Uptown Week in Review – 4/17/11

Demolition in preparation for CB2 at 31st & Hennepin in Uptown Minneapolis

The weekly updates are starting back up after my wife and I welcomed baby Azalea to the world at the end of March. As a result, this week’s review includes stories from a while ago.

FOOD & DRINK

Mobile food vendors coming to Uptown
The City of Minneapolis this week approved the expansion of mobile food vendors, like the ones Chef Shack operate. In Uptown, the locations where food vehicles will be limited to three locations, the parking lots behind Cowboy Slims (1320 West Lake Street), the new Mozaic parking lot behind the Lagoon Cinema and Bar Abilene (1320 Lagoon Avenue), and the parking lot behind FedEx (1438 West Lake Street). In each of those cases, the private property owner must reach agreements with any vendor. Read more at the Star Tribune or the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal.

Urban Eatery opens, replaced The View.
The owners of The View (who also own Crave) opted to replace the restaurant with a new concept, Urban Eatery. The new restaurant is edgier, and also features more limited hours. Read up on the switch at City Pages.

The Lowry to open this summer near Franklin & Hennepin
The Blue Plate Group, creators of the Edina Grill, Longfellow Grill, and others, plans to open The Lowry in the former Hollywood Video at 2112 Hennepin Avenue. The restaurant, according to Blue Plate, will open in late July and will feature local craft beers, have a wine cuvee dispensing system, and a wine keg system. A patio out back and some parking will cap off the project.

Start planning your breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late night cocktails now. More on it at Heavy Table.

Cars-R-Coffins (CRC) Cycle Bar replaced by Bull Run Roasting Company
CRC’s coffee/bike shop at 34th and Lyndale Avenue was replaced recently by Bull Run Roasting Company. Patisserie 46, a well-regarded bakery in south Minneapolis, is providing Bull Run with baked goods. More on it at Heavy Table.

Amore Victoria plans rooftop deck
Another outdoor patio is planned for Uptown, this time at Amore Victoria, which hopes to offer a more romantic rooftop patio than some of the other decks in the area. Read more.

CRIME & SAFETY

Taxi hits pedestrians in Uptown
A taxi hit four pedestirans in Uptown at Hennepin-Lake on Friday, April 15th in the late evening. Read more at Fox9.

Drink employee dies after falling while kicking out two patrons
Tragic news hit the Uptown community as an employee of Drink, Max Henson, died after hitting his head during an altercation at Drink. Two patrons were being thrown out and Henson aided his co-worker in escorting them out. The two men were arrested. More at City Pages and Star Tribune.

OTHER NEWS

Once Upon a Crime receives prestigious award
The mystery bookseller in the lower level of an apartment building on 26th Street by Lyndale Avenue received the Raven Award from the Mystery Writers of America, which is the first time the award has come to Minnesota since it was created 50 years ago. There’s a great write up by MPR on the bookstore that you should read.

University students design store front displays in Uptown
14 businesses in Uptown welcomed University of Minnesota students and provided them with a modest $100 budget to come up with window displays as a part of a partnership between the Uptown Association, the businesses, American Heart Association, and the University. The Minnesota Daily has much more on this project and the value it provided the students and businesses.

US Bank starts work on 2420 Hennepin
US Bank broke ground on their renovation of the old Minneapolis Floral Building at 2420 Hennepin Avenue. More on the construction start at Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal. For more information on the project itself, read our post.

CB2 starts construction at 31st & Hennepin
A new retail building to house modern housewares store CB2 started construction this week. Read more.

The four major construction sites make progress
The MoZaic office/restaurant/parking/plaza project is out of the ground and starting to go vertical behind the Lagoon Cinema. The Greenleaf, a retail and affordable housing project at 28th and Lyndale, has put the lid on the first floor. 1800 West Lake (f/k/a Lake & Knox) has the lid of the underground parking garage complete. And the Flux apartment project on NW corner of Fremont Avenue and the Midtown Greenway will start constructing the third floor very shortly. Read more and see the latest pictures on our construction update post.

Thatcher Imboden

How cities work and change, how they are the product of their inhabitants and outside forces, and the resulting livability keep me thinking and dreaming about the future. I work in urban real estate development, am Past President of an Uptown business organization, grew up in Uptown, was on an Uptown neighborhood association Board, and am an Uptown and Lyn-Lake historian.

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