The Armory: Resilient Minneapolis by Design

The Armory is a development that leverages the strengths of Minneapolis, while planning for a resilient future through an iconic approach. It is a proposal that represents a regional, multi-disciplinary collaboration between three universities, and the landscape architecture, architecture, real estate, business, and planning professions. Through three development phases, The Armory activates landscape as multi-functional infrastructure, engages sustainability, embodies contextually responsive architecture, and leverages a development strategy rooted in the financial realities of Minneapolis.

Context

The Armory is the winning entry in the 2013 ULI/Hines Student Urban Design Competition, which consisted of 149 entries from 70 graduate schools in the US and Canada. The proposal is a multi-disciplinary approach that was completed by a regional collaboration between three universities and students from landscape architecture, architecture, and the business/real estate professions.

The Armory is a proposal for a 17 block area in Downtown East Minneapolis located between the Central Business District and the Minnesota Vikings football stadium. Downtown East is currently characterized by a sea of surface parking and a scattering of historic buildings, which contribute to an urban void and an extreme lack of identity and place. The Downtown generally lacks open space, with inactive plazas focused on office buildings and outlying neighborhood parks rudimentarily connecting to the greater open space network that Minneapolis is known for.

A Resilient Design

The Armory is a proposal that begins with a design framework for a development that capitalizes on connections at the regional, metropolitan, and site scales and establishes The Armory as an urban district that is a prominent feature of the entire Minneapolis/St. Paul region. The Armory itself (an historic WPA building now used as a parking structure) is re-envisioned as a multi-use specialty market and civic space. Armory Green, a landform retail and two block civic open space, rises from the facade of The Armory in a gestural embrace of the Mississippi River and intercepts the Skyway system of Downtown. Together, the structure and the open space become the critical identity for a new urban district and emerges as the primary civic space in Downtown. The Armory is a development that proposes retail, residential, hotel, and office buildings in a cohesive, mixed-use urban design. It yields an attractive rate of return for two hypothetical owners and is based upon the market realities of Minneapolis and a national economy that is recovering from a recession. As a district, The Armory becomes a model for sustainable living for a metropolitan region that seeks to de-emphasize the use of automobiles and achieves long-term sustainability through site scale tactics. As a whole, the proposal leverages landscape architecture as a liaison discipline, creating strong economic value through a bold open space plan and working with architecture to create a powerful and compelling design solution.

Socio-Economic Sustainability

In planning for a downtown population that is looking to increase over the next twenty years, Minneapolitans are faced with many challenges in their urban environment. The city is already in the process of becoming leaders in sustainability with a robust parks and open space system and a bicycle-oriented population. The Armory leveraged a multi-disciplinary approach to sustainability that further de-emphasized the use of the automobile by hiding parking ramps within mixed-use buildings, encouraging a pedestrian-oriented street experience (rather than the Skyway system), and reducing overall parking to just under one space per dwelling unit. The development reorganizes Downtown East around a new economy that maintains vibrant daily activity for commuters, residents, and those visiting downtown and capitalizes on the peak activity of Vikings games and other special events. Downtown East is transformed from cheap and convenient parking by reducing surface lots by 93% and increasing public open space 11 times.

Environmental Stewardship

As a district, The Armory achieves LEED Gold status and employs a robust environmental sustainability strategy that focuses on buildings, streets, and Armory Green. Buildings recycle greywater and rainwater, increase natural light and ventilation, and reduce energy consumption through sensible material use and high efficiency systems. On the street, stormwater is intercepted and cleansed - going into silva cells that support larger street trees for increasing the urban forest, and bikeability is fostered through curbed bike lanes. Armory Green is a green roof over a 500 car parking structure, capturing stormwater to irrigate turf the landscape. The large open space also decreases the urban heat island and increases carbon sequestration.

A Feasible Approach

Equally important to this compelling design is the financial and development strategy that makes it a reality. Three phases within a ten year financial hold are grounded in the market realities of Minneapolis. An extensive financial pro forma includes an accurate land valuation, construction costs, anticipated per square foot rental rates, infrastructure costs, and loan structure by phase. A conservative financing and phasing strategy capitalizes on current trends in a heavy phase one of development, while phases two and three cater to niche markets and the value created in phase one. This ensures the reality of the development being built by two hypothetical owners who oversee an LLC with subsidiary LLC's for each building, limiting risk of vicarious and contributory liability which also enhances the ability to obtain subsidies. TIF, LIHTC, LHIA grant, and Federal and Historical tax credits provide additional funding beyond the equity of the existing land value and construction loan. Project costs total $890,272,102 for 4,151,996 total SF at an LTV of 73.63%, with the owners receiving an unleveraged BTIRR of 11.83% and a leveraged BTIRR of 31.24%.

The Team

The Armory is a proposal by five students: three MLA students, an M.Arch. and an MBA. With only a combined two years of professional experience among the design students and a background in law, finance, and economics for the MBA major, the project required a great amount of advance preparation in order to be competitive. With over 3,500 miles driven, countless phone calls, and over 20 hours of video conferences via Google Hangouts this project was realized in a setting that many professionals find themselves in: remote and brought in by specialty to solve critical issues, especially in the urban context.

A Collaborative Process

Landscape architecture was the lead discipline for this project, as demonstrated by the design framework that hinged upon a bold open space plan and a development that leveraged the value it created. The team leader, an MLA student, ensured that the team functioned at its maximum collaborative potential. The team members constantly learned from one another through an intense two week first phase of the competition, and carried that same work ethic through a four week final round that included a site visit by the entire team. When the team presented to the jury in Minneapolis, the team members were introduced according to their overlapping roles. The MBA student had critical input throughout the entire design process, the M.Arch. student began to think like a landscape architect, and the landscape architects became very well-versed in the knowledge and vocabulary of the planning, architecture, and business/real estate professions.

The amount of knowledge that was shared and transferred resulted in a powerfully compelling design that was multi-faceted in its approach and represents the type of team efforts required to solve the complex issues presented by contemporary urban environments. The Armory is a testament to the potential for landscape architecture to continue on its path of becoming the primary leading discipline in urban design practice.

Jury Chairman- "The winning team composed from three different disciplines and three different universities designed and presented so seamlessly and the jury evidenced first-hand the best of interdisciplinary functionality and thinking that Gerry Hines had sought in this competition."