Not everyone is convinced
Planners are undertaking a controversial plan to remake what used to be the Upper Harbor Terminal into an outdoor concert venue flanked by affordable housing, production and processing facilities, as well as a new park.
The project was approved in 2021, and construction of the street grid is underway. The city anticipates the outdoor amphitheater opening sometime next year. City planners plan to provide an update on a proposed health and wellness hub on the site at a meeting on May 2, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., at the University of Minnesota Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center on Plymouth Avenue.
Residents the MSR spoke with in previous weeks had never heard of the project, but they are excited nonetheless. “If they did that, a lot of crime would go down,” said Paul Johnson as he sat in his truck in the McKinley neighborhood one recent afternoon. Others are worried about the project’s impacts on the community and the environment.
History of the site
The Upper Harbor Terminal has long served as a nexus of industry after settlers took the land from the Dakota. According to the city, a lumber mill sat on the site for 20 years, from the 1880s to the 1900s. The city also says the site was undeveloped or used for agriculture from the 1900s to the 1960s.
In the 1930s, the Minnesota Legislature authorized the creation of a harbor on the Mississippi River on the North Side. The harbor’s locks and dams were built between 1948 and 1963. Minneapolis then developed the adjacent site into a barge shipping terminal, where commodities were transferred and stored, which opened in 1968.
Before the shipping terminal closed in 2014, the city planned to better connect the North Side with the waterfront. From 2015 until 2020, Mississippi Mushrooms, a mushroom farming operation, occupied one of the warehouses until the city closed it for code violations.
Moving from industry
The 2015 closing of the St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam, which effectively ended barge shipping operations west of the Stone Arch Bridge, spurred the discussion about the Upper Harbor Terminal’s future. As the mushroom farming operation persisted, the city asked residents about what to do with the site and requested reuse proposals in 2017.
The winning proposal, submitted by Minneapolis-based entertainment company First Avenue and developer United Properties, called for an 8,000-seat outdoor concert venue, around 500 housing units, production facilities, and a park.
Supporters of the plan, namely First Avenue, point out that the Twin Cities lack a permanent venue for outdoor concerts. “Many world-class cities have permanent facilities for outdoor live entertainment, and Minneapolis and our residents deserve the same access to art, culture, and entertainment,” said Ashley Ryan, First Avenue’s vice president of marketing, in a written statement.
Potential impacts
Not everyone is on board with the Upper Harbor Terminal redevelopment. Some Northsiders believe the project focuses more on the needs of outsiders than on the self-determination of those on the North Side. Parks and Power, an organization that brings community members together around issues affecting Minneapolis parks, led a campaign to oppose the Upper Harbor Terminal development.
“The community engagement process that followed was designed to ratify that concept,” said Parks and Power organizer Roxxanne O’Brien in an email. “This music venue and other cornerstone characteristics of the Upper Harbor Terminal proposal were never up for debate. Many North Minneapolis residents feel the process was disingenuous and that it failed to address the environmental and social impacts the proposal will have on the overburdened North Minneapolis community.”
First Avenue and United Properties completed a report on mitigating its environmental impacts, which was approved by the city in 2021. They include controlling erosion, requiring buildings to share a stormwater system, installing air quality monitors, addressing hazardous waste, controlling dust, reconfiguring the I-94 ramps at Dowling Avenue, installing bike paths on Dowling and Washington Avenues, controlling where rideshare vehicles can drop off and pick up passengers, as well as getting a noise permit and installing noise reduction features on the housing developments.
But Parks and Power and the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy sued the city in 2022, contending the developers failed to account for cumulative environmental impacts and the amount of greenhouse gas emissions the project would generate in their environmental impact report. The lawsuit was dismissed on a technicality.
Meanwhile, First Avenue also says it will charge a $3 fee for all tickets purchased at the venue, which will be funneled to the African American Community Development Corporation. Established in 2021, the organization claims to transform Black ideas, capital and action into “lasting benefits” for the Black community, according to a 2023 press release. First Avenue believes this will generate about $500,000 annually.
United Properties also plans to make 65% of the first 245 housing units accessible to Northside residents earning 30 to 50% of the area median income, or around $37,250 to $62,100 for a family of four.
First Avenue will also allow the public to use the outdoor concert hall for the remaining 300 days per year. When completed, the redevelopment site will feature education and wellness programs, jobs and vocational training, and the opportunity for local vendors to sell concessions.
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