Cepro Site (10th Avenue) and Greenspace--Public Meetings fall 2009
In 2010 the Midtown Greenway Coaltion and the Midtown Phillips Neighborhood Association completed a Site Improvements Plan for this great open space on the Greenway next to Midtown Exchange.
It calls for native plantings, a public art rainwater feature descending from 10th Avenue, a performance area in the southwest quadrant, childen's natural play raea in the northwest quadrant, continuing unfettered open space in the northeast quadrant, and terraces and benches and swings in the souteast quadrant, while retaining lines for winter sledding. All recreational features and pathway will be of universal design to serve people with physical disabilities. Future tasks include identifying parties responsible for long term ownership and maintenance, raising funds, and implementation.
Background Information
Renovation and new development at Midtown Exchange have brought much opportunity. With this, the need for public open space has drawn strong support from both the community and public agencies. The Midtown Greenway Coalition is very grateful to Hennepin County for providing the land for, and constructing, a graceful trail entrance ramp to the Greenway between 10th and 11th Avenues. About 40% of a square block is dedicated to this new trail entrance ramp, so it effectively doubles as a public park. This ramp opened in November 2007. The City of Minneapolis is also supporting this new trail entrance ramp by taking on responsibilities for ramp infrastructure maintenance. The ramp serves as a connector to and from the Greenway for Midtown Exchange, Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Anderson Schools, Powderhorn Park, and the Midtown Phillips Community.
In addition, there is great interest in creating a welcoming and easy-to-find walking and bicycling route from the Greenway to Powderhorn Park. The U of M Metropolitan Design Center assisted with a community-involvement and design assistance process for the graceful trail entrance ramp described above as well as are the desired link to Powderhorn Park. As of 2008, public and private partners are begining to include the Powderhorn Park link in their work plans. Stay tuned for updates. As of 2011, Transit for Livable Communities has allocated federal Bike Walk Twin Cities dollars for detailed design of this link and the Midtown Greenway Coalition will likely assist with the community engagement process related to creating engineering drawings.
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