Relationship to the Midtown Greenway

The Midtown Exchange borders one of south Minneapolis' most distinctive public amenities, the Midtown Greenway.

Urban design and building architecture for the Midtown Exchange embraces the greenway's current recreational uses as a pedestrian and bicycle corridor and its planned future use as a streetcar line.

Greenway during construction

Greenway complete

 

Highlights

• The shared edge between the Midtown Exchange site and the Midtown Greenway are animated by outdoor uses at the the hotel along the Greenway's south rim.

• A series of steps and planted terraces will connect the new hotel on the Midtown Exchange property and the Greenway.

• Increased public access, seating and "eyes on the Greenway" seeks to promote use and enhance safety where the Greenway trail passes along the Midtown Exchange.

• Plantings along the Greenway's south edge include low-maintenance, native plant species and adhere to crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) principles and Hennepin County's Greenway Landscape Guidelines.

• The design accommodates potential improvements such as transit in the Greenway and re-use of an old and architecturally significant train shed.

• Midtown Exchange design and construction were coordinated with neighboring public works projects: Chicago Avenue roadwork (City of Minneapolis), Chicago Avenue bridge work (City of Minneapolis) and Lake Street Reconstruction and Streetscaping (Hennepin County).
  
  

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