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Loring Greenway

1979 establishments in MinnesotaBuildings and structures in MinneapolisTransportation in Minneapolis
Loring Greenway panoramio
Loring Greenway panoramio

Loring Greenway is a 1,500-foot linear pedestrian greenway in downtown Minneapolis that connects Nicollet Mall with Loring Park. It was designed by landscape architect M. Paul Friedberg, who also designed Peavey Plaza near the Nicollet Mall end of the greenway. Opened in 1979, it was part of the Loring Park Development District that razed older properties, created the adjacent Hyatt hotel and built new surrounding multi-family apartment and townhouse buildings in the Loring Park neighborhood. Now approximately 2,500 housing units flank the greenway spine. Originally retail businesses were planned to line the greenway, but private development focused on residential, and the small commercial spaces never materialized. The greenway is noted on a historic marker in a series along the north side of West Grant Street between LaSalle and Nicollet.Larry Millett called the greenway "the most notable public amenity" in the Loring Park Development District. In the book Intown Living: A Different American Dream, authors Ann Breen and Dick Rigby highlighted the contrast of the lush greenway and its quiet with the "hard-edged" and relatively treeless Nicollet Mall.The Modernist style greenway includes two fountains, one at the Nicollet Mall entrance and one halfway along the greenway. The public space also includes seating areas and a playground and is lighted at night with custom distinctive lights. Part of the greenway includes a land bridge over Lasalle Avenue. The greenway connects Nicollet Mall with Loring Park and ends at the site of the Berger dandelion fountain in the park, which was envisioned as the terminus of the greenway. Two extensions from the greenway connect to Spruce Place and 13th Street. The Nicollet Mall entrance to the greenway hosts George Morrison's "Tableau," a granite pavement mosaic, part of the public art on Nicollet Mall. This work was moved to the location by the greenway after being in two other locations on Nicollet Mall; the greenway entrance was thought to be lesser impact on the art work. Friedberg intended for the greenway to be like a procession and wished for it to be a community of people living along it. In an interview with Charles Birnbaum in 2006, Friedberg described it as "We're in this together. This is how you get to the park. That's the event. This is the procession to the event. There are minor events, and make use of it. That's what we want you to do. You're part of a city."The greenway has high pedestrian counts according to regular counts done by the city. In 2018, the mall end of the greenway had 2,850 estimated daily pedestrians and 410 bicyclists.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Loring Greenway (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Loring Greenway
Loring Greenway, Minneapolis

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N 44.9711 ° E -93.2797 °
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Loring Greenway
55402 Minneapolis
Minnesota, United States
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Loring Greenway panoramio
Loring Greenway panoramio
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Ogden Apartment Hotel
Ogden Apartment Hotel

The Ogden Apartment Hotel is an apartment building in the Downtown West neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The building was designed for middle class worker housing when demand for such housing was increasing around the beginning of the 20th century. It was billed as an "apartment hotel", a design briefly popular in Minneapolis. The individual units did not have their own separate kitchens; instead, residents ate from a common restaurant in the building. The building was designed primarily to appeal to single men and women, as well as married couples without children. It included modern conveniences (for the time) such as private bathrooms, Murphy beds, and electric appliances.The building changed its name to the Continental Hotel in 1948. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992 as the last remaining single room occupancy residential structure in Minneapolis. The building was purchased by the Central Community Housing Trust, now known as Aeon, in 1992. At the time, it had only a few residents, some who had lived there as long as 34 years, and the roof was deteriorating. Aeon rehabilitated the building, which now houses 70 residents who were formerly homeless. The staff provides support services, classes, and workshops for its residents. The renovation earned two awards: the "Neighborhood Environment Award" in 1993 from the City of Minneapolis Committee on Urban Environment (CUE), and the Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission Award in 1995.