10 story office project planned for Washington Ave N

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Another empty lot in the North Loop may soon become a sprawling 10 story office building if one developer has their wish. The thing is, you probably won't even notice as that's how perfect this building will fit in to the surrounding area.

CPM Development this past fall purchased what currently is a mixed-use building along Washington Avenue North called the Internet Exchange Building. The property included a surface parking lot behind the building and from the day the purchase became public questions began to be asked on what CPM would do with the parking lot behind the building. As most know, parking lots these days in Downtown Minneapolis are limited and if they don't have a development planned on them now, they soon will.

THE PLAN

Northeast Elevation | Planning Commission

CPM will present plans to the Minneapolis Planning Commission on March 31st for a new 10 story building to be constructed on the surface parking lot at 419 Washington Avenue North. 77 parking spaces will be included in the project on one sub grade level along with the ground floor. The rest of the ground floor will be space devoted to 7021 square feet of retail while floors two through ten will feature 23,420 square feet of office space per floor.

The retail space is currently designed with two sets of doors from the streetscape which means the space could be subdivided. However when you think about how hot the North Loop area is recently when it comes to the restaurant scene it seems very likely that this perfectly sized retail space will be snatched up by another restaurant spearheaded by one of Minneapolis' finest chefs... and we're not complaining.

LET'S TALK ABOUT THE DESIGN

It's gorgeous and very well designed. To be honest, we don't know how quite to describe it... besides the text below.

The ten story (11 including the below grade parking level) structure features a design that is perfect for the North Loop. Clad in brick from head to toe, well...ground to cornice, the building gives off a strong vintage vibe that is sure to fit in with the surrounding buildings.

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Southeast Elevation | Planning Commission

DJR Architecture is responsible for the overall design which features large expansive "warehouse" styled windows along with numerous arched windows. Something we believe should be noted is the fact that DJR treated the front Northeast facade of the building along with the back Southeast facade (which faces the railway and is across from Dock Street Flats and T3, and office building which is currently under construction) as equal primary facades. This means that both are rich in detail, including full brick work and arched windows. It's an attention to detail that really is going to make a difference.

We here at The Development Tracker are extremely excited about this excellently designed building that is planned for an iconic Minneapolis neighborhood. We can't wait to see the shovels hit the ground!