Downtown Mpls Development vs Tailgating...

[purplefaithful]

Tailgating the loser...

City leaders have long sought to replace surface parking with amenities such as housing, retail and restaurants. Washington Avenue has transformed in the past few years from empty storefronts on a commuter corridor to a destination neighborhood with hotels, high-end condos, restaurants and a Trader Joe’s grocery store.Despite the tailgaters’ professed commitment, Vikings vice president Jeff Anderson said the team lots weren’t sold out at the beginning of the season — although they were by the end.
“Obviously, it’s an evolving landscape for tailgating over the last few years,” he said. “We know it’s an important tradition and we want to continue to offer it in some form.
”http://www.startribune.com/fears-of-eviction-cloud-final-tailgate-of-vikings-regular-season/503691032/

[Guest]

Love tailgating but I'm sorry surface lots are a blight in a city. Two light rail lines go directly to the stadium. Party. Hop on the train and go to the game. I'd rather have the much higher tax base that residential and office/retail spaces provide than a parking lot that now only gets used 8-12 days a year in full. 

[Guest]

@"Mike Olson" said:
Love tailgating but I'm sorry surface lots are a blight in a city. Two light rail lines go directly to the stadium. Party. Hop on the train and go to the game. I'd rather have the much higher tax base that residential and office/retail spaces provide than a parking lot that now only gets used 8-12 days a year in full. 

This. Its a complete waste by the city to not utilize those lots for retail development. It enhances the downtown area much more than stupid ass tailgating empty surface lots. 

[Guest]

I could see us moving one-day from the suburb house to a nice condo in Mpls...Would not have considered it 10 years ago.

One of our season tix buddies has a roof-top condo in down-town east. Great, growing area and 8 blocks from stadium is only a plus.

The only thing Mpls could have done differently with USB was to put it on the west end of town next to Target fields. But then east development might have lagged.  

[Guest]

When the gophers, twins and vikes all played there it made a bit more sense because those lots got used year round fairly frequently. But then again the zoning was quite different back then too. Once the city made investments on our public transportation, which we needed because of the natural bottleneck in the I94 I35W commons, it was pretty much a done deal that any new stadiums would be capitalizing on those investments. Now we are seeing a lot of transportation oriented development (TOD) in and around these stops. People complained about the light rail when it first started going in but it was a master stroke of genius and foresight with the way that younger people are investing, or rather not investing, in personal vehicles. And we have a rich history of train transportation in our city before Pohlad had it ripped out. 

We just need to get more creative in how we do it. Frankly I enjoy tailgating in smaller lots that are easier to get in and out of instead of the sea of fans concept where it can take some time to exit the parking facilities on game day. 

[Guest]

Tailgating only really works in areas like Kansas City that has their stadium away from downtown and in an East suburb just off a major highway. They have a MASSIVE parking lot that surrounds the stadium and its adjacent to the baseball stadium. KC revitalized their downtown area (called the Power and Light District) and the Sprint Center is their so its actually a really good situation. No way could you tailgate downtown KC if a football stadium was there as young professionals love a vibrant downtown and it would take up valuable retail space. 

[Guest]

@"StickyBun" said:
Tailgating only really works in areas like Kansas City that has their stadium away from downtown and in an East suburb just off a major highway. They have a MASSIVE parking lot that surrounds the stadium and its adjacent to the baseball stadium. KC revitalized their downtown area (called the Power and Light District) and the Sprint Center is their so its actually a really good situation. No way could you tailgate downtown KC if a football stadium was there as young professionals love a vibrant downtown and it would take up valuable retail space. 

I'm old enough and from close enough to KC to remember when they built that.  It would be akin to us building a baseball/football stadium a little farther out than Canterbury.  It was waaaaaaaaaay out in the boonies back in the day.

[Guest]

@"Mark Janda" said:

@"StickyBun" said:
Tailgating only really works in areas like Kansas City that has their stadium away from downtown and in an East suburb just off a major highway. They have a MASSIVE parking lot that surrounds the stadium and its adjacent to the baseball stadium. KC revitalized their downtown area (called the Power and Light District) and the Sprint Center is their so its actually a really good situation. No way could you tailgate downtown KC if a football stadium was there as young professionals love a vibrant downtown and it would take up valuable retail space. 

I'm old enough and from close enough to KC to remember when they built that.  It would be akin to us building a baseball/football stadium a little farther out than Canterbury.  It was waaaaaaaaaay out in the boonies back in the day.

Yeah, its not exactly in a great area now. Cheap land. Not much built up directly around it as far as residential. But major arteries run right by it for easy access. Its technically considered Kansas City, Missouri. Voters approved a $102 million bond issue in 1967 to build a new sports complex with two stadiums. The original design called for construction of side-by-side baseball and football stadiums with a common roof that would roll between them. The design proved to be more complicated and expensive than originally thought and so was scrapped in favor of the current open-air configuration. The two-stadium complex concept was the first of its kind. 

[Guest]

Driving down from Duluth, nothing makes me happier than your big ugly parking lots. Just finding a parking spot down there makes me feel like we already won the game. ... I mean I get it... i'm just sayin'...