Breaking News - What Could Rise from the Ruins of Minneapolis Waterworks/Fuji Ya Site on the Downtown Minneapolis Riverfront? First Public Meeting Scheduled.

Historic Central Riverfront site reinvention explored; Public invited to community meeting.

Time: 6-8:00 PM, Thursday, 15 December

Place: Mill City Museum, 704 South Second Street

The ideas will flow Thursday, December 15, when the Minneapolis Parks Foundation and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board invite the public to participate in a “designer-ask” community meeting about a potential new park along the city’s Central Riverfront.  Dubbed “Waterworks” (former Fuji-Ya Restaurant site) because the city’s first water supply and fire fighting pumping station were located there in the 19th Century, the site encompasses Minneapolis Park Board-owned land between Portland Avenue South and the Third Avenue Bridge, and between First Street South and the Mississippi River.

The community meeting, which takes place 6-8:00 PM at the Mill City Museum, 704 South Second Street, is the first step in a preliminary feasibility study that will explore options for what could be a significant new park destination in downtown Minneapolis.  The Minneapolis Parks Foundation is leading the project in partnership with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, for which it is also a forerunner to the Central Riverfront Regional Park Update master planning process.

Mill City-based architects Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle (MS&R) are the lead designers on the project. Together with financing consultants HR&A Advisors, they will produce design and program options and financial analysis by February 2012.

Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle (MS&R) were the architects responsible for the preservation and development of the Mill City Museum.

“The Waterworks site and riverfront area are important for the convergence of Central Riverfront destinations, including the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, St. Anthony Falls, the Stone Arch Bridge, lock and dam, and the Mill City Museum,” says Mary deLaittre, President of the Minneapolis Parks Foundation, which is funding the project through a private donation.  “Because of the site’s historic and national significance, it’s important that we complete an interdisciplinary study of the site and area within the current social, economic and environmental context, and its compelling geography and history, including ruins of long-razed flourmills.”

The public will be invited to a second community meeting in late February, to critique options and review the team’s findings. The Minneapolis Parks Foundation will announce details about that meeting in January 2012.

Comments

[Jeff Skrenes]

I'd like to see the contributions of Reiko Weston preserved as much as possible. We already have a plethora of sites named after the milling period in this area, but virtually nothing that recognizes the historic contributions of Asian Americans in the city of Minneapolis. So please, consult with Asian American cultural groups about how best to preserve such heritage in both the name and architectural design of the site.

Furthermore, I would push back strongly against any park board assertion that the Fuji-Ya portion of the site is beyond repair. On top of hearing conflicting opinions on that issue, the disrepair and neglect happened under Park Board ownership. They are the ones responsible for any such restoration as a result.