The 511 Building. You’ve probably driven past it numerous times, on your way in/out of downtown Minneapolis to/from I-94 between 5th & 6th streets, but may not know what happens inside.

Lester Bagley, Ted Mondale, and the rest of the Minnesota Vikings Wilfare queens may not care what happens inside. For the rest of us, proposing destroying the 511 Building so a Vikings stadium could be build next door to the Metrodome (while the team continues to play at the Dome) is probably the dumbest stadium site idea to date.

Why? Because we all depend on what happens in that building. There is a good chance you wouldn’t be able to read this right now if it wasn’t for the 511 Building.

The issue here is that the 511 building is essentially Grand Central Station for Internet traffic in Minnesota.

This building sits on the Internet Backbone. At least 32 broadband service providers provide access in/out of this building. If you wanted to take down the internet in Minnesota, this would be the place to do it. Among the services provided within this building:

• Backup Data Centers
• Offsite Data Recovery
• Collocation / Internet / Dark fiber
• Multi-tenant telecommunication switching
• Fiber network service providers
• Optical Cable Backbones
• Meeting rooms / Web rooms

Here is a list of companies, governments, and educational institutions who currently have connections into the building:

Internet Service Providers:
360 Networks, AT&T, Charter Communications, Cogent, Comcast, Global Crossing, Integra, Level 3, Qwest, Sprint, University of MN–Internet 2, US Internet, Verizon, and XO Communications.

Telecom Broadband & CLEC Providers:
360 Networks, 702 Communications, AT&T, Avant-Guarde, CenturyTel, CenturyLink, Charter Communications, CitiLink Communications, Comcast, Cooperative Network Services, Dakota Carrier Network, Enventis Telecom, Frontier Communications, Global Capacity Group, Global Crossing, Hiawatha Broadband, Hickory Tech, Integra Telecom, Iowa Telecom, ipHouse, KDL (Norlight), Level 3, LightCore, LightEdge Solutions, MyTelepath, Neutral Tandem, Nextera, OneNet USA, Online of Minnesota, Onvoy, PAETEC, Paul Bunyan Telephone, Peerless Network, Qwest, Sellox, SHAL Networks, Solarus, SDN Communications, Sprint, SpiraLight Network, TDS Metrocom, Telecom Transport Management, tw telecom, US Cable, Wisconsin Independent Networks, Velocity Telephone, Verizon, Windstream, XO Communications, Telesphere Networks and Zayo.

Cable TV & Broadband:
Ascent Media, Charter Communications, Comcast, Pacific Northwest Net, Savage Communications, and US Cable.

Cellular Providers:
Alltel-Midwest Wireless, AT&T, Clearwire, Sprint-Nextel, TMobile and Verizon,

WIFI/Wireless Providers:
CitiLink Communications, Clearwire, Genesis Wireless, Implex.net, Nextera Wireless, and USI Wireless

Local Government:
State of Minnesota-OET, MnDOT, WisDOT, Dakota County, Hennepin County, Ramsey County, Scott County, Washington County, City of Maple Grove, City of Minneapolis, City of Roseville, City of St. Paul, City of North St. Paul, City of Woodbury, LOGIS, and Metropolitan Council

University and K-12:
AGL Consulting, Augsburg, Bethel, Hamline, Maclester, MNSCU, TIES, and University of Minnesota.

Metro Dark Fiber Providers:
Access Communications, American Fibers Systems, FWR Communication Networks, and PAETEC – McLeodUSA

ASP’s / Others:
Ability Commerce, Alerus, Marketing Concepts, Netgain, Orbit Systems, Revelation Network Management, Suburban Radiology, Sungard Data Services, Renovo Software, Warner Connect

Put another way: The 511 building does more for Minnesota’s economy than the Vikings have or ever will. Messing with it on behalf of a New Jersey businessman would be painfully stupid.

The idea of building a stadium while the Metrodome is still used isn’t a bad idea. But, if it’s going to be built next to the Metrodome, it should be built on the StarTribune’s property (much of the land between the Dome and the heart of downtown). Relocating the Strib would be easy compared to moving the 511 Building.

Still, the smarter plan is to simply renovate the Metrodome. Based on what was done in Vancouver at BC Place, it can be done in 19 months (one NFL season relocation). Savings by renovating compared to building from scratch: More than $400 million of the public’s money.

East Lake St Taco Bell building. Closed. Will it be reused?

Hey city planner geeks, has anyone done any research on the difficulty of reusing buildings built for specific businesses such as the former East Lake Taco Bell building shown above?

It seems like finding a new tenant for a building with a Taco Bell branded design would be more difficult to find a tenant for than a vacant restaurant location of similar size.

I’ve found some people kicking this idea around at Cyburbia. They’ve suggested that proprietary fast food building designs, churches, and big box stores are among the most difficult buildings for reuse.

Are any public efforts being made in Minneapolis or other MN cities to take this into consideration?

Back on December 11th, Carly, Nordica, Kevin, and I ran Morgan and Newton Avenues in North Minneapolis from Hwy 55 to the Dowling and back. We started by heading north on Morgan:

This building at 1119 Morgan Ave N was built in 1936 for the Sharei Zedeck Synagogue back when North Minneapolis had a large Jewish population. In 1969, it was sold to St. John’s Baptist Church (a baptist church with menorah’s on the exterior) which used the building through 2007. Now it appears to sit empty. Before 1936, Sharei Zedeck Synagogue was a few blocks east at 726 Bryant in a more ornate building that was razed for the Sumner Field housing projects in 1936.

By the way, Placeography has an excellent Minneapolis Jewish North Side Tour wiki.

The Minneapolis Police Department’s 4th Precinct. To get a feel for the action dealt with in this precinct, check out the 4th Precinct CARE Task Force website.

North Commons Park appears to be well maintained.

After crossing Broadway, we hit Ilion Ave N for a bit. This building was built by Forest Heights Congregational Church in 1908, and purchased by a Liberian congregation, Garden of Gethsemane Ministries, in 2003. It was in rough shape at the time. But, with help from The Ackerberg Group on behalf of Catalyst Community Partners, the church was restored in 2009.

Back on Morgan, we passed Minneapolis Fire Station 14 at Lowry. Megan Goodmundson has an action shot of the crew putting out a vacant house fire on Queen Ave N from earlier in the year.

Once we reached Dowling we turned back on Newton.

This church at 2827 Newton Ave N appears to be currently the Beacon of Hope Church and formerly Key of Faith Church-God In Christ. The address is also home to CityLifeWorks.

This building at Newton at 25th Ave N is home to Jordan New Life Church (Lutheran ELCA) and JNL Hub (2nd building) which provides social services for the neighborhood.

The Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center, between Newton and Penn at Plymouth, is a University of Minnesota facility for studying and providing community development services.

I couldn’t find any information online about United Christian Ministry Center at Newton and 8th Ave N.

Shots Fired

The StarTribune misinterpreted this data like this:

It’s a valuable public service to put out this public information, but the sheer number of red circles is a sad commentary on the dangerous state of some Minneapolis neighborhoods.

There are no shot spotter microphones in my neighborhood. Does that mean that there were no shots fired or that there were no shots recorded? It’s hard to say without consistent collection of data across the city.

My issue here is that, yes, there are neighborhoods that have problems with gun violence. But, if you only look for problems in certain neighborhoods, you’re going to create the illusion that those neighborhoods are in worse relative to other neighborhoods than they really are.

That said, the blue stars where someone actually got shot are probably a more accurate reflection of where gun violence is a problem. While shots aren’t recorded consistently, the meeting of a bullet with a body tends to get logged regardless of neighborhood.

On December 18th, Carly and I toured St. Anthony West and East neighborhoods of Northeast Minneapolis from the Mississippi to Central Ave starting on 11th Ave NE at Main and heading toward the river.

We parked behind Elements Pizza at Broadway & Main.

11th Ave NE runs into Graco (Worldwide Leaders in Fluid Handling). The skyway runs between two of their buildings on a part of Sibley Street that is more of a parking lot for the company today.

Heading south on Sibley, we passed the old Scherer Bros Lumber location on the Mississippi. The Park Board purchased the property in 2009 and working to reconstruct the land as park land. Here is a before shot from Google’s satelite view:

The Plymouth Ave Bridge remains closed. North and NE have been without a full set of bridges for quite some time now. Lowry appears to be closer to completion that Plymouth, where no work appears to be taking place.

Elsie’s Restaurant, Bar and Bowling Center, on Marshall at 8th, is a neighborhood institution. I’m a fan.

Across the street from Elsie’s, the North East Yacht Club seems to specialize in large macro brews. At least, that’s been my experience.

St Anthony of Padua Catholic is on Main St at 8th. Established in 1849, it was the first Catholic mission parish established in Minneapolis.

Jesus is big in Northeast.

When we reached Broadway, we cut back toward the river on 9th & 10th, where we ran into Catholic Eldercare. This nursing home, associated with St Anthony of Padua Catholic, raises money at Elsie’s through pulltabs. It will be interesting to see what happens to their funding if pulltabs start funding a new Vikings stadium.

Battery City, at 9th & Ramsey, has come and gone. This sure seems like a good site for a brewery. Know anyone looking for a location?

Heading back up from the river on 11th, we turned in front of the 1029 Bar. A must-include in any legitimate NE dive bar tour.

At Marshall & 5th, we encountered the latest home of the Pioneers Statue. It dates back to 1935, was downtown until 1961, and until recently resided at the point of Marshall & Main Streets. Now it’s in the newly refurbished area on Boom Island Park across Marshall from its previous location.

We turned east on 5th at Marshall, and passed St. Constantine Ukrainian Catholic Church at University. Ornate dome.

One block further east at 4th St NE and 5th Ave NE is St. Michael’s and St. George’s Ukrainian School. A Ukrainian Orthodox church.

At the same corner is All Saints Catholic Church (Polish).

Yes, there is a park called St. Anthony in St. Anthony Park. This picture is from Spring St near Jefferson St NE.

I found a bar in Minneapolis that I’ve never been to or even heard of: Moose on Monroe. That will change.

Same situation. I’ve never been down Spring Street before, so have never been to the Spring Street Tavern.

Vegas Lounge at Central Ave & Spring St takes karaoke seriously.

Crossing Central Ave, we circled around Lush. This was the location for the official HRC gala after-party (a classy gay bar).

We started working our way back toward the river on Summer St. This small park is on Summer at Central Ave.

Summer took us to 6th Ave NE, where we passed yet another church. St Maron’s Catholic Church (Maronite). St. Maron’s dates back to 1903, with the current church being constructed in 1948.

We turned north on Main St and passed Dickman Park. It’s named after Ralph E. Dickman, a Hennepin County Commissioner.

At 8th, we looped through the small neighborhood tucked in between Elsie’s and Boom Island Park. Cool neighborhood. At the south end, I snapped this shot of the Minneapolis skyline.