Mayor picks Central/Lowry for design program
As we heard last week, a makeover at Central and Broadway is on the way. Now, it looks like Central and Lowry might be next in line. The intersection was picked as one of five locations for the mayor’s Great City Design initiative. Organizations from across the city applied last month for a chance to work with experts on drawing a vision for part of their neighborhood. A team of volunteer architects, landscape architects, urban designers and developers will work with the Northeast Chamber of Commerce on what the area should look like. The work will focus on the southeast corner, where a fire destroyed three businesses and nine apartments in May 2005. Since then, it’s been a large hole in the ground where the buildings once stood. What do you want to see in that space? Any ideas you’d think the designers should explore? Click the comments link below to join the conversation. Dan Haugen
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Filed under: Audubon Park, Central Avenue, Development, Holland, Windom Park
I hope this exercise will focus on more than just the southeast corner. The intersection is classified by the City as an “Activity Center”, the same as Lake & Hennepin. It will take forward thinking, hard choices, and some suffering, to bring downtown Northeast the same prominence and success as Uptown enjoys.
We’re about where Uptown was before Calhoun Square was built in the early 80s. Perhaps something like that to fill the hole?
Moler’s building is far from the highest best use for it’s place, and behind its ugly cladding, the Arcana is the kind of urban architecture that I would love to see revealed and rewoven into the neighborhood.
Let’s hope the AIA brings “southwest-quality” ideas to our forgotten quarter.