Design Concept Revealed For Downtown East Park | Minneapolis

The new design concept has been released for the downtown Minneapolis park, adjacent to the Vikings Stadium. The park is intended to serve as a plaza for Vikings games as well. However, they are still working on obtaining enough money to put these concepts into action. The following information is from the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.

The Star Tribune reports on the latest design by San Francisco-based landscape architect Hargreaves Associates, revealed at a public meeting Wednesday night [May 27^th]. The park plan is built around large grassy ovals, with a reflecting pool that can be drained for more space.

A Minneapolis Downtown Council fundraising committee will now work on obtaining $22 million to cover the park’s construction and first year of operating expenses. The Vikings have promised to contribute $1 million, as long as the park doesn’t sell naming rights to anybody else.

The site is bordered by Park Avenue, Fourth and Fifth streets and a proposed building on the other side of Fifth Avenue South from the Hennepin County jail. Earlier designs had the park running straight across Portland Avenue, but county officials nixed that, saying the street was needed for emergency vehicles.

Minnesota Public Radio reports that landscape architects now propose closing the street only for special events, but narrowing it to two lanes and changing the pavement to alert drivers that they’re passing near a pedestrian zone.

In October, Minneapolis business leaders formed Greening Downtown Minneapolis, a nonprofit that will oversee the park. The Minneapolis Park Board had initially considered running it.

The following renderings and site plan were posted by Kare 11.

Photo: Hargreaves Associates