group started out by identifying 24 possible candidates for the installations.
 
From there, the neighborhood group educated business owners, many of whom rent their buildings, about what solar projects entail. KFNA ended up paying for solar assessments at 10 of those sites. At that point, “It was their decision to proceed or not,” she says. 
 
Further down the line came energy audits for those businesses that wanted to move forward. Later on, when it got down to two businesses, both had to do a lot of roof work to prepare for the solar array. “There was a lot for the businesses to figure out,” she says. 
 
Today, “These businesses are even further invested in their community.”  
 
Linnes-Robinson is hoping that families that are thinking of turning to solar energy will join business owners on the tour.
 
 
Source: Sarah Linnes-Robinson, KFNA
Writer: Anna Pratt

Running parallel to the construction of the Central Corridor Light Rail Transit line is a $5 million project to improve the quality of stormwater runoff along University Avenue in St. Paul.

It includes funding from Clean Water, the Capitol Region Watershed District, the city of St. Paul, Ramsey County, and the Metropolitan Council, according to project materials. 

The existing drainage system “conveys untreated stormwater runoff from paved surfaces to the Mississippi River, which is impaired for turbidity, nutrients and bacteria,” project materials state.

To change that, the project will use something called an “integrated tree trench system,” stormwater planters, rain gardens, and “infiltration trenches,” according to project materials.

Will Nissen, who writes for Hindsight on the Minnesota 2020 blog, explains in an online post that the state-of-the-art tree trenches will use “pervious pavers and structural soils to help trees grow and survive in extreme urban conditions.”

Additionally, “Strategically installed stormwater planters and rain gardens will help capture and filter contaminated water runoff that currently goes untreated into the Mississippi River,” he says.

The tree trench idea came out of various community meetings and a workshop, according to Mark Doneux, a representative of the Capitol Region Watershed District, which handles the aspects of the project that have to do with stormwater regulations.

In conjunction with the project, trees that have been lost in construction will be replaced, and 1,000 new trees will be added, too, which adds a challenging element. "Some of the commercial areas have a lot of pavement," says Doneaux, and it's tougher to maintain them. Often, urban trees only live for seven to eight years. "The city wants to find better practices for planting healthier urban trees." 

The challenge is that along the related portion of University Avenue in St. Paul, there’s “quite the web of utilities,” and the sidewalks need to be able to accommodate emergency vehicles, he says. To create a healthy rooting medium for trees, including pathways for air and water, the group went for a system that doesn’t use irrigation. “It was a bold step to say ‘let’s make this work,’” he says.  

The idea is to create a system that can serve as a template for other parts of the city and watershed. “This is a new practice. This isn’t tried and true,” Doneux says.   

In the future, he hopes that there might be some signage to describe the project. “No one knows there’s a pretty sophisticated effort [here] to have healthy urban trees and treat stormwater,” he says.  


Source: Mark Doneux, Capitol Region Watershed District  
Writer: Anna Pratt

Houston-based Greystar Real Estate Partners has a plan to turn around a 5.6-acre portion of the former Bennett Lumber site in Minneapolis’s Uptown area. Right now Greystar is in the early stages of getting city approval for the project.

Greystar is proposing a total of 385 residential units that would be split between two buildings; it includes a mix of apartments of varying sizes and a number of family-oriented townhome units, according to Greystar’s David Reid.

One building would go from 6 to 4 stories while the other steps down from 6 to 2.5 stories, Reid says. He adds that the buildings will have “extremely high-quality condo finishes,” along with tuck-under parking. Each unit will have a dedicated parking garage as well.  

The company also plans to pursue “silver” LEED certification for the entire development.

The promenade along the nearby Midtown Greenway’s walkway will be extended. “We’re proposing having a high quality access point to the Midtown Greenway for public and private use,” Reid says.  

Although he couldn’t disclose the project’s cost, he says, “It’s obviously a very expensive project, between the public benefits and energy-efficiency standards."

Reid says that the buildings will improve the undeveloped site. “It’ll be a high-quality product that will be an amenity for the community,” he says.

Aesthetically, “Our goal is to create buildings that strive to have a more timeless appeal,” as opposed to those that are only popular for a development cycle. This means the judicious use of high-quality materials across the development. It will have amenities such as a pool, fitness center, and a high degree of landscaping, Reid adds.

Source: David Reid, Greystar Real Estate Partners
Writer: Anna Pratt

The first-ever Northeast Ride, which is coming up on June 2, is a chance to see Northeast Minneapolis up close and personal, on bikes.

It'll show off everything from the area's bustling arts district to its up-and-coming beer breweries.

The family-friendly event is geared for cyclists of all ages and experience levels, according to information from the Northeast Community Development Corporation (CDC), which set it up.

The bike ride’s co-presenters include Bicycle Theory, MPLS Bike Love, and Altered Esthetics, along with a number of community sponsors.

Jamie Schumacher, who leads the Northeast CDC, says via email that the nearly 12-mile bike ride came about as a creative way to highlight the Northeast area.  “You always see a neighborhood differently on a bike, and we'll be touring throughout all of awesome Northeast,” she says. "We hope people take away from it a good introduction to Northeast, and a fun and creative experience."   

The ride also takes advantage of new bike trails and bikeways, according to Northeast CDC materials.

Participants will travel the route in small groups, starting out at the Northeast Minneapolis Armory, and exploring each of the neighborhood parks. Related activities will be happening at the parks along the way, including a post-ride expo, according to Northeast CDC information.  

Throughout nine stops, cyclists will get a taste of old and new developments in Northeast. They’ll visit such neighborhood landmarks as the historic Casket Arts building, the longstanding Grain Belt Brewery, and the brand-new Indeed Brewing.

Neighborhoods such as Logan Park and local businesses such as Community Bees on Bikes, which delivers honey via bike, are among other highlights of the ride.

The ride will wrap up with a party at Altered Esthetics, which will have bike-themed art on view.

 
Source: Jamie Schumacher, executive director, Northeast CDC
Writer: Anna Pratt

Lately, a number of community members in St. Paul’s West Seventh neighborhood have been contemplating the future of the historic Fire Hall.

The 1872 building, which is considered to be the oldest fire station in the city, has been vacant for a couple of years, according to architect John Yust.

The building, which was previously known as Hope Engine Company No. 3, has unique features, including the remains of a bell tower on the second floor, he says.

To start spurring possible redevelopment plans, a design class at the University of Minnesota came up with plans for a restaurant to go into the space.

Yust provided original drawings of the building along with other reference material to the students, who worked in 11 teams of three as a part of Prof. Abimbola O. Asojo’s “Lighting Design and Life Safety Issues” class.

As a part of the assignment, students paid special attention to lighting needs in the brick building, but they also thought more broadly. Many of the students had plans that involved family-friendly restaurants in the daytime that would transition into more romantic settings at night, according to Yust, who attended the class critique last month.

Students came up with everything from sushi to New Orleans-style cooking. “It was fun. There was a huge variation and lots of great ideas,” Yust says, adding, “My hope is that somebody might find this an amazing opportunity [to redevelop].”

“We want the city to know how important it is to the community,” he says. “It would be appropriate to save this site as a part of the historic fabric.”

Source: John Yust, architect
Writer: Anna Pratt

St. Paul’s District Councils Collaborative (DCC) is kicking off a “walkability survey” for the Central Corridor Light Rail Transit stations on May 6.

It involves group walks from various neighborhood spots to coming light rail stations in St. Paul and Minneapolis. The walks will take about 20 minutes or so; combined with the survey, it's less than an hour-long commitment, according to DCC staffer Anne White.

The walks will also have a cultural component; urban activist Charles Landry, who is an advocate for walking, will be taking part in the event on Sunday, she says.

Landry will also have a number of speaking engagements around town on the theme of "Creating 21st Century Intercultural and Creative Cities," as a part of a week-long residency with the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative through May 11. (For a full schedule of events, go here.)

Walkability surveys can be turned in any time until May 28 at the DCC website, which also has a map for making notations. The DCC is hoping to collect 1,500 surveys, or 100 for each of the 15 stops.

The survey will look at “both the physical environment and at how people feel, which isn’t strictly physical. Do they feel safe and comfortable walking?”

For that reason, the feedback will be valuable on many different levels. “It highlights the importance of a good walking environment,” she says, adding, “We’re also getting people looking forward,” in terms of getting used to the idea of taking the train.

Additionally, the walks will help identify areas in need of repair or in bad condition, as well as zones that aren't pedestrian-friendly, she says. “We’ll be helping identify priorities. Where are the greatest needs? Where should they put limited funding to work?”

Part of the survey will also include ensuring accessibility along the way for people with disabilities.  

Hopefully, related streetscape improvements can be made before the light rail is up and running because “It has potential to boost light rail ridership,” White says.

Source: Anne White, District Councils Collaborative
Writer: Anna Pratt

The Healthy West 7th Initiative in St. Paul is launching a couple of new community gardens in the neighborhood this spring.

The launch began as a volunteer effort from resident physicians at the local United Family Medicine clinic.

The idea is to increase nutrition in the area, according to Kate Vickery, previously a resident working on the project. The residents sought to “outline areas the clinic could work on to improve neighborhood health,”  an effort that builds on the clinic’s longstanding community volunteer work in the area.

After gathering feedback from community members through numerous focus groups, interviews, and surveys, the residents found that the area lacks access to healthy, fresh foods, and “information about how to prepare and preserve healthy food,” she says.

In fact, an existing community garden at Victoria and Jackson streets is so popular that it’s had a waiting list for several years, she says.

To expand on that, the residents teamed up with the West Seventh Community Center, Mississippi Market, St. Paul Public Library, Ramsey County Master Gardeners, Sholom Home, St. Paul Department of Public Health, and Allina Health/United Hospital.

With funding and supplies from its partners, one of the community gardens will be temporarily located at Sholom Home’s east campus, and will open this spring. In the future, Sholom could develop the land for senior apartments, she says.

As for the garden, “We’re hoping it’ll be intergenerational, with seniors working with youth,” she says.

Separately, a demonstration garden will go in at the West 7th Community Center. It’ll serve the center’s programming, Vickery says.  

In general, “We’re just trying to meet the need expressed by the neighborhood, and ultimately to improve health, but also to build relationships,” she says.

Right now, the group is preparing both garden sites for planting organic vegetables in the coming months. People can sign up to volunteer on its website.

The group is also encouraging more backyard gardens and container gardens in public places, as well as gardening classes. “We’re hoping the gardens will be an opportunity for people to come together and learn new skills and learn how to be healthier,” she says.


Source: Kate Vickery
Writer: Anna Pratt

A $4.3 million apartment complex that has plenty of green features is in the works for 35th and Grand Avenue South in Minneapolis.

Minneapolis-based CPM Property Management has a proposal for a 30-unit building that incorporates various organic wood products, cork floors, low-flow water fixtures, rain gardens, permeable pavers, and more, according to CPM’s Daniel Oberpriller.

Inside the building, CPM plans to work with a local cabinetmaker, he adds.

The Lyndale Neighborhood Association (LNA) is supportive of the project, which will soon go before the Minneapolis Planning Commission.   

CPM decided to make the building, which has yet to be named, as green as possible, because “It was important to people in the community,” he says.

It also works well for a building of this scale. “We’re excited about it,” he says.

Among its other amenities, the building will have 28 underground parking spots, along with a couple of above-ground spaces.

The complex will be one of the newest in an area where there’s not room for a lot of development, he points out.

Lyndale is characterized mainly by older construction from the 1940s through the 1970s, he says. For this project, CPM tried to match the brick façade to others in the neighborhood. “We wanted to be consistent with the fabric of the neighborhood,” he says.

Although the design is still coming together, he says that “It should fit in nicely.”

Further, 20 percent of the apartments will also be officially ‘affordable,’ according to a recent Southwest Journal story.

CPM hopes to break ground on the development in September.

All in all, “We think it’s a positive impact,” Oberpriller says.  


Source: Daniel Oberpriller, CPM
Writer: Anna Pratt

A group of community members from St. Paul’s East Side are making progress on a plan to set up a new food coop in the neighborhood.

(See The Line’s earlier story on the effort here.)

In recent months, the Gateway Food Initiative, which is doing the legwork to establish the coop, has formally incorporated as a nonprofit, according to Stephanie Harr, a spokesperson for the organization.

She explains that Gateway is the umbrella organization for the for-profit coop. Members can pledge $90 for a lifetime membership; they're buying shares in the business and they split the profits. "A lot of people don't understand that it's a for-profit, but that's what a coop is. It's owned by the members," Harr says. 

Right now the coop is in what’s known as the “organizing phase,” she explains.

In this early stage, Gateway needs to fund a feasibility study. This involves bringing in a consultant to evaluate the market, including scoping out possible locations for a coop. “It’s a necessary piece of the puzzle,” and also a “normal part of the process for coops that are starting up.”  

This Thursday, the coop will host a kickoff celebration at 7 p.m. at the Water and Oil Gallery in St. Paul. It’s a way to help spread the word and get community input, Harr says.

So far, the coop has raised $3,000 toward its goal of $10,000. It also hopes to draw 300 members before it opens. “It’s important it be driven by the community,” Harr says.   

Besides filling a void on the East Side in terms of fresh fruits and vegetables, the coop will be an economic engine for the community. The fact that it’ll be member-owned is also a way to bring the community together, she says. “The vision is for a place not only to buy food but to meet others,” including through educational programs.   

“A lot of people are excited about having it,” she says. As it is, “Many people prefer to leave the neighborhood to shop at a coop.”  

It takes between two and five years to get a coop off the ground. “We’re still in the first year, so there’s a way to go,” she says.  

Source: Stephanie Harr, Gateway Food Initiative
Writer: Anna Pratt

The 24th Street Urban Farm Coalition in Minneapolis’s Phillips neighborhood will have its first official workday in its “communal” garden on May 19.

Phillips resident Sammie Ardito Rivera, who is the outreach and education coordinator at Dream of Wild Health, a 10-acre native farm in Hugo, belongs to the volunteer-driven coalition.   

The coalition is a joint effort of a number of community organizations including the following: Ventura Village Neighborhood Association, Indigenous Peoples Taskforce, Women’s Environmental Institute, Waite House, Indian Health Board, and Native American Community Clinic, along with Dream of Wild Health.  

It’s an opportunity for these organizations to do a demonstration farm that will help community members, especially American Indians, learn how to grow food, she says. That education is needed in the native community, which has high rates of heart disease and diabetes, Rivera adds.   

People will work in the “communal” garden collectively. “It’s not a community garden in the plot sense,” she says. “It’s more of a teaching opportunity for people who aren’t ready to grow their own food but want access.”

Nearby, a couple of other "communal" gardens are also in the works (see The Line's story here).

Planning for the 24th Street garden began last year, involving some minimal plantings last growing season. “This summer we hope to expand and have a more solid presence there,” she says.

The undeveloped piece of land, which the Indian Health Board owns, will be farmed temporarily. The Indian organization may have plans for the lot further down the line, she explains.

At the same time, the gardeners are also hoping to expand the farm in the future into a nearby lot that the city owns.

Right now, the farm is still fleshing out the details, she says, adding that for now, it’s on the lookout for rain barrels.

Source: Sammie Ardito Rivera, member of the 24th Street Urban Farm Coalition
Writer: Anna Pratt

In recognition of the unique Asian businesses and other cultural institutions along University Avenue in St. Paul from Galtier to Mackubin streets, the area is being branded as Little Mekong.

It’s an initiative that the local Asian Economic Development Association (AEDA) launched on Feb. 25.

The name references the Mekong River, which is a major river in Southeast Asia, according to Va-Megn Thoj, who heads the AEDA. “Most businesses in the area have a connection to the river,” he explains.

In his view, “By giving a name to a destination which has existed for a long time, we can draw more people into the area.” This is especially needed during Central Corridor light rail construction, he says.  

Already, as a result of construction obstacles, many of the businesses are seeing less foot traffic, he says.

With the Little Mekong branding, “We want to build on what we have,” which he describes as “an attractive destination for people to get introduced to Asian cultures and cuisine.” Although the district has been around informally for a long time, not too many people are familiar with it, he says.

Besides improving the streetscape and putting up district-related signage, Little Mekong will host a number of events, including family-friendly festivals.

AEDA is also working with businesses to create incentive programs to bring in more customers, including coupons and other deals, and to handle increased traffic. “We’re working with businesses to strengthen their operations and customer service,” he says.

The coming Central Corridor represents “a tremendous opportunity to create something of benefit to the neighborhoods and city and region," he adds.

Source: Va-Megn Thoj
Writer: Anna Pratt

Urban Organics, an urban fish and produce farm, is leading the way in redeveloping a portion of the historic Hamm’s Brewery site in St. Paul, which has been vacant since 1997.  

The farm will be modeled on Growing Power, a nonprofit organization in Milwaukee, according to David Haider, who co-owns Urban Organics with his wife, Kristen.

“Urban agriculture and aquaponics can change the way food gets to people,” Haider says.

The plans center on aquaponics, which “is the symbiotic cultivation of plants and aquatic animals in a re-circulating system,” according to the Growing Power aquaponics website.

Urban Organics will use a vertical farming system that produces fresh, organic food year-round, including tilapia, spinach, lettuce, herbs, and microgreens.

“It’s a way we feel we can give back,” says Haider, who grew up near the old brewery. He has another personal connection to the place: His great-grandfather worked there for 40 years.

Urban Organics will fill several of the five-and two-story buildings on the premises; they will be revamped in several phases. The first phase, which will probably take three months, will run between $500,000 and $750,000, he says.

To handle the weight of the tanks and other equipment and materials, Urban Organics needed “overbuilt buildings” like those on the site, and the brewery has an aquifer as well. “It’s a great water source,” Haider says.

The food produced will go to local restaurants, markets, co-ops, schools, food shelves, and more. Urban Organics also plans to offer various educational programs on the process.  

“We’re trying to come up with a proven model, to get them into every city,” he says. “We’re all pioneers in this, trying to figure out the best method.”  

He hopes to get fish in the tanks by June.

“I think it’ll be a great thing for the neighborhood,” he says. “Hopefully other businesses will follow suit.”

Source: David Haider, Urban Organics
Writer: Anna Pratt

Neighbors Connecting for Action in Phillips (NCAP), a new community group for Minneapolis’s Phillips neighborhood, is organizing a couple of “communal” gardens in the area.

Unlike the typical community garden structure where people sign up for a certain garden plot, participants will pool their efforts in the project, according to Jude Ortiz, an NCAP representative. “We’re coming together as neighbors to grow plants for each other,” he says, adding, “It’ll be collaborative, based on what people can do.”   

One garden at 28th and Portland Avenue South will focus on perennial plants, including various native species.

NCAP has an agreement with the Sustainable Resources Center in Northeast Minneapolis to work the land, according to Ortiz. There were gardening efforts there in the past, but there's been nothing in recent years, he says.

A second garden at 26th Street and 13th Avenue South, which has a longer, more fruitful history, will grow produce.  

To get the gardens going, the group has been pulling together community members. It's planning  meetings at both places for April 15. Attendees will begin discussing the design of the gardens at these gatherings.

Because NCAP is working without much of a budget, they’re trying to get as many donations of supplies and plants as possible. Already, “There’s a lot of interest and creativity going into it,” Ortiz says.

NCAP sees the gardens as “important to restore the urban ecosystem” and to provide access to healthy, organic food. It’s also an educational opportunity, helping the community become more self-sufficient, he says.

Further, having this kind of green space “creates an oasis in the city for people and other species,” he says.

Source: Jude Ortiz, NCAP
Writer: Anna Pratt

This year, Harvest Moon Backyard Farmers is expanding on its mission to set up sustainable “mini-farms,” and to deliver fresh fruits and vegetables to those in need.
 
Recently, Harvest Moon’s urban farming experts, Krista Leraas and Dina Kountoupes, raised $9,000 through a Kickstarter campaign, to further the cause.
 
It's helped to connect the pair to Habitat for Humanity, which “finds homeowners who are interested in gardening, who don’t have the resources or knowledge,” Leraas says.

Leraas and Kountoupes provide expertise and labor to the homeowners, helping them grow fresh organic produce. They may also lend a hand, depending on a homeowner's needs, for the remainder of the growing season.
 
As a part of another initiative that Harvest Moon has in the works, it's teaming up with the Shir Tikvah synagogue to bring items from its food-shelf gardens to the Aliveness Project.
 
It’s a natural partnership, considering that the Aliveness Project, which is a community center for people living with HIV/AIDS, is “very keen to getting a lot of good nutrition to people," she says.

Since the farmers started Harvest Moon a couple of years ago, they’ve worked with various homeowners, renters, businesses, and communities to establish “productive spaces.”
 
“Our whole philosophy is based on sustainability and sharing the surplus,” Leraas says.
 
“Many of us have forgotten what it’s like to have fresh sustenance coming from our work,” she says. “We view our yards as just kind of there.”
 
Harvest Moon is trying to reverse that trend. It’s about supporting “permaculture,” which is a combination of permanence and culture, meaning sustainability, she explains. “The idea is to be in harmony with natural law.” 
 
Source: Krista Leraas, Harvest Moon Backyard Farmers
Writer: Anna Pratt
 

 

 
 
 
 
 

The Northeast Minneapolis Arts District, which was established to recognize a vibrant local arts scene, took on formal boundaries in 2002 after various community leaders combined forces with the city and the McKnight Foundation.

Since then, the district has taken off, especially in the last couple of years, and many community members want to build on that, according to Susan Wagner Ginter, who chairs the board for the Northeast Minneapolis Arts Association (NEMAA).

To do so, it’s taking part in the first-ever “State of the Arts District” forum on April 12 at Chowgirls Parlor, organized by the Northeast Community Development Corporation, the Northeast Chamber of Commerce, and the participating speakers.

The event capitalizes on the fact that, “NEMAA is stronger and the arts district is a reality,” Ginter says.

For example, its annual arts crawl, titled “Art-a-Whirl,” brings 50,000 people to the area, she says, adding that the event's business impact is huge.

The question is, “How do we keep the momentum going and keep a stream of people coming into Northeast and discovering the amazing resource that we have?”

Hopefully the forum will help the community plan its next steps. “It’s about how to integrate the arts into the community and keep it vibrant,” she says.    

At the forum, Josh Blanc, who co-owns Clay Squared to Infinity with his wife, Layl McDill, will talk about their experience with a downtown pop-up art store, which they ran in a vacant space over the winter.

“They took a risk and they did really well selling their artwork,” Wagner says.  

Further, it’s a good example of artists getting out of their studios and into the community, a move that has a lot of potential, she says.

She hopes that the forum will bring together community leaders who’ve been instrumental in setting up the district, along with others who want to get involved.

Source: Susan Wagner Ginter, president, NEMAA board
Writer: Anna Pratt 

A vintage building in St. Paul’s Merriam Park neighborhood, which at one point was scheduled to be demolished, is getting a second chance.

It’ll become a transitional housing facility for adults who’ve struggled with chemical dependency.

Transition Homes Corp., which runs a program along those lines at the nearby Foundation House, plans to bring its services to the Merriam Park building following its renovation.

It’s a positive change for the 1880s building, which went through foreclosure stages in recent years, according to Mike Blair, who manages Foundation House.

At one point the city planned to tear down the building, which has sat vacant for 12 years. However, “The city was able to get a waiver on it due to its historic nature,” he says.

A Pioneer Press story details the three-level building’s distinctive features, including its "polygonal shape, the elliptical arches over its windows and the castle battlement-like notches of its parapet.”

Transition Homes Corp., which is still negotiating the building’s purchase, will put in an outpatient office and a 25-unit “board and lodge facility” for men.  

The building, which now is an empty shell, will get a new kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms, lounge, and more, he says.

Right now, the group is waiting for the various approvals it needs to get going on the project, which the Pioneer Press reports will total $1 million.

Blair says that the development is a good use of the space. It’ll serve people who are “homeless by definition, with no job, no assets, no income,” and who are becoming sober.

"We try to offer a foundation for recovery," he says.

That involves finding jobs and permanent housing, he says.  

If all goes as planned, the place could open as early as this fall.

Source: Mike Blair, manager, Foundation House
Writer: Anna Pratt

Frogtown Farm and Garden announced on May 5 that the Trust for Public Land made a successful bid on a 13-acre parcel to help make the urban farm possible.

The Trust, a national nonprofit organization that conserves land for parks, gardens and other natural places, recently struck a deal to buy the land for $2.2 million from the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, according to Frogtown Farm information.

Wilder is a nonprofit health and human services agency that was previously headquartered at the site.    
Frogtown Farm, which a number of community members have been working on over the past several years, would bring an urban demonstration farm, recreation area, and nature sanctuary to a neighborhood that the city has identified as lacking in green space, according to farm information.

Farm organizer Tony Schmitz says, “It’s exciting news. We’re extremely grateful that the Trust has stepped up and pushed the whole issue forward.”

Now, the groups are working to finalize a purchase agreement, he says.

Soon, the farm’s organizers will be focused on fundraising to come up with the money for the land, which is worth more than double the sale price.

“The sale price is significantly reduced from the appraised value as Wilder’s contribution to the community, and to ensure the property will be used in a way consistent with the community’s vision to be of benefit to the community,” a prepared statement from Frogtown Farm reads.

Over the course of the next 18 months, the group will be looking for contributions from government entities, foundations, and individual donors, says Schmitz.

There’s a lot of work to be done to engage people along the way and design the farm to fit “what exactly people want there," he says.

His sense is that “There’s a lot of support for this idea right now,” with people looking at food production with an eye to “how they can have a lighter footprint on the planet.”

It's validation for the fact that “We’ve believed all along that Frogtown kids and families need more green space to enhance their lives,” he says.  

Source: Tony Schmitz, organizer, Frogtown Farm and Garden
Writer: Anna Pratt

Last spring, a task force from the Union Park District Council in St. Paul started scouting out places for a new community garden.

A workshop with the local nonprofit organization Gardening Matters helped to get the project going, according to landscape architect Jeff Zeitler, who serves on the task force.

Finding open land was a challenge in the well-developed neighborhood, but the group has settled on a spot near Interstate 94 and the intersection of Prior and Gilbert avenues. To set up the Prior/Gilbert Community Garden at this location, the council is working out a lease agreement with the city’s public works office, he says.

It would be mutually beneficial in that “We maintain the space and they [Public Works] don’t have to, and we get to grow food there,” he says.  

One reason the community started looking for potential garden space was that the existing Eleanor Graham Community Garden, which has a long waitlist, will be closed temporarily next year during the reconstruction of a nearby city bridge.

In 2014, both gardens will be in play. “There’s a big demand for community garden space,” Zeitler says. “It’s really something to see.”

This spring, Prior/Gilbert will start out with 42 plots. The garden includes different-size parcels and individual and community areas. It has a phased implementation plan, which means it’ll start out with only the bare-bones necessities, according to Zeitler.

Getting water to the garden is the most expensive task, while donations are still needed for a shed, tiller, fencing, fruit trees, and more, he says.

Zeitler hopes the neighborhood’s gardeners will be able to start digging in the dirt by the end of April.

The rewards go beyond local food production. “It’s a community center in some ways. [In the garden] people talk and meet their neighbors. It brings people together,” he says.  

Source: Jeff Zeitler, volunteer, Union Park District Council
Writer: Anna Pratt

Next week, a group of local energy experts will head to Nigeria for 10 days to lead solar training.

The Minnesota Renewable Energy Society (MRES) in Minneapolis developed the “Light Up Africa” project through its two-year-old international committee. The group will make its first stop at an area hospital, where they’ll show workers how to install a 60-watt solar module lighting system, according to Fran Crotty, one of the committee’s co-chairs. 

Their exact itinerary couldn't be shared as of press time.

Committee members will also teach people to put together a solar cell-phone charger and build a soldering station and a solar panel, according to MRES information.

“Technology transfer is mainly what we do,” Crotty says.

Besides helping set up energy-efficient infrastructure, the trainings will “provide the opportunity for [Nigerians] to do a small cottage industry” if they want, she adds.

“We provide technical information that’s always linked to economic development,” she says.

For example, entrepreneurs could start a small business charging cell phones or using solar power for grinding, the MRES website states.

The group will help Nigerians figure out what to build by “listening to them and letting them shape what they want.”

“Solar projects would be helpful in many countries that have problems with unreliable electricity, unsafe lighting, deforestation and poverty,” the MRES website states.

MRES is working with a nongovernmental organization in Nigeria. A couple of committee members happen to be from Nigeria, including Harry Olupitan, who says on the MRES website that the project is a part of a lifelong dream. “My vision is to see every household in Nigeria and in all of Africa at large powered with electricity powered by solar energy,” he says.

Source: Fran Crotty, Minnesota Renewable Energy Society
Writer: Anna Pratt

Like many other schools, Normandale Community College, which serves Southwest Minneapolis and beyond, is faced with an increasing demand for technology.
 
To deal with that, and to give the school a competitive advantage, Normandale is planning a new $1.5 million data center.

This month, the design phase for the center will begin, while the school is still looking for a construction manager, according to Ed Wines, the school’s vice president of finance and operations.

The data center will go into a 20-foot by 28-foot space that's currently a classroom in the College Services Building.

It'll be a "hub housing network servers and blades that provide Internet, telephone, and other digital services for the campus," he says via email.

That's needed because the school's 400-square-foot "server room" has run its course. "It has become entirely inadequate due to the increased use of technology and a growing college enrollment over the past decade,” Wines says.  

A report from the Eden Prairie-based Parallel Technologies, Inc. states that the existing facility is over-taxed when it comes to power and cooling.

The improved data center will provide “more reliable service, an increased connected transmission speed, space for scalable growth, and space for collaboration” with affiliated institutions, he says.

In the long run, it'll also help the school save money, improve server system efficiency, and keep pace with technological advances. It puts Normandale in a position to “expand online resources, improve support for instructors, and provide a marketable resource to attract new students,” the report also states.

“Creating a more robust and reliable data center on campus provides the school with ultimate control of their environment and the ability to provide shared services to other MnSCU campuses” in its network, the report goes on to say.  

The center will open this November.

Source: Ed Wines, vice president of finance and operations, Normandale Community College
Writer: Anna Pratt

Videotect 2, the second annual video competition from Architecture Minnesota magazine, got people thinking in many different directions about sustainable transportation.
 
The 39 submissions included everything from an old-timey PSA about the benefits of walking to a Super Bowl-commercial-inspired video about getting around in the future.
 
The grand prizewinner, "SaddleBag," which won a $2,000 prize, was announced at the competition’s March 1 screening at the Walker Art Center. (Watch it below.)
 
Gaardhouse and Shelter Architecture teamed up on the video, which was tongue-in-cheek yet informative. “I hope more outfits take a cue from it,” Hudson says. “It had a great story line with lots of facts and it was easy to read and understand the diagrams.”   
  
The most popular video among viewers, which also received a $2,000 check, was “Twin Cities Trails,” by Steven Gamache, Matt Herzog, Ben Lindau, Chris Lyner, and Mike Oertel. It showed a 1980s hair band that sang about the Twin Cities’ unmatched trail system. “It spoofed Queen amazingly,” he says, adding, “It was inventive and funny.”   
 
The $500 honorable mention awards went to the “Church of Automobility,” by Michael Heller and Ryan O’Malley, “A Fistful of Asphalt,” by John Akre, “Over/Under,” by Daniel Green, and “Sustainable Transportation,” by Ryan Yang. 
 
In general, guidelines for the 30- to 120-second videos were pretty open-ended. The pieces just had to “present a point of view on transportation choices, their impact on the environment and human health, and the role that design can play in enhancing them,” according to a statement about the competition.
 
Why is the magazine doing it? “The crux of it is, trying to bring more voices and creativity into urban design debates. It can be dry stuff, but it’s so important to the quality of our lives and how we design cities,” Hudson says. Videotect is a “great way to have fun with it, to make it entertaining to get at some of these issues that we keep debating as citizens.”

That's evident in the fact that the contest drew more submissions this year, and online voting spiked by 250 percent, he says.
 
Source: Chris Hudson, editor, Architecture Minnesota
Writer: Anna Pratt

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Videotect 2: SaddleBag from Architecture Minnesota on Vimeo.

Minneapolis' Colossal Café, a popular stop for breakfast and breads, opened a larger second location in St. Paul’s St. Anthony Park neighborhood late last year.

There weren’t any restaurant spaces available in the area when Colossal was scouting out locations, so it went for a 2,200-square-foot space that had housed a doctor’s office for over 40 years, according to Colossal’s co-owner, John Tinucci.  

Within the same building, there’s also a salon, an eye doctor, an architectural office, and more.

The $400,000 project involved gutting the place and bringing in all new mechanical systems. “We really chose the neighborhood,” he says, adding, “We could’ve done a build-out elsewhere for a lot less money.”

Inside, Colossal has a modern café feel, with glass block windows, tall ceilings that are partially exposed, a multi-colored floor made out of sustainable materials, and an open kitchen. “Our place in Minneapolis is very open by necessity and that’s something that we wanted to carry through again,” he says.

The place is furnished with a mix of tables, including some that were crafted by Big Wood Timber Frames Inc. out of reclaimed wood from the old Pedro Luggage store in downtown St. Paul. “They lead to a lot of good conversations,” he says. “It’s another piece of St. Paul.”   

He was drawn to the neighborhood that’s sandwiched between Luther Seminary and the University of Minnesota because “People here take ownership.”

“They support local businesses,” he says, adding that many people can be seen out and about. The neighborhood has a "mini-downtown" feel, with plenty of shops. “You wouldn’t have to leave the area if you didn’t want to.”
 
With food that’s made from scratch using many local products, and that tries to be as sustainable as possible, “This is the type of operation that fits in here so well.”

In the future, the restaurant might add nighttime hours and beer and wine, he says.

Source: John Tinucci, co-owner, Colossal Café
Writer: Anna Pratt

Recently, the Minneapolis Convention Center unveiled an exhibit that highlights various sustainable projects around the city, including its own.

The interactive two-sided display, which has touch screens, includes a map that features everything from the Nice Ride Minnesota bike-sharing program to the Downtown Improvement District.

The convention center itself has become more eco-focused in recent years, according to convention spokesperson Kristen Montag.

Although it has been working for years to improve its green profile, it’s now amping up its effort, with goals to reduce water consumption by 50 percent; slash energy use by 10 percent, and increase recycling by 75 percent by 2015.  

To do so, bathrooms will be retrofitted with energy-efficient systems to help conserve water, while light fixtures throughout the building will also be upgraded. Lights in rooms that aren’t being used will be kept off.

Further, the center plans to recycle 1.4 million pounds of its 1.8 million pounds of waste every year--which involves more sorting, Montag says. “When you think about how much waste the convention center recycles and what it’ll do, it changes the way it disposes of waste,” she says. “It’s about increasing recycling in a way that it hasn’t done if before.”

The center is also looking into the possibilities for managing stormwater.   

It wants to be a role model in this area throughout the city and nationally, she says.

Already, it’s reduced its energy use by 24 percent since 2008, which has amounted to $1 million in savings to taxpayers, according to Montag.

Right now, “Employees are working to figure out how to do it personally. It’ll be an on-the-ground team effort,” which brings together people from different parts of the workforce. “It’ll change the way they do their jobs and the way the building is run--and it’s something they’ll own.”  


Source: Kristen Montag, spokesperson, Minneapolis Convention Center
Writer: Anna Pratt

The Starling Project is a sort of matchmaking service for University Avenue landlords and potential temporary renters.

It’s about filling vacant storefronts in the short term, many of which have been left empty as a result of the recession or other hardships connected to Central Corridor light-rail construction, according to Kristen Murray, who is a group leader.

In December, an eight-person team of graduate students from a neighborhood revitalization course at the University of Minnesota’s Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs launched the project as a creative way to help businesses that are struggling amid construction.

Murray says that the vacancies can be taken advantage of for “temporary or meanwhile uses, to bring extra energy into the corridor.”  

To do so, the group is hosting a series of informal open house events at various storefront spaces, which run through May.

The Starling Project is targeting areas where there’s a cluster of storefronts.
 
The group’s goal is “to figure out how this model can work longer-term for the Central Corridor and others in transition, where there are vacancies.”

Recently, a group of art students and their instructor from the university rented 2401 University for a temporary gallery, while other matches are in the works.  

“There’s a lot of visioning happening along the Central Corridor,” she says, adding that the group is trying to help neighborhood organizations “think about how vacant spaces can be used to express some of those visions for the future.”

“The temporary uses and events can really bolster business,” she says, adding, “We’re trying to [help] small locally-owned businesses survive and thrive.”  

Although other cities have worked on initiatives to enliven vacant storefronts, “There haven’t been any programs looking at how pop-up efforts can be a strategy to use during a disruptive period,” such as construction, says Murray.


Source: Kristen Murray, Starling Project
Writer: Anna Pratt

RiverFIRST, a plan that would re-imagine a 5.5-mile stretch of the Mississippi riverfront in Minneapolis with new parks and trails, is entering into an early design phase.

The proposal, which will go before the full park board for approval in March, includes a riverfront trail system and a number of neighborhood-accessible parks that are being referred to as the Farview Park extension, Scherer Park District, North Side Wetlands Park, and Downtown Gateway Park, according to project spokesperson Janette Law.

(To see a description of each of these parks, go here.) 

The plan, which has a $174 million price tag, spaces out the projects over the next five years, with construction starting in 2013.

It also lays out a broader 20-year vision for the area along with a number of guiding principles, she says.

The planning committee is “asking for authorization of the completion of next steps,” which center mainly on the Scherer Park site and the 26th and 28th avenues North greenways, Law says. “The major news is that the park board is moving ahead on getting schematic designs."

RiverFIRST may also help lay the groundwork for the city’s Above the Falls master plan, which includes a "rich mix of land uses," including recreation along the Mississippi's east and west banks above St. Anthony Falls, according to park information.

RiverFIRST originated as the winning proposal from the design team Tom Leader Studio and Kennedy & Violich Architecture (TLS/KVA) as a part of the international Minneapolis Riverfront Design Competition, which the park board and the Minneapolis Parks Foundation jointly held in late 2010.   

The proposal stood out for the way it speaks to such contemporary challenges as dealing with water, the “green economy,” community health, and mobility, according to a prepared statement about the project.

After the contest wrapped up, the effort became known as the Minneapolis Riverfront Development Initiative.

“It’s an exciting vision for the Upper Riverfront, with the potential to bring the same water amenities to North and Northeast that South currently enjoys,” says Law, adding, “that area is significant locally and nationally. It presents the prospect of creating the most new park land in the city since the parks were founded over 100 years ago.”   

Source: Janette Law, RiverFIRST spokesperson
Writer: Anna Pratt

In St. Paul’s Como Park neighborhood, some neighbors are putting their heads together to identify the ideal spot for a new community garden.

Como Park already has a number of community flower gardens, but over the past year, some residents have expressed interest in planting vegetables somewhere, too, according to Jessie Bronk, the administrator and coordinator for the District 10 Como Community Council.

Recently, the neighborhood group formed a planning committee to help nail down the details. The eight-member committee, which had its first meeting earlier this month, involves both renters and homeowners in the neighborhood. “All are avid gardeners,” she says, adding, “It’s helpful to have all of that experience.”  

Since it’s so early in the process, the project’s budget and scope, along with the garden's location, have yet to be determined. “We’re aiming for a space that can accommodate at least 15 plots,” she says.

At this point, the group has narrowed its list to seven possible locations, which it plans to look into over the next month. For starters, in the case of each piece of land, “We need to find out who owns the land and whether there’s a water source nearby,” she says. 

It's a lot of work, but community gardens have plenty of benefits.

“[They're] a great way to connect neighbors, build community and beautify the neighborhood,” Bronk says, adding that they can help reduce crime as well.

She also sees community gardening as a good opportunity to reach out to diverse groups in the neighborhood. “It’s a way to make our district stronger,” she says.

Additionally, community gardens encourage local food production, healthy eating, and physical fitness.  

The group hopes to begin gardening this spring. The fact that it's been such a mild winter has made it “fun to dream and plan for spring,” Bronk says.  


Source: Jessie Bronk, administrator and coordinator, District 10 Como Community Council
Writer: Anna Pratt

Soon, a building in Minneapolis's Northeast Arts District that sat vacant for a year will become a hub for beer, art, and solar power.

It's been dubbed the Solar Arts Building, according to Nathan Berndt, a cofounder of Indeed Brewing Company, which will be its anchor tenant on the first floor.

In the past, the 1914 building had various uses, including housing a Sears Roebuck distribution center and more recently, an electrical transformer company, before it went through foreclosure stages, according to Indeed Brewing information.

Besides the brewery, artist-geared spaces, some of which have already been snatched up, will fill the building's remaining two floors.

It’s an ideal location for the new brewing company, which recently signed a lease for the space with building owner Duane Arens, Berndt says. “We’re involved in the community and we support being in a place for people to come together,” especially artists, he says. “We like being around creative people.”

Another dimension of the brewing company will be a public taproom, for which the design is still being developed.

A strong visual feature will be the building’s original wood columns, which lend a turn-of-the-last-century warehouse feel, he says.

Sustainability is also an important aspect of the building’s overall rehab. On the building’s rooftop a sizable solar array will be installed. It’s also getting new energy-efficient windows and mechanical systems, Berndt says.  

The effort to go green is something that’s important to the brewing company, as well, he adds.

“This sleepy dead-end adjacent to the Northstar Commuter Rail tracks will be a bustling intersection of art, craft beer, solar power, and urban revitalization,” the brewing company’s website states.

Indeed plans to open this summer.

Source: Nathan Berndt, cofounder, Indeed Brewing Company
Writer: Anna Pratt

The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden and nearby Cowles Conservatory, popular attractions at the Walker Art Center, are due for a facelift, according to Phillip Bahar, the museum’s chief of operations and administration.

It’s been almost 25 years since the sculpture garden was inaugurated, he says.

Back then, the garden, which is run by the museum on city parkland, was the “first major urban sculpture garden in America,” and it became a model for many others.  

The University of Minnesota’s Landscape Arboretum ran the conservatory in the beginning, and the Minnesota Department of Transportation constructed the colorful bridge that connects Loring Park and the sculpture garden.

“It was an amazing example of what can happen when the community comes together around one idea,” Bahar says.

Since then, over 8 million people from all over the world have visited the sculpture garden, which is also the most tagged photo subject on the photo-sharing site, flickr, he says. “It carries the message of Minnesota and the arts.”

However, over the years the garden’s soil has become so compacted that water doesn’t drain properly anymore. It needs to be refreshed to “loosen up the topsoil.” Granite pavers that have settled into the land also need to be reset. “Those are some of the things that are hit the hardest by water,” he says.

A new drainage system that’s been designed for the garden would capture rainwater to irrigate the land, a process that's especially useful for the famous Spoonbridge and Cherry sculpture, which has a water feature.

Beyond that, the conservatory’s mechanical systems have become outdated, and its greenhouse use is also nearing an end. The conservatory will probably be turned into an exhibition space of some sort, he explains.

Altogether, it’s an $8.5 million project, which the state legislature is considering in its current bonding bill. To be clear, he says, the park board is making the funding request. As such, “None of this money goes to the art. It goes to infrastructure and landscape,” the sculpture garden’s “hard parts.”

Depending on how the legislative session goes, work on the garden could begin as soon as the fall.  

“We have this beloved state asset,” Bahar says, and, just like any other major infrastructure project, the garden needs work to “replenish it to its glory when it was new.”

Source: Phillip Bahar, chief of operations and administration, Walker Art Center
Writer: Anna Pratt

This spring, a pop-up tree nursery is coming to St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood as a creative way to get more trees planted in the area.

Part of the reason for the project, which is a collaborative effort between St. Paul, Frogtown Gardens community activists, and the University of Minnesota, relates to a 2010 tree canopy analysis of the city.

The study found that Frogtown has a lack of tree cover, according to Brett Stadsvold, who works for the city’s parks and recreation department.

Last fall, the partners worked together on a pilot project to address the issue. They involved “citizen foresters” in planting and maintaining 18 boulevard trees throughout the neighborhood.

Building on the project's success, “The next idea was to develop a citizen-run tree nursery,” but starting small, with a pop-up or temporary nursery, says Stadsvold. “We wanted to gain support and get people interested.”

The 25-tree nursery, which will include a mix of shade and fruit- and nut-bearing trees, will go on the corner of Dale and Lafond avenues--a city-owned parcel--for one growing season, starting close to Arbor Day.

Experts in the subject will help volunteers “learn how to propagate trees from seed.”

At the nursery, there’ll also be space for demonstrations and social events for which University of Minnesota agriculture students will be submitting design proposals on Feb. 27, he says.

Signage and furniture made out of repurposed materials will make the lot inviting year-round. “We’re repurposing things that may be seen as waste items, and acquiring them at low cost,” he says.  

Later the trees will be transplanted onto private properties in the neighborhood.

Although the project’s budget is $3,000, it’ll probably only use half of that amount, says Stadsvold.

In the future, the project could be expanded. “We want people to feel empowered to take care of trees and be stewards,” he says, adding that the effort has come from community members.

The city is providing support in the form of “labor with the logistics and acquiring the trees,” he adds.


Source: Brett Stadsvold, St. Paul parks and recreation, forestry unit
Writer: Anna Pratt

The historic Uptown Theatre, a well-known fixture in Minneapolis’s Uptown area, closed on Jan. 31 for renovations.

Its operator, Landmark Theatres, which is based in Los Angeles, plans to reopen the place this spring, according to a prepared statement from the company.

The 900-seat theater is a destination for foreign, art and cult films, including the long-running "Rocky Horror Picture Show."
 
As a part of the renovation, Landmark plans to turn the concession stand into a full bar, according to a prepared statement from the company. The theater will also get a giant new screen, luxury seats, and a digital projector. Its distinctive neon sign will remain intact, and  and so will its balcony, which is one of the few of its era in use locally.

The existing Uptown Theatre was constructed in 1939 after the 1913 building on the site burned down. Originally it was known as the Lagoon Theater.

It’s defined by a classic Streamline Moderne style employed by its designers, architecture firm Liebenberg and Kaplan, which also did the Suburban World Theatre down the street, according to the Star Tribune.

The Uptown Theater last underwent a major remodeling in the late 1960s, the Star Tribune story states.   

Alicia Garatoni, who works at Keller Williams Realty and serves as the vice president of the Uptown Association, welcomes the changes. “I’m thrilled, both as someone who loves independent and foreign films and has a business in the Uptown area.”  

“It’s in keeping with the forward movement of Uptown,” including the remodel of Calhoun Square and a number of other area renovations and development projects. “I’m glad it’s getting attention and will drive traffic into the Uptown area.”  

She says it’ll help the area be a well-rounded destination center. “So much is going on in Uptown,” she says. “There’s a lot of reasons to come to Uptown and this is just one more.”  

“I love [the theater] because it has an old-time feeling to it. It’s so charming,” she adds.   

Source: Alicia Garatoni, realtor, Keller Williams and vice president, Uptown Association  
Writer: Anna Pratt

For Patricia Ohmans, a proponent of Frogtown Gardens, a potential urban farmstead and demonstration site in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood, the proposal is becoming more of a reality.

It's a mutlifaceted concept for a new kind of park that would go beyond a nature sanctuary, a place where people would “literally gain sustenance,” she explains. (See The Line's earlier story here.)

For those who've gotten involved in the effort, she says, “We are solidly in favor of a place to play and commune with nature and a place for food and eating,” adding that it makes sense to do it on the largest green space left in the city.

Until recently, the idea seemed like a bit of a long shot, due in part to the cost of the 12.5-acre parcel that the garden advocates are interested in. The site is owned by the St. Paul-headquartered Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, a nonprofit health and human services organization. Wilder put it up for sale through an auction, taking sealed bids on the site through late January, according to Ohmans.

Recently, the Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit organization with a St. Paul office, partnered with Frogtown Gardens to put a bid on the land. “I think the TPL wouldn’t have decided to do it if it hadn’t see how much public support it’s generated,” Ohmans says.  

She hopes that the combination of a credible buyer and neighborhood and city support, including boosts from local institutions, will make it happen.

When the results could be in, though, remains an open question. Right now, “The ball is in Wilder’s court,” she says. Nevertheless, “It’s really a big step for us,” she says, adding, “It’s an idea whose time has come.”

On Jan. 26, the community activists hosted a cooking event at the Rondo Library to promote the project.  

In the hopes that the Frogtown Gardens will materialize, in the coming months, its advocates will be hosting meetings and design charrettes “to make sure the eventual design and creation of this park reflects as many people’s desires as it can,” Ohmans says.

Source: Patricia Ohmans, Frogtown Gardens and Urban Farm
Writer: Anna Pratt

A group of community members in St. Paul’s Summit Hill neighborhood are working to bring an idea for a community garden to fruition.

It’s something that the Summit Hill Association (SHA) has been talking about for several years and it’s finally starting to come together, according to Kate Pearce, who chairs the neighborhood group’s environment committee.

“As most community gardens are aiming to do, we want to use more green space for the cultivation of food and to do some community-building at the same time,” she says. “It’s just a more sustainable way of growing food and getting it local.”  

Community gardens are also good for security, with more people out and about who know their neighbors, she says. “It’s something the neighborhood wants and needs.”  

SHA, which has scouted out various locations for the garden, is currently eyeing a site at Linwood Park, between the recreation center and tennis courts, where there’s open lawn space.

Already, SHA has looked into the feasibility of the city-owned site. The biggest challenge will be to create the infrastructure to pipe water into the garden, which will probably cost $5,000, according to Pearce.  

The soil may also need to be tested, while the garden's size and the number of plots are also yet to be determined.

At a Feb. 28 public meeting that the environment committee is hosting, “We’ll get to know how many people are interested in helping to get it going,” she says.

Then, they’ll be able to come up with a rough timeline and a plan for fundraising and applying for grants for the project. At this point, Pearce is unsure what its total cost might be.  

Although the timeline is still unknown, Pearce predicts that the garden could be ready in the spring of 2013.

“We’re assuming there’ll be a high demand,” she says. “We have to figure out how to make it equal-opportunity [so] that it’s fair to everyone.”   


Source: Kate Pearce, environment committee, Summit Hill Association
Writer: Anna Pratt

Waite House, a community gathering place in Minneapolis’s Phillips neighborhood, started construction at its new home this month. It’s about 80 percent of the way to its goal of raising $250,000 for the project, according to Waite House information.

The neighborhood organization is moving from its cramped quarters at 2529 13th Avenue South only blocks away into the larger Phillips Community Center at 2323 11th Avenue South.

By the spring, the organization will be sharing the building with a handful of other community-oriented organizations, including the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board, which has also revamped some parts of the complex.

Waite House director Francisco Segovia says that the new digs will allow for “collaboration with other organizations under the same roof."

Community members will be able to take advantage of the fitness center, eat healthy meals, and take classes. It also has a double gym, teen center, kitchen, dining room, offices, parking, and more.   

“This will enhance and provide services to a lot of kids in Phillips,” says Segovia.

The remodeling project mainly involves tearing down walls, installing new flooring, and upgrading systems, he says.  
 
Until now, the Waite House has had to juggle a community café and a gym in the same space.

In the new building, the functions will be separate. It’ll also have a computer lab, community-organizing-focused library, wireless Internet access, and meeting space.  

The food shelf is going to be bigger, he says. “We’ll be able to store more fresh food than we can at this point.”  

In the future, he hopes the organization will be able to open a coffee cart to have on hand for meetings.

“It’s a place in the neighborhood where community members of all nationalities and ages can come and network with people there,” he says.

Source: Francisco Segovia, director, Waite House
Writer: Anna Pratt

Soon, Minneapolis's East Side will get something called a Local Food Resource Hub.

The hub, which is still in planning stages, is a part of a program that was piloted in the city last year. Through neighborhood-embedded hubs, it connects hundreds of gardeners to discounted seeds and seedlings, tool sharing, workshops, and more.

Stephanie Hankerson, who is a program volunteer, explains, “A hub implies a physical location that people descend to but it’s more of a network of gardeners supporting each other." She adds that the hubs have only temporary locations.

Another hub is also in the works in St. Paul.

Gardening Matters, a local nonprofit agency that provides support for community gardens, is administering the program in partnership with the city and various community organizations and businesses.  

Hankerson explains, “The idea is to lower the barriers to get food-growing happening in backyards and community gardens and even support for commercial enterprises.”

It’s based on a model that’s been successful in Detroit, according to Hankerson.

Hubs offer memberships to gardeners based on a sliding scale fee, and scholarships are available.

Last year, each hub had about 200 members, which is a number that she expects to increase this year.

The individual volunteer-driven hubs each have a different flavor. “It reflects the neighborhood and community it’s coming from,” says Hankerson. 

“My hope is that the hub would be a support system for folks to grow their own food,” she says, adding, “At the same time, it’ll make our neighborhoods more sustainable and self-sufficient.”

On March 3, the hubs are hosting a program-wide fundraiser, with a winter sowing demonstration, composting tips, and information about low-cost city trees and community gardens, according to program materials.

A couple other kickoff events for the East Side hub are also in the works for February. For more information, check the Gardening Matters website. 

Source: Stephanie Hankerson, East Side Local Food Resource Hub
Writer: Anna Pratt 

To gauge  interest in a couple of its redevelopment projects, Plymouth-based Dominium Development and Acquisition hosted a community meeting on Jan. 9 at the Mill City Museum in Minneapolis.

Dominium plans to convert two historic sites--the old Jacob Schmidt Brewery in St. Paul and Pillsbury ‘A’ Mill in Minneapolis--into artist live/work spaces. (See The Line’s stories here and here.)

With the help of PLACE, a nonprofit agency that specializes in this kind of housing, Dominium has created an online survey to get additional input.

The survey asks people to weigh in on everything from possible rent prices to amenities, to help shape the common spaces and individual units in both developments.

Owen Metz, a senior development associate at Dominium, says that the company wants to “assess the market, to see what interest there is from the arts community,” adding, “We want to find out what their motivations are for living there.”

Dominium is hoping to hear from 10,000 area artists. “We’ll use the feedback to guide and drive some of the decisions moving forward, as we design units and common spaces,” which will allow for flexibility in the design, he says.

He adds that the company is reaching out to artists working in many different media.  

Depending on the survey’s results, a photography studio, for example, could be incorporated into one or both of the housing projects.  

Whatever the reaction is, “We’ll take it to heart and try to accommodate it as much as we can,” he says.

Source: Owen Metz, senior development associate, Dominium Development
Writer: Anna Pratt

Central Exchange, a mixed-use development that's planned for St. Paul's Frogtown neighborhood, will help turn around a site that has long been rundown.

Historically, the neighborhood as a whole has been under-invested in when compared with other parts of the city, according to Craig Johnson, who is the project manager for developer Model Cities.

Model Cities, which is based just a block-and-a-half away from the University Avenue site, wants to be a part of its improvement, he emphasizes.

For the project, the organization has acquired four vacant commercial properties that he describes as an “eyesore on the avenue.” It has often attracted vandalism, he says.  

Johnson says that the development will provide a boost to the area. “It’ll help make the area more attractive,” as opposed to somewhere that one would merely drive through.

Two of the buildings on the properties have been torn down, while the city will soon demolish the remaining couple of structures, he says.

Model Cities may also acquire another adjacent property, for which it’s trying to secure financing.

Central Exchange will have ground-floor commercial space along with a couple of stories of housing.

Altogether, there’ll be 30 to 45 units of mixed-income housing. Depending on its final footprint, the project could cost anywhere from $9.5 million to $13 million, according to Johnson.

The commercial spaces will be “oriented towards nonprofits, educational institutions or small businesses,” with an eye on what’s “useful to the community,” he says.

Model Cities is planning to install green roofs that will allow for urban gardening and stormwater management, as well.

The complex will alternately rise up one and three stories in different areas, to help break it up, visually. “If we built this as one big building it might have a more imposing feeling,” he says.

The coming Central Corridor Light Rail Transit line helped make the development possible. As such, “We see this project as a part of something bigger that’s going to really help the community.”

Construction at the site is scheduled to finish up in the spring of 2014.

Source: Craig Johnson, project manager, Model Cities
Writer: Anna Pratt

Kopplin’s Coffee settled into its new digs in St. Paul’s Merriam Park in late November.

In preparation for the move, Kopplin’s, which relocated from the nearby Highland Park neighborhood, remodeled the new space--a big project that totaled over $100,000, according to owner Andrew Kopplin.

The new place required a lot of painting, and now appears in shades of cream, brown, and green. Kopplin also built a “big sweeping bar” and installed new flooring. The result is casual, a blend of contemporary and traditional styles, he says.  

The coffee shop tripled in size, according to Kopplin. More space means that “We can serve customers in a better way,” he says. “Having more seating makes it easier to have people stay, sit down, and slow down,” which, he adds, is harder to pull off in a crowded space.  

The additional square footage also allows for more storage space. In the future, he hopes that it’ll provide the legroom to experiment with new drink recipes. “It frees us to do more,” he says. 

The remodeled coffee shop has already been featured in Travel + Leisure magazine as one of the country’s coolest coffeehouses.

Kopplin says that it helps to have complementary businesses nearby, such as Izzy’s Ice Cream and Sweets Bakeshop. They’re contributing to the local/sustainable "slow food" movement, which Kopplin’s advocates, he says.   

Previously, the coffee shop was somewhat isolated from other businesses. Its new address is in an area “where people are already out doing things,” he says. “The businesses around have made a huge difference. It makes it more of a destination neighborhood.”


Source: Andrew Kopplin, owner, Kopplin’s Coffee
Writer: Anna Pratt

This year, a lot of local development projects got creative.

They innovated in community engagement, replacing the typical “request for proposals” with contests. Social media tools helped to keep the conversation going beyond the traditional town hall meeting. Artists and art-making were brought into the development process in fresh ways. And technology contributed to community-building via smartphones and QR codes.

For example, early in the year, the Mississippi Riverfront Design Competition attracted 55 proposals from around the globe.

In re-imagining a portion of the riverfront in Minneapolis, the idea was to emphasize parks as an “engine for sustainable recreational, cultural, and economic development along the riverfront,” according to project materials.

Today, the effort has evolved into the Minneapolis Riverfront Development Initiative (MRDI).

On Dec. 15, MRDI held a well-attended public meeting at the Mill City Museum to discuss the possibilities for a nearby ‘Water Works’ park along the river. In the past it was the site of the city’s first water supply and fire-fighting pumping stations.

Partners in Preservation

Partners in Preservation (PIP) from American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation had a contest to award $1 million to 13 local preservation projects. The public got to help determine where the money went by voting on Facebook for their favorite projects.

Chris Morris from the National Trust for Historic Preservation said that the contest raised the profile of a number of local preservation projects. He celebrated “the impact it can have on sites that are meaningful to people in their neighborhoods.” Additionally, through creative open-house events, people “tried to involve the community and do good work.”

The Weisman Art Museum held a contest that for the redesign of the bike and pedestrian plaza outside its door, hosting public meetings with interdisciplinary design teams and exhibiting preliminary sketches and models.

Similarly, Architecture Minnesota magazine, which the American Institute of Architects Minnesota publishes, is undergoing its second annual round of Videotect, a video competition that asks participants to contemplate the built environment. The theme this time is sustainable transportation and its enhancement through design. It’ll wrap up with a screening of the videos, giving the audience a chance to weigh in.

Irrigate   

Also on the transportation theme, Irrigate is a three-year place-making initiative that aims to connect artists to community development that will accompany the coming Central Corridor light rail transit line.  Springboard for the Arts, TC LISC and the city of St. Paul received $750,000 from the national funding group ArtPlace, to set it in motion.  

Laura Zabel, who heads Springboard, said, “We really see the Central Corridor and construction as an opportunity to engage artists in a really deep way."
 
Similarly, technology tools are helping to create a sense of community. Some recently released smartphone tours feature audio segments about local landmarks, like Ranger on Call, which touches on various aspects of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area.

Others, such as Saint Paul: Code Green put people on a kind of scavenger hunt in which they scan strategically placed QR codes to learn more or advance in the “game.”

Experience Southwest’s "shop local" marketing campaign in Southwest Minneapolis also takes advantage of QR codes to direct community members to area retailers.  
 
Going forward, I expect to see more experimentation of this kind in other areas--look for it in connection with locally trending topics like bicycling, solar power and urban farming.

Anna Pratt, Development Editor

Stone’s Throw Urban Farm, which is working to redefine local sustainable food, will expand its territory next year.

The farm was formed this fall through the merger of Uptown Farmers and Concrete Beet Farmers in Minneapolis and Pig’s Eye Urban Farm in St. Paul.  

The merger made sense because the farms shared similar beliefs and farming practices, according to Stone’s Throw farmer Alex Liebman.

“We want to sustain those business practices and we hope we do a better job because we’re more focused with our energy and time,” he says.  

Right now the farm is trying to acquire enough land to make the business financially viable--to the extent that it can pay its workers a living wage, he says.

Besides the practical financial benefits, “We all sort of were becoming good friends and sharing resources,” he says. “It’s a win-win for all of us.”

In 2012, the farm plans to convert up to 10 vacant lots in St. Paul into farmland, along with a handful of other properties in Minneapolis.

“It’s an ongoing process to try to get vacant lots and find out if the landowners are receptive to the idea of beautifying it and growing vegetables.”   

Securing land for the long term is another objective they’ll be tackling going forward.   

Liebman is optimistic about some zoning changes being discussed that will “allow us to become a legitimate land use in the city,” he says.

The changes will help farms get established in the Twin Cities. As it is, farms operate in a gray area, he says. With the new zoning rules, which still need to be approved, “There’s more legal clarity about what we can and can’t do.”  
 
Although the urban farm scene is “small and intimate,” there’s a lot of excitement about the practice, with a number of nonprofit initiatives, school programs, and community gardens doing good work.

“Any time you’re converting forsaken lots into beautiful productive spaces it’s a good thing for the community,” Liebman says, adding, “And you’re producing food that stays in the Twin Cities.”


Source: Alex Liebman, Stone’s Throw Urban Farm
Writer: Anna Pratt

A building that sat vacant for 30 years is now home to the real estate-focused Libby Law Office and the SPARC community development agency.

Last week, the groups held an open house at the century-old building, which underwent a thorough rehabbing after the law firm bought the place from SPARC in June.

The community group had owned the building for five years, according to Kirsten Libby, the law firm's principal.

She says that while it would have cost less to tear down the building, she wanted to contribute to the ongoing revitalization of Rice Street.

The $500,000 rehab “brought value to the neighborhood," she says. 

The law firm, which is on the first floor, has a reception area, offices, a kitchenette, and a conference room, while SPARC fills the second floor.  

In the past, the 1888 building had been a Romanian rooming house and a mattress and a magnet factory.

The long, narrow building, which has two stories, was gutted and reframed, she says. “There were a lot of structural issues that were worse than what we thought at first,” Libby says.

The building's windows, roof, and mechanical systems were replaced, while the original brick façade was preserved. The building also has energy-efficient stucco siding on its exterior.  

Inside, rich earth tones run throughout, complementing the red exposed bricks. Hardwood floors, 20-foot-high ceilings, granite walls, and a hand-painted sign create the feeling of an old-fashioned Main-Street-type law office.

“We tried to keep the old look,” she says. “It’s warm and inviting, all the things we had in mind when we put it together.”  

Source: Kirsten Libby, Libby Law Office
Writer: Anna Pratt

Through a master planning process that it recently wrapped up, the Hampden Park Coop in St. Paul has identified short- and long-term remodeling priorities for the vintage building that it owns.

Coop member Paul Ormseth, an architect who is leading the process, says that several years ago the store expanded into a corner space in the building “with an eye to doing some planning about how to manage it into the future.”

Right now, the coop rents out part of the second-floor space to Oak Floor Dance Association, and there’s potential for more tenants.

“With a large space upstairs, the building can serve the community,” perhaps by accommodating public gatherings or various educational uses.

It’s something that any remodeling project should strengthen, Ormseth says.

Additionally, the building is well positioned to take advantage of traffic from the coming Central Corridor light rail transit line and right-of-way improvements planned for Raymond Avenue, he says.

In general “We want to do near-term remodeling that makes sense in a longer vision for the building,” and which will probably happen in a couple of phases.

For starters, the store needs more office and storage space.

The checkout stand could also be revamped, while the coop is also hoping to make the building more energy-efficient.  

For example, “We’re looking at bringing more daylight into the store to improve the feel of the store and reduce the need for lighting,” he says.  

Enhancing accessibility is another goal.

Whatever changes get made will be sensitive to the building's historic character. 

It goes to show, adds Ormseth, that “An old building is valuable because it can be adapted and it strengthens the community by retaining some existing historic fabric.”

At this early stage, the budget for the remodeling projects is still debatable. “The coop has been an asset for the neighborhood for a long time,” he says. “In buying the building, the coop made a commitment to improving the store, as well as keeping the existing building intact.”


Source: Paul Ormseth, Hampden Park Coop member
Writer: Anna Pratt

Lehman’s Garage, which has been a fixture in South Minneapolis since 1917, is reopening on 54th and Lyndale this week with a new, bigger facility.

Over the summer, its old building was torn down to make way for a longer and narrower 20,000-square-foot facility that’s more environmentally sound, according to project information.

During construction, work at the shop went on, with technicians repairing vehicles from the company’s five other locations.

The state-of-the-art auto body, mechanical, and glass repair shop, which has one level, includes a storefront entrance and windows that overlook the street.

Shannon Rusk, vice-president for development at Oppidan Investment Company, which led the project, explains that energy-efficiency was a top priority.

The company accomplished that with high-efficiency heating and cooling units on the rooftop, along with operable windows that can be adjusted to allow for air-flow and temperature control, she says.  

The building envelope and windows are also energy-efficient, while a rain garden behind the building helps manage stormwater, she says.

Inside its new home are such amenities as a customer lounge and wireless Internet access, state-of-the-art paint booths, employee break areas, and new garage lifts.

“It’s a huge improvement from what was there. It’s a beautiful building,” she says, adding, “It’s a nice, clean, classic design that doesn’t look like a [typical] body shop."

The paints the garage is using are water-based, which is also a green element, she says.

From the beginning, the neighborhood has been supportive of the project. When the proposal reached city officials earlier on, “We didn’t have one issue,” she says. “It’s something that the community wanted."

Source: Shannon Rusk, Oppidan Investment Company
Writer: Anna Pratt

When Peter Haakon Thompson stepped in as the curator and host for Intermedia Arts’ new coworking area, called ArtsHub, he focused on getting the place physically ready.  

He wanted to do away with its office look to create a more welcoming workplace for artists, organizers, and others who are interested in social change. “A big part of what I did was create a 'place' out of 'space',” he says.

ArtsHub, which opened last month following a September preview, is housed both within Intermedia and in a separate building behind it, which is referred to as ArtsHub West. Both spaces have conference rooms and a kitchen, although ArtsHub West is geared more for small groups. From either location, people can copy, print, and access the Internet. 

Inside Intermedia, the mezzanine-level ArtsHub has a warm, cozy feeling. With an exposed ceiling and a balcony, it feels like a boat, Thompson says. “I like the idea that it’s an enclosed space that overlooks the lobby.”

It’s furnished with vintage tables and chairs that come from the University of Minnesota’s ReUse Center. Some of the tables look like they came from a biology classroom. Each table has a desk lamp.

In setting it up, Thompson paid attention to light, and how the eclectic furniture works together. “I felt like a curator of desks and chairs,” he says, adding that he hopes people will find a favorite nook.

He also placed one table in the gallery area. How that table gets used is “going to develop as time goes on, when ArtsHub is more part of the building.”

ArtsHub West involved more construction. Thompson took down the walls to make one large open space and installed items for a kitchen. The space also got a new coat of paint--inside and out--which is accentuated by stencil work.  “It has a funky artistic look,” he says.

Artist Ethan Arnold, who painted the lime-green exterior, has artwork showing inside.   

Now, Thompson is focused on programming for the spaces with skill-shares, table tennis, “grant jam days,” happy hours, and more--to facilitate interaction. “We want to provide another way for people to feel like they’re part of a community of other creative types.”
 

Source: Peter Haakon Thompson, ArtsHub curator, Intermedia Arts
Writer: Anna Pratt

To help make the city of Minneapolis stand out to tourists and convention planners, it's being rebranded as a 'City by Nature.'

Meet Minneapolis introduced the tagline at an Oct. 27 press conference in the IDS Center's Crystal Court in downtown Minneapolis. 

Melvin Tennant, who is the CEO and president for Meet Minneapolis, a nonprofit organization that promotes the city (and is also a sponsor of The Line), says that the rebranding came about because “We need better positioning for the city and more consistent messaging to visitors.”

The tagline is accompanied by a broader brand position, ‘Metropolitan by Nature,’ along with a logo that depicts the city with a silhouette of skyscrapers and trees reflected on water.

Each aspect of the plan is deeply rooted in research that began in early 2011, he says.  

When researchers gathered feedback about the city, they found that adjectives such as “friendly, beautiful, and down-to-earth,” often came up, he says.  

Those are attributes that the marketing strategy will help the city to build on, he explains.

As it is, too few people see the city as a vacation destination, Mayor R.T. Rybak adds.

In a survey of top cities to visit, Minneapolis was under the radar for those who’d never been to the area, he says. But for people who had spent some quality time in the city, it shot near the top. “To know us is to love us,” Rybak concludes.

It’s a big deal, considering that 18 million visitors who arrive to the area every year spend $6 billion annually, he says.

The press event also kicked off a social-media-type “virtual destination tour” around town.

Using their smartphones, people can scan QR codes in and around such local landmarks as the IDS Center, Minneapolis Convention Center, Stone Arch Bridge, Guthrie Theater and Target Field, for informative videos and links, according to Meet Minneapolis information.

Source: R.T. Rybak, Minneapolis mayor, and Melvin Tennant, Meet Minneapolis president and CEO
Writer: Anna Pratt

The Weisman Art Museum (WAM) in Minneapolis, which recently reopened with a new addition, wrapped up a design competition last month that re-imagines the plaza outside its front entrance.

A nine-member jury chose as its winner a proposal jointly from VJAA (Jennifer Yoos and Vincent James), HouMinn Practice (Marc Swackhammer and Blair Satterfield), and artist Diane Willow, according to WAM information.

The plaza, which overlooks the Mississippi River, stands on the eastern edge of the Washington Avenue Bridge, which links the east and west banks of the University of Minnesota campus.

Over 2,000 people cross the plaza daily, and with the completion of recent construction projects, including the Weisman expansion, that number is probably going to go up, according to museum information.

WAM spokesperson Erin Lauderman explains that the design competition was a way to “re-envision our front yard,” which, she adds, is important because “We’re the figureheads for people coming onto the campus as they cross the river.”

The idea is to make the busy plaza more of a gathering space where people will want to linger. “Right now it dumps you on the campus,” she says.

To address that, WAM's Target Studio for Creative Collaboration required that submissions come from interdisciplinary teams with experience designing public spaces.

She says that the winning team’s design helps redirect the flow of traffic to make it safer, keeping pedestrians and bicyclists separate.

It also makes way for an interactive public space with digital walls where passersby “can stop and interact, sort of like a call and response.”

For example, images of people walking across the bridge could appear on the digital walls.

The next phase involves public meetings. “It needs to be vetted for what’s realistic and what the community wants it to be,” Lauderman says.


Source: Erin Lauderman, spokesperson, Weisman Art Museum
Writer: Anna Pratt

A new design for the aging Peavey Plaza in downtown Minneapolis incorporates everything from a 20-foot water wall to flexible performance spaces.

Tom Oslund, who is the principal of oslund.and.associates, a local landscape architecture firm that took into consideration all kinds of public feedback in coming up with the design, says it modernizes the plaza.

The existing plaza, which notable landscape architect M. Paul Friedberg designed in 1974, doesn't meet modern accessibility requirements. Also, too much water goes down the drain--literally--and the plaza lacks an efficient stormwater management plan, Oslund says.

More broadly, the plaza has evolved into a hub for outdoor performances over the past several decades. "There's a shortage of infrastructure to hold more sophisticated performances."

Additionally, the way the plaza recesses below-grade has posed numerous safety concerns.

The new design divides the plaza into several "rooms," at different elevations, including a street-level area and garden and performance space, all of which are accessible via a ramp.

It features a couple of pools with dancing fountains, a shady pergola, a sound garden, and green spaces, according to project information.

Seating can be configured according to the use, with shallow pools that can be turned off to make room for 1,500 chairs.

A video screen that a video artist will help program will broadcast Orchestra Hall performances.

Although the $8-$10 million project depends on fundraising, the ideal timeline is to have it reopen with the $50 million reconstruction of the adjacent Orchestra Hall. At this point, the groundbreaking is planned for the spring of 2012.   

He says that while change is hard for some people, the design has been well received.

"I think the new design is reflective of how 21st-century space should be articulated," he says. "There's a significant program component to it and a significant sustainable strategy," including economically.

Source: Tom Oslund, principal, oslund.and.associates
Writer: Anna Pratt

Architecture Minnesota, which last year hosted a popular video contest that centered on skyway travel, is gearing up for another round of Videotect.

The topic this time is sustainable transportation and "its enhancement through quality design," according to Chris Hudson, who is the editor of Architecture Minnesota magazine.

Hudson says that the video competition was successful earlier this year, with over 1,600 people casting votes for their favorite videos online, and the Walker Art Center screening filling to capacity.

However, Hudson says. it was also a learning experience: "We knew what we wanted to improve on."

For this round, videos will be shorter, between 30 and 120 seconds as opposed to two minutes. Now, people also have three months to produce a video entry, compared to five weeks the first time. "Last time it was a crunch. We didn't want to stress people out like that," he says.

He's hoping that people will take advantage of the window of time to film before winter creeps in.

Another perk is that with the help of a couple of sponsors, Architecture Minnesota is able to offer more prize money, with $6,000 to be given out.

Through the contest, "We want to spark a public dialogue," about the built environment, he says, but adds that the contest is not limited to strictly architectural topics.  

Such is the case with the sustainable transportation theme, where design plays an important role. In considering possible topics, "We couldn't think of anything bigger or hotter," he says.

Right now there's all kinds of pressure to build highways "to keep things going," while light rail transit and bike amenities are also coming up a lot.

Everything from planes to bikes is fodder for the contest. "We want people to focus on what are the most sustainable forms of transportation, and conversely, to make some critiques of sustainable transportation options." 

The topic is open-ended "to allow people to approach it however they want."

Entries are due by Jan. 23, with online viewing and voting happening in early February.  

Source: Chris Hudson, editor, Architecture Minnesota magazine
Writer: Anna Pratt

The Basilica of Saint Mary in Minneapolis won $110,000 to restore part of its 1915 building through the Partners in Preservation (PIP) competition that wrapped up last week.

Twenty-four other local landmarks competed for grant money through the contest from American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

It involved nearly 28,000 people, who weighed in on an online poll over a three-week period, according to contest information.

PIP, which started in 2006, has given out $5.5 million to 56 historic preservation projects nationwide. Another $10 million will be doled out through the program over the next handful of years, according to contest information.

At the basilica--the oldest in the country, which French architect Emmanuel Masqueray designed--the grant will help spruce up everything from decorative ceilings to paint and gold leaf throughout.  

Chris Morris, a spokesperson from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, says that the basilica hopes the upgrade will lead the way for additional building improvements. “It’s nice that we can act as a catalyst, giving confidence to tackle big projects in the future," she says. 

More broadly, she says, the contest successfully raised awareness about many area preservation projects and “the impact it can have on sites that are meaningful to people in their neighborhoods.”

Additionally, through creative open-house events, people “tried to involve the community and do good work.”

The Hennepin Center for the Arts, which has been renamed the Cowles Center for Dance & Performing Arts, for example, had some community members knit scarves for a performance art piece. (The scarves also related to “yarn bombing” actions around town.) Afterward, the scarves were donated to people in need. “It was a fabulous act of generosity,” Morris says.   

Also, Emerge Career and Technology Center had a barbeque that got people excited about its redevelopment project in North Minneapolis. “It’s a great way to make strong connections with people in their own community,” says Morris.  

Next, an advisory committee will meet in November to determine how the remaining $900,000 grant will be divvied up among the other 24 competing projects.  

 
Source: Chris Morris, representative of the National Trust for Historic Preservation
Writer: Anna Pratt

As the latest development in a larger project to go green at the Saint Paul RiverCentre, this week an 82-kilowatt photovoltaic solar installation was shown off on its parking ramp.

The 348 solar photovoltaic panels will produce 100,000 kilowatts of energy--or enough to run about nine homes each year, according to city information.  

Anne Hunt, who works for the city, says that when it comes to energy efficiency, “I’m not sure people think of a parking ramp," adding, "This is definitely the greenest ramp in the metro area."

It complements the $2.5 million solar thermal array that went onto the RiverCentre’s rooftop earlier this year, which is considered to be the largest of its kind in the Midwest, according to city information. (See the story from The Line here.)

The two installations, which use different solar technologies, will help the RiverCentre to dramatically reduce its carbon footprint by 2012, she explains.  

Looking all over the country, “I can’t find another public building that has two different solar technologies,” she says.

Other related energy-efficiency work has recently been underway at the parking ramp as well.

For example, high-pressure sodium lights were swapped out for energy-efficient fluorescent lamps, while a couple of electric-car charging stations have also been added, she says.  

Already, the building gets power from District Energy St. Paul, which “operates the largest, most successful, biomass-fueled hot water district heating system in North America,” its website states.

As one more layer to the project, the RiverCentre complex is part of the special Energy Innovation Corridor that highlights various energy projects along the in-progress Central Corridor Light Rail line.

Funding for the $750,000 worth of energy-efficiency measures at the ramp comes partly from the federal stimulus package.  

These initiatives save money while also producing clean energy, Hunt says.


Source: Anne Hunt, spokesperson, City of St. Paul
Writer: Anna Pratt

Venture North Bike Walk and Coffee, which had its grand opening on Oct. 8, is the first bike shop of any sort to make its home in North Minneapolis.

Its added emphases on walking and coffee make it a unique hub, with everything from bike paraphernalia to classes on healthy living, according to city information.

Additionally, Venture North's first day of business coincided with the unveiling of new bike lanes on the nearby Emerson and Fremont avenues.

The city is a partner in the shop; it provided startup money for the place through a federal grant, while, further down the line, as much as $350,000 could help sustain the shop, according to MPR.

The city also selected Redeemer Center for Life, a nonprofit community developer that’s based on the North Side, to manage the shop.

“The goal of the initiative is to improve access for affordable physical activity opportunities among north Minneapolis residents,” a prepared statement from the city reads.

Venture North will also be hosting biking, walking and running clubs, along with a jobs program for youth.

The local Dogwood Coffee Co. helped put in place the coffee and espresso bar, according to city information.

Although the shop will cater to people of all ages and athletic abilities, the store’s manager, Jacob Flinsch-Garrison says in a prepared statement that “we will be especially oriented toward serving the needs of those who are getting into bicycling or walking for the first time, or who have not done so for a while."

“Venture North is committed to making each of our store’s visitors feel welcome. Our motto is ‘gratitude, not attitude,’” he says.

Source: City of Minneapolis
Writer: Anna Pratt

The 1853 Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery in Minneapolis, where thousands of the city’s earliest settlers are buried, was the backdrop for a recent benefit concert.

It featured Jeremy Messersmith, a local musician whose 2010 album, “The Reluctant Graveyard,” has songs that are based on some of the cemetery’s historic figures. Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelles also performed.  

The concert raised around $10,000 to help restore the cemetery’s steel and limestone pillar fence, which has long been in disrepair, according to Sue Hunter Weir, who chairs Friends of the Cemetery, which organized the event.  

It also drew a crowd of about 1,200 people, many of whom had never been to the cemetery before. “That kind of attention is good for us,” she says.  

Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery, which is the city’s oldest, is among the 25 historic preservation projects that are competing for dollars through the Partners in Preservation contest, which The Line covered here.

Through the competition, which closes this week, the public has a chance to help pick preservation projects that will get a portion of a $1 million grant that’s being offered jointly by American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.  

A couple of years ago the Friends group jumpstarted the $1.4 million preservation effort with an “Adopt a Picket” campaign. Of 3,510 pickets, nearly 700 have been adopted so far, according to Weir.

Since then, the gates lining Cedar Avenue and Lake Street, and parts of the fence have been restored, but much of it still needs fixing up, she explains.

The fence is a priority because it protects the cemetery. Despite its status on the National Register of Historic Places, the cemetery has been described as endangered. Only a few years ago, “Some sections [of the fence] were so bad that people could push it in with their hands,” she says.   


Source: Sue Hunter Weir, chair, Friends of the Cemetery
Writer: Anna Pratt

An old mansion on Cathedral Hill in St. Paul, which had gone through foreclosure, will soon be converted into a Montessori school and a bed and breakfast.

Whitney Blessing, along with her husband, Andy, who is a contractor, are fixing up the place, which once belonged to Frank P. Shepard.

The Shepards were a prominent family who had four homes within a block of one another, she explains.

Through the years, the 14,000-square-foot mansion had gone through many changes, most recently serving as a boarding house for an international school, according to Whitney.

This month, the Blessings will open the Cathedral Hill Montessori School in the home’s 1950s addition.

It’s just the first part of the Blessings’ concept for turning around the place, which is also their sixth home renovation.  

The couple and their two children will move into the 1884 portion of the house. But the 1881 original structure will become a four-guest bed and breakfast. Separately, large dining and living rooms will become community meeting spaces.

Altogether, they'll probably end up spending $500,000 on the renovation, she says.

“I think this house will never be the original Queen Anne Victorian that it was before the 1940s, when it turned institutional,” she says.

That being said, “We wanted to put something here that would be available to anyone in the neighborhood who should need those services.”

The 1880s areas of the home and the carriage house are considered to be contributing structures to the surrounding historic district. "We want to maintain the historic character," Blessing says.

Much of the work that they’re doing, from restoring the original hardwood floors to uncovering fireplaces, is cosmetic. Utilities also need to be upgraded, while previous mop closets will be turned into bathrooms for the bed and breakfast’s guest rooms.

The neighborhood has been supportive of the project, she says. “[The house] is part of the history and we want that to stay intact and maintain the integrity and open it up for the community to see and be a part of and enjoy.”  

Source: Whitney Blessing, homeowner, Frank P. Shepard mansion
Writer: Anna Pratt

The century-old Merrick Community Services, which provides support services for youth, families and seniors, is preparing to relocate to a building on Railroad Island in St. Paul.

The four-acre parcel that the J.H. Larson Electrical Company previously occupied includes a warehouse and office space.

It allows for Merrick to triple its square footage and quadruple its footprint, according to Dan Rodriguez, who heads Merrick. "It's a shell of a building that allows us to do a lot of work. It makes sense for our purposes," he says.

The $9 million project has been in the works for some time, as Merrick has outgrown the 50-year-old existing building on the city's East Side, which is "in dire need of being replaced," he says.  

It would cost too much to rehab it, adds Rodriguez.  

The new digs will include a computer lab, flexible meeting space for large and small gatherings, and a gym with a stage. There'll also be areas specifically geared to youth, seniors, and other community members.

Merrick will continue to offer after-school programs, the country's largest Meals on Wheels program, and a food shelf, while a community garden could come later. There's also space in the building for another organization to be a tenant.

A three-year capital campaign will raise funds for the project.

The expansion is happening at a time when "The services we provide are more relevant than ever," Rodriguez says.

All in all, "We're trying to meet the needs of our participants and clients into the 21st century," he says.      

"We think it's a win-win for everyone," including those that the organization serves and the East Side in general, he says. "We represent a commitment to the area and region. We're investing in staying here."


Source: Dan Rodriguez, executive director, Merrick Community Services  
Writer: Anna Pratt

This week, local residents will have several opportunities to weigh in on the redesign of Webber Park in North Minneapolis.

Landform, a Minneapolis-based landscape architecture firm, is leading the master-planning process with the Minneapolis park board.

As a part of an early information-gathering process, it'll host a public meeting, studio time, and open house between Sept. 29 and Oct. 1, along with an online survey.

The 22-acre Webber Park is a wooded facility that has a pond, swimming pool, wading pool, playing field, tennis and basketball courts, and a playground and recreation center, according to park board information.

Roberta Englund, who heads the nearby Folwell and Webber-Camden neighborhood groups, describes the park as a comfortable and pretty urban area that’s “an important community attribute [that] hasn’t had the attention it deserves."

A big draw at the popular park is the annual Victory Labor Day Races and Community Picnic, according to Englund.

The well known “woodchopper statue” and Webber Park Library are also on the grounds, she says. 

But the park has a number of issues that need to be addressed, including a lack of parking.

Also, the swimming pool needs to be replaced. “We don’t have enough water features here. The priority is making it considerably more accessible,” she says.     

Other issues at the site center on reforestation, tornado damage, and inadequate lighting, she adds.

Whether the library should stay put, expand, or relocate, is also up in the air.

While ideas for the park are still in an early stage, the idea of enhancing the park's connection to the nearby Shingle Creek and Mississippi River in some way has come up, she says.

Englund hopes that people will take the time to voice their opinions about how the park should be configured. “It’s a major project that has a great deal to do with the visioning of parks and [their] role in recreation in North Minneapolis neighborhoods,” she says, adding, “It’ll be a careful look at how the land is used.”

Construction will begin next summer, while the park’s grand re-opening is planned for the summer of 2013, according to park board information.

Source: Roberta Englund, leader for Folwell and Webber-Camden neighborhood groups
Writer: Anna Pratt

At its Sept. 21 meeting, the Minneapolis park board initiated a 45-day public comment period on the RiverFIRST proposal to revitalize some key parts of the Upper Mississippi riverfront.

It's the next step toward making the plan a reality.

The proposal lays out various design concepts and an implementation plan for “problem-solving” parks, walking trails and other amenities for the river area, mainly between North and Northeast Minneapolis, according to information from the Minneapolis Riverfront Development Initiative (MRDI), which is leading the charge.

RiverFIRST is the product of a collaboration between MRDI project manager Mary deLaittre, the Tom Leader Studio in Berkeley, Calif., Kennedy & Violich Architecture (TLS/KVA) in Boston and New York financing consultants HR&A.

For months, the proposal has undergone an extensive editing and community engagement process, fleshing out an earlier version that won MRDI’s international design competition, according to project information.

In the proposal, five priority projects, all of which are doable over the next handful of years “exemplify ‘re-sourcing’ the river, while eliminating as many barriers as possible,” to help lay the foundation for future riverfront development, deLaittre says in a prepared statement.

For starters, a riverfront trail system that would go through Farview Park in North Minneapolis would join other existing city and regional parks and trails to form a “user-friendly network of commuter and recreational connections, most notably across the Interstate 94 trench cutting off Northsiders from the river,” a prepared statement reads.   

A number of floating BioHaven Islands on the river could help improve water quality while also providing habitat for plants and animals.   

The plan also calls for a new Scherer Park that would take advantage of park-owned property along the river in Northeast.

Separately, the Northside Wetlands Park “transforms significant acreage from the existing Port of Minneapolis.”  

Finally, an historic park that leads into the downtown area could be restored, according to MRDI information.

Going beyond the five-year projects, “The Draft RiverFIRST Proposal has the potential to create the largest expanse of new public and green space since the Minneapolis Parks system was first created over 100 years ago,” a prepared statement about the project reads.


Source: Information from the Minneapolis Riverfront Development Initiative
Writer: Anna Pratt

In the coming weeks, local residents will help decide what metro-area historic landmarks should receive a portion of a $1 million preservation grant.

The contest is part of a program called Partners in Preservation from American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. On Sept. 20, the program will announce the 25 competing sites, according to contest information.

From there, people can start to weigh in on Facebook, where they’ll be able to vote once daily through Oct. 12.

Royce Yeater, who heads the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Midwest office, says that the contest moved to Facebook this year as a way to connect with younger audiences. Traditionally the Trust has had an older demographic, he says.

The whole idea is to “raise the visibility and engage the citizenry of the U.S. in taking care of the cultural heritage and built environment,” he says.

Over the past five years, the program has delivered $5.5 million to 56 national historic sites, according to contest information. In 2010, American Express agreed to provide $10 million for another five-year run of the program.

It's a natural partnership, as American Express has long championed heritage sites around the world, including the Statue of Liberty, which it helped to get refurbished in the 1980s, he says. The company has also maintained ties to the Trust and the World Monuments Fund for many years.

This year, the partners decided to bring the program to the Twin Cities because “The feeling is that it’s an area that has a significant appreciation of heritage and it has great cultural resources and architecture,” he says, adding, “It also needs this kind of moral support."

He says it helps to have national organizations reach out to local-level places.

Further, the contest has provided an economic stimulus everywhere it has gone, he says. In some cases, even when projects failed to win the grant money, the publicity helped preservation groups leverage additional financial support.

In Chicago, the Pui Tak Center, which received $110,000 to restore vintage tile work in 2007, was able to launch a major capital campaign. “The program helped get it beyond emergency repair to major restoration,” he says.  

Further, the program has a jobs benefit. “We have been making the case that historic preservation is labor-intensive,” he says. “It continues to generate good, highly-skilled jobs at the local level.”  

Source: Royce Yeater, director, National Trust for Historic Preservation's Midwest office
Writer: Anna Pratt

When the city of St. Paul got a chance to pilot a green initiative in its swimming pools a couple years ago, it jumped at it.

Since then, the city has become an international leader in the technology that uses moss to reduce chlorine and save water and money.

Recently, the project was also one of three to nab a Governor’s Award for Pollution Prevention, the Pioneer Press reports.

It started when a local company, Creative Water Solutions, approached the city about trying the moss technology at the Highland Park Aquatic Center, at no charge.

Brad Meyer, a spokesperson for the Parks and Recreation department, explains via email that at the time, “The technology worked in smaller settings, but hadn’t been tried yet in large settings like a municipal pool,” he says.

The city’s pools get a lot of use, so water quality is a constant concern, according to Meyer.

To stay on top of it, more chemicals were being used, which is costlier and has environmental repercussions, he says.

In 2009, the city experimented with sphagnum moss at the Highland Park Aquatic Center. It fully rolled out the technology at the pool in 2010. At that time it also expanded it at the Great River Water Park. Como Pool will use the technology when it reopens in 2012, according to Meyer.  

Now, besides the regular chemical treatment that the water gets as it goes through various pipes in the mechanical room, it also gets filtered by the moss, which “re-conditions" it.

As a result of the technology, chemical use at the pools has been cut in half. Also, the moss doesn’t leave any residue, making cleanup at the end of the season easier, he says.

The renewable resource also benefits swimmers in that it “allows users to not experience the burning/itchy eyes and green hair that often come with normal municipal pools,” he says.   

Further, since the city adopted the technology, Creative Water Solutions has brought it to more than 50 municipal pools, according to Meyer.

Source: Brad Meyer, spokesperson, St. Paul Parks
Writer: Anna Pratt

At a public meeting on Sept. 20, some residents of St. Paul’s East Side will float an idea for a natural foods coop.

Beth Butterfield, one of the meeting's organizers, says that she's wanted to see a coop close to home ever since she moved to the area seven years ago.

About the East Side, which is the city's largest and most diverse neighborhood, she says, “I love it. I have friends here and I want to stay. But there are things that it could have to be more attractive," such as a natural foods coop.

Earlier this summer, she started talking it over with others who share her enthusiasm. Looking at other successful examples, such as the Mississippi Market on Selby and Dale avenues in St. Paul and The Wedge in Minneapolis, they wondered, “What would it take to open one?”  

Butterfield hopes the meeting will help to provide a sense for the level of support for such a “completely grassroots undertaking,” she says.

She says the timing makes sense because more and more people are interested in local organic foods and where they come from. A local coop would also help keep dollars in the community, which is especially needed on the East Side, she says. 

A coop could include a cafe and meeting space and feature items from local youth farmers.

However, to become a reality, the coop needs a committed group of volunteers. “A coop is about member-ownership. It’s not owned by one person,” which, she says, is what makes it a challenge to organize.

From the planning to the running of such a place, “It’s not just about food. It’s about bringing people together,” she says, adding, “That really is our grander goal in this.”

Source: Beth Butterfield, East Side natural foods coop organizer
Writer: Anna Pratt

On Spring Lake in Minneapolis, seven floating islands that were fashioned from everyday recyclables are serving as wildlife habitat. At the same time, they’re helping to remediate the lake’s impaired waters.

The islands, which come from the St. Paul-based company Midwest Floating Islands, feature native plants for a “concentrated wetland effect," according to a prepared statement about the project.

They were launched on the lake last week.

It’s the most significant example of this kind of technology at work in Minnesota, according to Craig Wilson, who serves on the board for the Lowry Hill neighborhood group.

Wilson is also a landscape architect who is the principal of the local green business, Sustology. He was instrumental in getting the islands set up.

The $50,000 Spring Lake project resulted from a collaboration between the Lowry Hill Neighborhood Association (LHNA) and the American Society of Landscape Architects Minnesota Chapter, along with numerous other partners.

This project was also featured on a national scale as a part of the Society’s “8/17/11” campaign to build awareness of its work.

The idea is to restore the historic bird and wildlife sanctuary, according to Wilson.

Birds and other animals hang out at the surface of the islands. Less visible are the microbes the islands attract beneath the surface, which are “responsible for breaking down water-borne pollutants,” according to a prepared statement about the project. 

Wilson says that the floating islands were originally part of the RiverFIRST proposal to transform a portion of the Mississippi River in the Twin Cities.  

RiverFIRST, which is still in early phases from TLS/KVA landscape architects and designers, is “a multifaceted and multidimensional vision for a renewed and revitalized Upper Riverfront," the website reads.

But as a result of the state government shutdown earlier this summer, the floating islands had to be relocated. That’s when Wilson thought about the close-to-home Spring Lake, which many people don’t even know exists, he says.

The Lowry Hill neighborhood group had previously helped with species removal in the lake but hadn’t yet tackled its water quality issues. “We realized that if we upgraded the number of islands, we’d be able to clean up the lake,” he says.

It was then that the project became more than a demonstration, something that “could benefit the whole lake,” he says, adding, “It’s also a great educational opportunity.”


Source: Craig Wilson, principal, Sustology
Writer: Anna Pratt



 
 

The locally based commercial real estate company, Java Properties, is already starting to fill up the spaces of its Suburban Avenue Town Center, which is still in planning stages.

The “destination center” will replace a former car dealership at 1891 Suburban Avenue in St. Paul, a site that’s long been underused, according to Betsy Leach, executive director of the District 1 Community Council.

She says that the developer has expressed interest in working with the neighborhood group on the project.  

The developer has “committed to working with us and the city on the Come Clean! litter reduction program and has committed to support of the public planters along Suburban Avenue,” she says via email.   

The four-building town center will include a chiropractor, salon, automotive repair, pet foods store, restaurants, and more, according to Mark Krogh, who works for Java Properties. “We have some strong prospects,” he says, adding, “We’re still looking for the best use.”  

On the whole, the idea is to recreate a kind of small town, he says.

The project preserves part of the old car dealership. “We’ll remodel the existing building to make it retail-friendly,” Krogh says.

“Right now it looks like a car dealership,” he says, explaining that windows and other features will be added to change its aesthetic.

Rain gardens that will help with stormwater management are a prominent part of the site plan.

Krogh says that details such as the project’s cost and timeline are still coming together.

“It’ll be a good development,” he says, adding, “We’re turning a bunch of asphalt into a thriving center.”

But besides the redevelopment aspect, he says the town center will be a boon for the area because, “It’ll create a lot of jobs.”

Source: Mark Krogh, Java Properties  
Writer: Anna Pratt  
 

The Garden of Feed'em, a community endeavor on St. Paul's East Side, has thrived in its first year. 

From the spring of 2010 to today, the garden, which sits on a two-acre piece of land near the Conway Recreation Center, has produced eggplants, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, cilantro, and other vegetables and herbs, thanks in part to donations, according to Barb Winter, who is one of the community members leading the charge. 

In return, lots of vegetables have gone to local food shelves, churches, and rec center seniors, Winter says.

The garden has also become a community gathering place.

It came together after she and some other garden organizers, with the support of the District 1 Community Council, got the go-ahead from the St. Paul parks and rec department. The department had called for community garden proposals for the parcel.

Volunteers brought in compost and then tilled the land a couple of times, she says. Fortunately, they were able to get the equipment needed to draw water from an area fire hydrant.  

Soon after, the volunteers spread the word about the garden at various neighborhood meetings. It's attracted plenty of interest ever since, she says.

As proof of that, the garden has grown from a handful of 5-foot by 30-foot plots last year to the current five communal plots, along with a dozen rentable plots that run 10 feet by 30 feet.

One thing that makes the garden unique is that a diverse group grows food there, including representatives from a handful of local immigrant communities plus rec center youth. "I'm really glad to see all of the participation," Winter says, adding, "It's a nice melting pot."   

Everyone takes turns watering the garden, she says.

At monthly meetings, the gardeners discuss issues such as a Japanese beetle infestation and slow-to-ripen tomatoes, and they share tips and recipes.

In the coming months, Winter is hoping the Garden will be able to host a fall festival.

She says it's been a boon for the neighborhood. "It was a lot of work in the beginning to see the harvest and growth, and now everyone's caught on," she says. "It's a beautiful thing."


Source: Barb Winter, organizer, Garden of Feed'em  
Writer: Anna Pratt

Plans for bike-ability on the east side of Minneapolis are coming together in 'bits and pieces,' says Michael Rainville, a bike enthusiast who lives in the St. Anthony West neighborhood.

He helped organize the recent Eastside Bike Summit, which drew nearly 80 people to the Ritz Theater in Northeast Minneapolis.

Getting bike trails on this part of the city is tough because so many different levels of government have to sign off on things, he says.

But Rainville is hopeful about the area's future bike-friendliness.

The 5th Street/2nd Avenue Northeast bike boulevard is a highly anticipated project that Rainville estimates will be completed within the next couple of months. 

"It's been talked about for years," he says, adding that with several traffic circles and a stoplight, "it'll be a nice safe place for people to ride their bikes going south through the east side of town," all the way to Columbia Heights.

Also, a bike lane is slated for Main Street and Marshall Avenue Northeast, from 1st Avenue Northeast to Broadway, though the segment that would go to Lowry is on hold.

Also proposed are bike lanes for Central and 37th avenues Northeast to the Mississippi River and on 18th Avenue Northeast from Monroe Street Northeast to the Quarry Shopping Center.

To help bicyclists safely cross the busy East Hennepin and 1st avenues northeast, which are part of a city streetcar study, a meeting-goer suggested that a bike lane go on the bridges and continue down the street. "All it would take is a couple gallons of paint," Rainville says.    

It's a good example of "the purpose of these summits, to get new creative ideas and talk about them out loud," he adds.

Rainville hopes that another bike summit will happen this winter. "Passion is all spread out. It's coming from all over the east side," he says.


Source: Michael Rainville, Eastside Bike Summit organizer
Writer: Anna Pratt

The 12-year-old Mississippi Market Natural Foods Cooperative store on Selby Avenue in St. Paul is due for some upgrades, according to company general manager Gail Graham.

It's about the overall maintenance of the place while also keeping pace with customer demands. "All stores need to be freshened up and it's time for that to happen to this one," she says.

As one part of the $400,000 remodeling project, new energy-efficient refrigerators are on the way. "We're improving some coolers. That won't be visible to customers but it'll help us manage the flow of goods more efficiently," she says.  

Further, the checkout stands will be rearranged to "make better use of space," with an additional express lane. Other cosmetic improvements involve a fresh coat of paint, flooring upgrades and new lighting fixtures.

The coop is also introducing a new salad bar and deli. 

Right now, the market is in the process of getting equipment bids and it hopes to begin work on the place in the fall, she says. During that time, the store will stay open. 

Separately, in the future, the coop is hoping to add another dozen parking spots to its existing 66.

Last month the coop acquired a nearby house that had long been vacant. "Our intention is to get the property rezoned to allow for business use, demolish the house and expand our parking," the website reads.

Considering that the store sees 145 employees and nearly 1,000 customers daily, expanding its parking even that much is a big deal, she says.

Graham says the coop is trying to build community support for the idea.

Although she admits that the economy is rough, she says, "That doesn't stop us from continuing to move forward and improving the buildings so we can continue to provide the level of service that customers expect and deserve," she says. 


Source: Gail Graham, general manager, Mississippi Market Natural Foods Cooperative
Writer: Anna Pratt

The Bachelor Farmer restaurant is introducing the first rooftop urban farm to Minneapolis, while also fully renovating an historic warehouse space in the North Loop neighborhood.

The Nordic-themed restaurant, which recently hosted a series of "soft openings," is part of a larger effort from brothers Andrew and Eric Dayton to turn around the 1881 brick-and-timber warehouse, according to restaurant information.

In 2008, the Daytons acquired the property, which once housed McMillan Fur and Wool, Northwestern Grease Wool Co., and Marvel Rack.

The restaurant has an 85-seat main dining room and a 15-seat bar, while the second floor has some additional dining and private space. 

Throughout the renovation process, the Daytons, who are the sons of Governor Mark Dayton, were "careful to preserve as much of the original character of the building as possible," a prepared statement about the restaurant  reads. 

In keeping with the building's history, the restaurant dubbed one section the Marvel Bar. A men's clothing store is planned for next door, according to Heavy Table.  

Cydney Wuerffel, a spokesperson for the restaurant, says that it's still a work in progress. "While they've quietly opened the doors to The Bachelor Farmer, the team is still in the process of transforming the space," she states in an email.   

In a recent Minneapolis/St. Paul magazine story, Stephanie March describes the space, which has a fireplace, skylight, and lounge, as one that "celebrates the inherent beauty of the old aesthetics, while bringing in a new, cool vibe. The old floorboards will be preserved, but there might be a cutting-edge mural on the wall."

Source: Cydney Wuerffel, media contact for The Bachelor Farmer
Writer: Anna Pratt

At an August 4 community meeting at Farview Park Recreation Center in Minneapolis, people got a chance to learn more about the RiverFirst proposal for redeveloping a 5.5-mile stretch of the Mississippi River. It starts at the Stone Arch Bridge and goes north. 

The meeting focused on benefits for the city's North and Northeast areas, which are largely cut off from the river, along with the idea of "problem-solving" parks that would be destinations, according to a prepared statement about the event.

It's part of a broadly based community engagement effort to gather feedback about the RiverFirst proposal--under the umbrella of the Minneapolis Riverfront Development Initiative--for re-imagining this portion of the riverfront. The TLS/KVA team of landscape architects and designers won a design competition earlier this year to bring its proposal to fruition.

RiverFirst is a multifaceted plan for revitalizing the riverfront. It includes everything from riverfront trails to a "biohaven" that would use recycled materials to form a riparian habitat for endangered species and migratory birds, according to project information.
   
Right now the design team is working to refine its proposal, studying its feasibility and gathering public input, according to project manager Mary deLaittre. On Sept. 21, the team will present its recommendations and implementation plans to the city's park board.

HR&A Advisors from New York is working closely with the design team to come up with a strategic plan "that will shape the priority projects and financing approaches," she says.  

Six youth ambassadors are also working to help spread the word about the project and collect feedback at various community events.

One idea that has been well received, deLaittre says, is for a green land bridge over I-94 to link Farview Park to the river. It's a creative solution for reconnecting this part of the city with the river and other parks and trails.

DeLaittre underscores the need for community input, for which people can fill out an online survey. All along the way, comments and images from people are being featured on the website under the heading, "River Is."

"This is a big civic project and it's imperative that people weigh in," she says.

That being said, "The level of support has been tremendous," she says, adding, "People are very interested in making sure it happens."

The project has also attracted the attention of a delegation from Seattle who are  running a civic design competition. In coming to the Twin Cities, the delegation "wanted to emulate the innovative community engagement and coalition-building," she says. 


Source: Mary deLaittre, project manager for Mississippi Riverfront Development Initiative and founder and principal of Groundwork City Building
Writer: Anna Pratt

This summer, several wind turbines have been welded to the rooftop of the building at 1010 Dale Street North in St. Paul. Soon, a fourth one will go on a separate pole in the parking lot.

The installation will be the first urban wind farm in the country, according to building owner Tony Magnotta, who also heads several companies, including Minnesota Wind Technology, which is housed in the building.

Macalester College also has a wind turbine-system, but wind as a main power source is a new phenomenon in the city, St. Paul's Monitor reports. As such, getting the proper city approvals was a challenge.

Magnotta's building will be a kind of test that will help inform more detailed city policies on the subject further down the line, the Monitor reports.

Additionally, solar panels will also make the building "totally self-sufficient," energy-wise, Magnotta says.

The wind turbines that Magnotta is using are the product of a Taiwanese company that will soon be setting up shop in St. Paul, he says. "These are the only ones that are viable in an urban environment."

In fact, they're built to withstand wind speeds of up to 134 miles per hour, the Monitor reports. They move with the wind, not against it, and they shut down when the wind becomes too powerful, the story explains.  

At $20,000 for each wind turbine and $50,000 for the solar panels, it's a big investment. But between federal government incentives and long-term energy savings, he says, it's a good deal.

And, rising utility costs coupled with growing environmental concerns mean that soon enough "we'll all have to do this," he says.


Source: Tony Magnotta, CEO, Minnesota Wind Technology, LLC  
Writer: Anna Pratt

Earlier this month, a group of transportation and policy leaders from Pittsburgh, Penn., and Columbus, Ohio, came to Minneapolis to check out its growing bicycle network as a part of a Bikes Belong Foundation workshop.

Gary Sjoquist, government affairs director for Bikes Belong, a national organization that works to increase bicycling, says that it has led similar workshops in Boulder, Colo. and Portland, Ore., "places where there've been significant changes to increase bicycling." 

The group, which is planning another get-together in New York City in the fall, also hosts international tours in cities such as Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Munster, Germany, where 40 percent of all trips are taken by bicycle.

When people attend the workshops, "they get to experience it, ride it, and philosophically understand what's going on," he says.

Often a city official will think that developing bicycling infrastructure is a low priority because participation won't be high enough. By coming to Minneapolis or another city, "they can see how bicycling has been integrated and implement what they've seen," he says.  

Those who visited Minneapolis got to see that "what it's like when there are more vehicles on a bike trail than cars on a street nearby, like on certain parts of the greenway," he says.

By the Walker Art Center, where 15th Street intersects with Hennepin Avenue South near Loring Park, the bike lane goes from the street to the sidewalk. "Cyclists can do a left turn on a busy intersection to reach the bike trail," he says. "It's unique to move the bike lane to the sidewalk. I don't think there's any other treatment like it in the U.S."    

Only blocks away, near First Avenue, the bike lane is placed between the line of parked cars and the curb. "That's a lesson from Amsterdam, to move the bike lane to where there are fewer doors opening. It makes for smoother riding for the cyclist," he explains.

Additionally, Minneapolis's bicycle network will grow by 40 percent over the next couple of years, as a related $25 million federal grant continues to be spent. "That's another thing that really struck people who came," he says. "Minneapolis is pretty good in this area, but it will get a lot better once [more] is built." 


Source: Gary Sjoquist, government affairs director, Bikes Belong
Writer: Anna Pratt

For its second project since it started just over three years ago, the St. Paul Parks Conservancy will tackle the outdoor ballfields--the last round of facility improvements at the Oxford Community Center (Jimmy Lee). 

(As a part of its initial project, the conservancy was instrumental in getting various landscape-related enhancements for Lilydale Regional Park. )

Leslie Cook, the nonprofit's interim executive director, describes the center, which was a training ground for baseball greats Dave Winfield, Paul Molitor and Joe Mauer, as the "crown jewel of recreational centers in the city."
 
In 2008, the $15 million new building at the Oxford Community Center, which is centrally located in the Rondo neighborhood, opened with a new water park, meeting rooms, "teaching kitchen" for healthy eating, two multi-sports courts, sprung dance floor, and exercise room. "It's a great resource for that area," she says.

But during field construction on the facility's north side, heavy metals were found in the soil, which led to its closure in March 2010. The site's contamination was an unexpected stumbling block.

As a result, children who play on teams that would use the field have to be bused to other locations. "We're adding this energy element the longer we put it off," she says.

Despite the momentum around it, the project likely would've been postponed for some time by the city, but the board thought it was important. "It was close to be being a completed amenity and the board thought it should step up and make it happen."

The MPCA and EPA began remediation work earlier this month while the conservancy is trying to raise $361,000—the gap left in the $1 million project by the contamination—for the field lighting, multi-sport synthetic turf markings, goal posts, backstops, and drinking fountains, according to the website.

It will accommodate football, soccer, baseball, softball, and more. The synthetic turf field will have a drainage system that will make the fields usable even after it rains, she says.


Source: Leslie Cook, interim executive director, St. Paul Parks Conservancy 
Writer: Anna Pratt

When Melanie Logan was scoping out places for her Blue Ox Coffee Company concept, she was immediately drawn to a storefront space at 38th and Chicago in Minneapolis.

The area reminds her of the small Pennsylvania town where she grew up. She was also attracted to it because she wanted to try to fill a void in "a neighborhood that's lacking," at least as far as coffee shops go.  

Mike Stebnitz, the principal of Stillwater Companies, recently renovated the complex, which is close to another recent rehab, the Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center, a hub for sculptural welding, blacksmithing, glasswork, and jewelry making.

It's a key intersection that ties together the Powderhorn, Central, Bancroft, and Bryant neighborhoods. Previously, some of the storefronts had been vacant and boarded up for up to 40 years. "This was a notorious intersection in the neighborhood," she says, adding that in recent times, "my friends have seen a huge improvement."

The Blue Ox shares a 1925-vintage two-story building with an empty restaurant space and handful of apartments, while an adjacent one-story structure is home to Covet Consign & Design, The Third Place (the photography studio and gallery of artist Wing Young Huie), and the Fox Egg Gallery,

Inside the space, a counter is still being built, but most of the rest of the construction is wrapping up. Original plaster and hardwood floors are intact, while several shades of blue on the walls and metal accents give the place an industrial feel. The build-out for the coffee shop totals about $80,000.  

A minimalist style defines the space, which is furnished with used white Formica tables, black chairs (new), and rescued church pews. "We want it to be an inviting environment," Logan says.

The cafe will feature many certified organic and "direct trade" coffee beans. Baked goods come from Patisserie 46 while sandwiches will be made in-house.

Logan plans to open the place by the end of the month. Already she's been getting plenty of positive feedback. "Most people can't wait for it to open. I'm looking forward to it."  

Source: Melanie Logan, owner, Blue Ox Coffee Company
Writer: Anna Pratt

For the first time in a decade, the Youth Farm and Market Project, which develops youth leaders through urban agriculture, gardens, and greenhouses, is adding a couple of new farms to its lineup.

In recent months, it's been redeveloping a lot at Nellie Stone Johnson Community School in North Minneapolis's Hawthorne neighborhood and another at the Church and School of St. Agnes in St. Paul's Frogtown.

The organization, which originated in Minneapolis's Lyndale neighborhood in 1995, also has sites in Powderhorn and on the West Side of St. Paul.

Amanda Stoelb, who is the program's associate director, says that the Youth Farm and Market had been getting inquiries for several years from the neighborhoods. During the winter months this year, the right combination of partnerships, planning, and funding came together to make it work.

As for what encouraged the neighborhoods to approach Youth Farm and Market in the first place, she says, "I think the partners are the most excited about the youth organization and community engagement component."

The farms start with a group of about 10-15 youth, who range from 9 to 18 years of age. They grow, prepare, and sell food. Farms differ from neighborhood to neighborhood, building on existing programs and individual needs. Children help assess an area's food needs and work alongside others to design and set up the farm, she explains.

In Hawthorne, a group of children chose vegetables based on "what they love," and what they were cooking, which resulted in all kinds of vegetables being planted. "It's the first year and the youth were excited to put a bunch of stuff in," she says, adding that they've even planted peanuts.

But in Frogtown, the site work is just beginning. Between the two new sites, "we're hoping to grow slowly," she says, "to engage youth and partners and meet the needs of the neighborhood as we go along."

Altogether, the organization works with about 500 youth, to whom it hopes to add another 200 in the next few years, according to Stoelb.

While they produce a sizable amount of food, "we're a youth development organization that uses food," she says. "Our greatest outcome is not farming, it's that we're engaging youth in community."  
 
Source: Amanda Stoelb, program associate director, Youth Farm and Market
Writer: Anna Pratt

 

For those still dealing with the aftermath of the May 22 tornado that hit North Minneapolis, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) of Minneapolis and Minnesota have joined forces to provide some architectural assistance through a program called "Rebuilding it Right."

Beverly Hauschild-Baron, the executive vice president of AIA-MN, says that the affected area of the North Side has historic character that should be preserved. That being said, for those who are having to reconstruct part or all of their homes, "it might be difficult...to maintain the integrity of their homes, without some guidance," she says.

Architect teams, including 60 volunteers, are working with the neighborhood to study the structures, trying to figure out what types of drawings or sketches might be most helpful.They're also striving for greener technologies and smarter urban design in the rebuilding effort.

Teams are assigned various blocks to work on, "identifying structures that we might be able to have an impact on, or just simply providing quick design sketches to the homeowners," she says.

"We're trying to help with providing some interface between the homeowner and contractor so that the history and integrity of the neighborhood can be maintained."

This initial phase runs through Aug. 31. The group is partnering with the Northside Community Recovery Team, the city, USGBC-Minnesota, Architecture for Humanity-Minneapolis/ St. Paul, The Assembly of Architects, Rebuilding Together Twin Cities, Preservation Minneapolis, American Society of Landscape Architects Minnesota, and other local and state organizations.

"We recognize that this type of natural disaster is one in which people need to come together, to provide the skills they have and rebuild in the best way possible," she says.   

Source: Beverly Hauschild-Baron, executive vice president, AIA-MN
Writer: Anna Pratt

 

A plan for a 48-unit market-rate apartment building will replace the condo project that was supposed to go in at 46th and 46th in South Minneapolis.

The condos had been put on pause in 2007 due to tough market conditions, according to Don Gerberding, a principal of Master Properties, which is part of the development team.

Following discussions with the Longfellow neighborhood group about how to proceed, "the message I got was to wait and do something of quality rather than something that's not but that happens quickly," he says, adding, "We've been able to achieve that."

Master Properties has teamed up with the Lander Group of Minneapolis and the St. Paul-based At Home Apartments, which were successful with the nearby West River Commons mixed-use project.

At Home will take on the 46th and 46th development as a "portfolio project," meaning that it will own and manage the site, which will help ensure quality, he says.  

The four-story apartment building will use the same footprint as the previous condo project, for which the footings and foundation are already in place on the half-acre lot. "It'll be a box of the same volume," says Gerberding, while the fourth floor will be recessed. "It reduces the perceived size of the building from the street." 

On the side that faces 46th Avenue, the building will have the look of row houses, with individual entrances and yards. Raised patios will characterize the side that fronts 46th Street. "There will be two different feels to this building, depending on which side you're facing." 

At this prominent corner, which is on a major transit corridor, the developers are trying to be as progressive as possible, with sustainable, transit-oriented features such as free transit passes and a rentable Hourcar for tenants. "It could impact the decision [for a tenant] on whether to have a car," he says.  

"We're using all of the sustainable products that we can to be energy- and environmentally-efficient," he says.

The group hopes to begin construction in the fall. 

Source: Don Gerberding, principal, Master Properties 
Writer: Anna Pratt

Oaks Station Place will be the first development to spring up along the Hiawatha Light Rail, if all goes as planned.

It's an area where the city encourages higher-density development, which is one reason why it's a good fit, according to James Schloemer, who is part of the design team from Kaas Wilson Architects in Minneapolis, that's working on the project.

The mostly four-story building, which steps down a level in some areas, will span two parcels near the 46th Street Station. It'll have 104 apartments, 8,500 square feet of first-floor retail space, a large public plaza, and underground parking.

Design-wise, the building takes cues from New York City's old-fashioned Forest Hills Gardens, which is "an iconic transit-oriented community," near the Long Island Railroad, according to information posted on the Kaas Wilson website.   

It's a project that the developer, Oak Properties, is fond of, according to Schloemer, who adds that, "The idea is to build a modernized project along the transit line."

Oaks Station Place won't recreate Forest Hills, but its classical-styled architecture, with a brick exterior, gable roofs, and skyway, will be reminiscent of the historic building, he says.  

Schloemer says the developer wants to attract residents who can take advantage of the light rail or any of the eight major bus lines that pass through the area. A community car will also be on hand for building residents. "They won't need to own a car," he says.

A public plaza leading to the retail outlets will be accessible to residents, neighbors, and light rail commuters for all kinds of outdoor activities.

The development team is working with the city and the Standish-Ericsson Neighborhood Association on the plaza to "ensure this site will be a valuable asset to the neighborhood and surrounding community," he says.

Details such as the project's budget are still being determined, but the proper city approvals have come through, he says. Right now the developer and design team are putting together a construction package for a building permit while also still working out the land agreement with the Metropolitan Council.

Schloemer says that judging by the popularity of the developer's nearby Oaks Hiawatha Station complex, he expects the project to do well.

The group hopes to start construction this fall.

Source: James Schloemer, design team, Kaas Wilson Architects
Writer: Anna Pratt

A group of gardening enthusiasts in Southwest Minneapolis's Kingfield neighborhood are working to make the area greener.

In 2009, the Kingfield Neighborhood Association (KFNA) formed a volunteer gardening group that already has a number of projects in progress, according to KFNA executive director Sarah Linnes-Robinson. "Their vision is to share food, ideas, and work and create a connection between gardens and gardeners throughout Kingfield," she says.

The group's first endeavor, Pleasant Garden, opened last year on land it leases from the Center for Performing Arts at 3754 Pleasant Ave. S. It rents the 17 plots to people who share some equipment and resources, while a common garden on the site is open to the public.   

Another community garden flourishes at 45th and Nicollet Ave. S., on land that a private property owner donated to KFNA. The vegetables, including a mix of tomatoes and eggplants, were also donated. "It's a true community garden," she says, adding, "We use all of the food raised to support the project and share it with the food shelf."

Right now, the group is researching models for ownership and management of a possible garden at 3916 Blaisdell. "We're talking to neighbors to see what they want and to address their concerns," she says.

Separately, the group is also looking into an area along the Interstate-35W sound wall. "The hope along the sound wall is to work with the [Minnesota Department of Transportation] to adopt the land as an urban orchard, planting hearty and fruit species, bushes and trees," she says.   

Community gardens are helpful to those who don't have the growing space or live in a shady spot. People can exchange tips or host gardening classes. "It's getting bigger and bigger. It continues the education of gardening and growing sustainably. It's very cool," she says, adding that the gardeners who are working together on this "are so inspired."   

But the benefits go beyond the environmental. "It's also a great community-builder," she says.

Source: Sarah Linnes-Robinson, executive director, Kingfield Neighborhood Association  
Writer: Anna Pratt

At a recent public event, the city of St. Paul presented its master plan for 17 miles of the Mississippi riverfront, which it's calling the Great River Passage.

The plan ties together various parks, trails, areas of restored habitat, activity centers, former industrial sites, and more, for over 3,000 acres of river parkland, according to information from the city.

Although planning for the Great River Passage took only about a year, funding for the $1 million project took a decade to get, according to Brad Meyer, a spokesperson for St. Paul parks.

The St. Paul Parks and Recreation Department, Denver, Colo.-based Wenk Associates, and the local Hoisington Koegler Group led the charge, while the Minneapolis-based Little & Company came up with the new Great River Passage branding, according to city information.  
 
The main idea is to make the riverfront more natural, urban, and connected, Meyer says.

Even though the Mississippi River is the city's chief environmental and economic asset, too much of the riverfront is hard to get to. "The point is to provide access for all of the city's residents," he says. 

The plan lays out a big-picture view for "how we redevelop, leverage private investment, and create nature-based recreation" along the riverfront. 

For example, one part of the plan is about making Watergate Marina at the bend of the Mississippi a hub for recreational activity and environmental education opportunities, according to city information.

Separately, the former Island Station power plant, which is vacant, could become a gathering place. Another idea is to make Shepard Road feel more like a parkway and less like a busy thoroughfare, he says. 

Although current economic circumstances make it difficult to pursue some of these initiatives, Meyer hopes the plan will prepare the city for when funding does come through.
 
Looking decades into the future, it will "lead us into using the river, making sure we understand its values and move forward as an entire city."

Source: Brad Meyer, St. Paul Parks
Writer: Anna Pratt

After four years of sitting vacant, the space that once housed the Auriga restaurant in Minneapolis's Lowry Hill neighborhood will soon reopen with a unique deli concept.

The deli will be similar to those in Eastern Europe, but with a twist, according to Tobie Nidetz, a consultant on the project. Nidetz has helped open numerous restaurants in many locations.  

Citing a shortage of delis in the Twin Cities and beyond, Nidetz, who is known as "the food guy," says there's a "pent-up demand" for such a place.

He and real estate attorney David Weinstein, who lives near the space at 1930 Hennepin Avenue South, hope to fill that void, he says.  

Although specific details of the plan are still coming together, including the project's cost, physical renovations will happen mainly inside the space, while the old exterior will probably stay intact, the Southwest Journal reports.

Right now, Weinstein and Nidetz are still meeting with various designers, general contractors, and others to flesh out certain aspects of the project, including the deli's name, according to Nidetz.

However, they've already committed to a "fast casual" type of restaurant that will offer as many local, organic and sustainable products as possible, he says.

Most of the food will be made in-house. The deli will also offer desserts, coffee drinks, beer and cocktails, and more, he says.

But the signature menu item will be a variation on pastrami that's popular in Montreal.

Although the timeline is preliminary, Nidetz says he and Weinstein hope to open the deli this fall.


Source: Tobie Nidetz
Writer: Anna Pratt

Visit Saint Paul is collaborating with the city of St. Paul on a high-tech promotion that encourages people to explore downtown landmarks where various sustainability efforts are underway.

As a part of the contest, which runs until Oct. 1 and is called "Saint Paul: Code Green," players can scan large QR codes on banners that adorn 16 sites, according to Jake Spano, a city spokesperson.

QR codes are a kind of barcode that's readable by smartphones. People can also enter the contest by using text messages and paper forms. 

After scanning the QR code, participants will be directed on their phones to a website that "will give the user a branded experience based on the location they are at," which includes links to related eco-friendly facts and initiatives, according to a prepared statement about the event. 

City Hall, Park Square Theatre, and Como Park Zoo and Conservatory are just three of the many and varied venues participating.

Spano hopes the promotion helps convey how the city has become a leader in sustainability, helping to educate people about the benefits of its green initiatives both in terms of cost and energy efficiency. 

"We want to get people to think, to create a curiosity around prominent tourist attractions and drive traffic downtown," he says.

Possible home initiatives range from retrofitting old windows to switching out fluorescent light bulbs to be more energy efficient. "These are things that people can do at home and apply to their daily life," Spano says. 

Additionally, participants have the chance to win various green prizes, including a 2011 Chevrolet Volt, an energy-efficient furnace, an Energy Star-rated washer and dryer and an electric lawn mower.

Source: Jake Spano, City of St. Paul
Writer: Anna Pratt

In Minneapolis, the RiverLake Greenway, which has been in the works for 15 years, recently opened the city's first bicycle boulevard.

RiverLake is a five-mile east-west-running bike and pedestrian corridor that connects Lake Harriet to the Mississippi River, according to information from Bike Walk Twin Cities, an initiative of Transit for Livable Communities, which administers the project.

The bikeway, which got its start in the 1990s after a group of neighborhood activists pushed for it, was finished after a $400,000 grant came through this spring from Bike Walk Twin Cities.

Minneapolis is one of four cities across the country that received $22 million as a part of a 2005 federal nonmotorized transportation pilot program to encourage biking and walking infrastructure, according to Hilary Reeves, a spokesperson for Bike Walk Twin Cities. 

The bikeway "creates a network so people can bike and get across the city," in a way that's "friendly to cyclists with different skill sets," she says.  

It goes through residential areas along parts of 40th and 42nd Streets East, between the Midtown Greenway and Minnehaha Creek.

Features such as striped bike lanes on its eastern and western ends, and the bicycle boulevard lining the lengthiest part of the greenway, help make the bikeway safe and accessible for bicyclists and pedestrians, according to information from Bike Walk Twin Cities.

It's the first of a handful of bikeways that are planned for the area in conjunction with the federal pilot program, according to Reeves.

Biking is a small piece of the local transportation system but it can make a big difference when it comes to people's health and the environment. "The boulevard gets people thinking about how they're getting somewhere. It gives them options to try biking," she says.


Source: Hilary Reeves, Bike Walk Twin Cities
Writer: Anna Pratt