When the gales of early winter whip up the waters of the Great Lakes, rock formations and sand beaches take a beating and often give way to the force of these majestic water bodies. We’ve seen recent headlines announcing the fall of the “sea stack” on Minnesota’s north shore as a winter storm reduced
Over the last year and a half, St. Paul civic and business leaders have frequently commented on a growing number of commercial vacancies along the Grand Avenue business district as a number of longtime restaurants and retail establishments have either closed or relocated. The loss of high-profile businesses, particularly near Victoria Crossing, has led many
Imagine you are a landowner whose property is dedicated to a use that has run its course—say a golf course for example. The land represents a sizable family investment and naturally your thoughts turn to what other uses are possible to assure the land is put to a productive and, hopefully, profitable use for
Visitors to San Pedro La Laguna typically arrive by water taxi at docks that are shared with fishing boats and tour guides. Just up the hill a couple of blocks is a long bright banner strung between buildings announcing the plastics’ ban rolled out three years ago. San Pedro is a small town of
At each of three campuses, located in Minnesota, Arizona and Florida, Mayo Clinic is busy expanding hospital, clinic and treatment facilities. These building projects are designed to offer leading approaches in medicine, centered on diagnosis and treatment of difficult diseases – the key to Mayo’s worldwide reputation as one of the top providers of
When the Minneapolis City Council adopted its inclusionary zoning ordinance, together with its Unified Housing Policy, in late 2018 there was optimism that the ordinance would result in the creation of much needed affordable housing in the city. The ordinance mandates a minimum percentage of 10-20 percent of units within multifamily buildings be affordable where
The fact that Minnesota, and especially the metropolitan region of St. Paul/Minneapolis, is experiencing a severe affordable housing crisis is not disputed. The Metropolitan Council recently released data documenting that the metro region of Minnesota is growing substantially but that the supply of new housing, affordable across a broad range of housing types, is lagging.
Picture the future. Does it include automated vehicles? Will we fly from place to place in personal pods like in the sci-fi movies we have watched? What else does the future hold and who will shape it? Land planners predict the future will be shaped
For years, developers and planners have tried to figure out the best way to add a waterpark to Mall of America. The mall already boasts Nickelodeon Universe, the largest indoor amusement park in the country. Now, plans for a waterpark are getting serious. The city of Bloomington recently selected Provident Resources Group, a national nonprofit
When policymakers debate new regulatory policies, including those relating to housing, invariably someone will identify that such regulations come at a price, oftentimes a high price. This usually triggers the response that complying with the regulations will be the “greedy” developer/builder’s problem and they can simply take it out of their profits. It’s a nice,