“Keep the character,” neighbors say: Logan Park Industrial takes second look at street renovation

Yes, there are potholes. Yes, there are giant puddles after a hard rain. And yes, the brick pavement is bumpy, wavy and sometimes hard to walk on — but people who live and work in the Logan Park Industrial district would like to keep it that way.

They’ll have a hard time convincing engineers in the City of Minneapolis Public Works department.

Seven streets in the area — Jackson, Quincy, 12th, 13th, and 14th Avenues, Van Buren and Tyler, just across Central Avenue — are overdue for maintenance. According to some, Quincy hasn’t been touched since it was built 101 years ago in 1923. 

Members of the Public Works department and consultants from Short, Elliot Hendrickson (SEH) laid out the case for reconstruction at an open house held Wednesday, Nov. 20 at the Logan Park Recreation Center. They also displayed proposed changes to the streets, which total one mile in length, based on feedback received during a two-day design workshop held at Quincy Hall in September.

Tabulated results of that meeting showed residents’ highest priorities were maintaining the character of the streets and providing more pedestrian-friendly facilities.

The proposed changes were displayed on long maps of each street which were stretched out on 8-foot tables. Attendees were invited to write comments on sticky notes. Some of the comments were practical; one attached to the corner of 14th and Van Buren, where the street could be narrowed and boulevards added, noted, “Semis already get jammed here.” Others were concerned with aesthetics: “Yes, trees!” competed with “No trees! Keep it industrial!” 

There were several calls for crosswalks and/or a pedestrian-controlled crossing at Quincy and Broadway.

Proposed changes for each street include “greening” the area with trees and boulevards, offering places to sit, public art and some sort of regulated parking.

Jackson Street would be repaved from Broadway to 12th Avenue NE.

Quincy Street from Broadway to 15th Avenue NE is the roadway residents seemed most concerned about. Quincy is 50 feet wide; most Minneapolis streets are 60 feet wide. Parking sometimes spills out from private property onto the street. Narrowing an already narrow street had many shaking their heads.

As with the other streets, 12th Avenue NE from Jackson to Central would receive new sidewalks, ADA-compliant curb ramps and new pavement.

13th Avenue NE, from Central to Tyler, about a half block, would be repaved and fitted with sidewalks and boulevards.

14th Avenue NE is planned to be part of Minneapolis’ All Ages and Abilities bike network. Bike racks and other biking amenities would be added to this street. The project would run from Quincy, across Central to Tyler. 

A short little segment of Van Buren Street heading north from 14th, less than a block in length, to the dead end at the Northrup King Building would also be part of the project.

Tyler Street would be redone from 13th  south to Broadway.

The economic engine of Northeast

At the Logan Park Neighborhood Association meeting later that evening, Josh Blanc, chair of the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District and co-owner/artist of Clay Squared to Infinity, spoke of the history of the Arts District, much of which sits squarely in the middle of the road renovation project. He reminded residents that artists were responsible for renovating the former industrial buildings in the area. 

“There are 1,200 artists in 17 buildings in this area,” he said. “Half of them live and work on these streets. They generate $5 billion worth of business each year, and their collective annual rent is more than $1 million per month.”

He noted that Quincy Street is primarily used for deliveries to the various businesses during the work week. Trucks, often semis, need to be able to maneuver to various loading docks. Parking only becomes a concern during weekends and events such as Art-A-Whirl^®.

Blanc made it clear that the arts community is proud of the buildings they have rescued/repurposed and the businesses that have sprung up around them. They fear fixing the streets will encourage developers to move in and destroy the work they have done and the economic ecosystem they have created.

Traffic calming methods

Smoothing out the road surface on these streets could encourage speeding. Katie White, senior transportation planner with the city, outlined methods for keeping vehicle traffic under control. 

One option is to introduce subtle curves, or chicanes, to the street. Chicanes “trick” drivers into slowing down.

Another is to raise the road surface at intersections, again causing drivers to slow down. Raised street crossings could also be used.

Curb extensions would shorten the distance pedestrians have to travel to cross the street, and have the effect of slowing traffic. Adding “pinch points” — narrowing the roadway — in the middle of the block is another option.

In addition to traffic calming devices, the city wants to add sidewalks where there are none, ADA-compliant corner ramps and green spaces. It also wants to add curbs to aid in routing storm water for proper drainage and give snowplows something to plow against. The city also wants to standardize parking in the area, as street parking sometimes spills onto private property.  As traffic planner Drew Schmitz explained, “Public space has to be used for the public good.”

A low-crash area

City planners have studied crash statistics in the area. Twenty-five crashes have occurred in the last six and one-half years, most of them at 14th and Central. The majority of crashes happened when a motorist was trying to park their car. One pedestrian was hit in a parking accident on Quincy. There was one vehicle crash at the railroad crossing on 12th Avenue. In August, a pedestrian was involved in a crash at the railroad crossing on 14th, but no injuries were reported.

Not enough bricks, not a historic district

When discussion time was opened, the primary topic was keeping the bricks.

One of the problems with keeping the bricks that show through the pavement at various places around the area is that Minneapolis hasn’t paved streets with bricks since the 1930s — there are no replacements for the clay pavers except what’s buried under layers of asphalt or concrete. When the city tears up a street, it’s required to salvage the usable bricks, which are cleaned and stored for repairing designated historic streets such as Main Street SE, or in the North Loop and on Nicollet Island.

As much as residents like to think of Logan Park Industrial as an historic neighborhood, it has not been designated as such. Its bricks are destined for redeployment elsewhere.

Public Works will return to the neighborhood for another open house in January or February. Final design of the project will be presented to the City Council for approval in the spring, with construction starting in 2026. It would be completed in 2027. The cost is estimated at $9.5 million.