Mpls Downtown Improvement District Announces 2018 Greening & Public Realm Award Winners

Via a September 18 News Release:

The Mpls Downtown Improvement District (DID) announced today its 9th annual Greening & Public Realm Award winners, a group that included four first-time winners among the 12 categories decided by an interactive public vote.

The Greening Awards aim to showcase greening efforts by organizations and companies that help beautify the downtown area through enhancing our urban landscape. This summer’s voting turnout was the largest in Greening Awards history, nearly doubling the 2017 voting numbers.

This year’s first-time award winners [full list below] in this year’s categories are the Colonial Warehouse Alleyway (Small Activated Space), Fulton Taproom (Streetscape Greening), Nicollet (Streetscape Green Infrastructure) and the Nicollet Lanterns by Blessing Hancock (Public Art).

Westminster Presbyterian Church, which last won a greening award in 2012, won two awards this year, claiming top spot in the Small Green Space and Public Realm Improvement categories.

Loring Greenway won a Greening Award for a record ninth straight year—winning Best Large Green Space. The Local won its seventh Greening Award (Best Façade Greening), Brit’s Pub won its sixth (Best Outdoor Café), Loring Park won its fourth straight Best Neighborhood award—by one vote over Downtown East, and The Commons won a Greening Award (Best Large Activated Space) for the third straight year since opening in 2016.

“The emphasis on quality public realm spaces we’re seeing from downtown businesses, organizations and individuals is extraordinary,” Mpls Downtown Improvement District President & CEO Steve Cramer said. “Congratulations to this year’s DID Greening & Public Realm Award winners, and thank you for being shining examples of how added greening helps enhance the vibrancy of everyone’s overall downtown experience.”

Winners will receive a commemorative Greening Award created by Wood from the Hood, a Minneapolis-based company that reclaims discarded trees from urban neighborhoods and creates high-quality wood products. Each award will display the year the award was issued. Winning locations also received a Greening Awards winning logo placed on site.

The Mpls DID accepted public nominations for green spaces throughout August, and finalists were announced on August 28. Voting for finalists remained open through September 14.

The finalists, nominated by the public, were selected by members of the Mpls DID staff based on criteria including overall year-over-year enhancements as well as continued excellence in adding vibrancy to the public realm.

This year’s results include the following winners:

Small Activated Space
• Colonial Warehouse Alleyway* - 41.56%
• Kieran’s Irish Pub – 35.44%
• 100 Washington – 23.00%

Small Green Space
• Westminster Presbyterian Church – 42.01%
• Hennepin Healthcare Pocket Park* - 37.07%
• Target Plaza, South Entry – 20.92%

Large Activated Space
• The Commons – 54.19%
• Nicollet* - 30.23%
• Hennepin County Government Center North & South Plazas – 15.58%

Large Green Space
• Loring Greenway – 56.25%
• Cancer Survivors Park – 29.38%
• Triangle Park – 14.37%

Façade Greening
• The Local – 45.31%
• Lenox Brownstones* - 32.61%
• Mills Fleet Farm Parking Garage – 22.09%

Public Art
• Nicollet Lanterns by Blessing Hancock* - 36.64%
• Carry On Homes by Peng Wu, Zoe Cinel, Shunjie Yong, Preston Drum and Aki Shibata* - 34.96%
• Prairie Tree by Ned Kahn* - 16.03%
• 5th & Hennepin Mini Mural* - 12.37%

Outdoor Café
• Brit’s Pub – 46.82%
• Haskell’s Wine Bar* - 22.24%
• Eastside* - 18.60%
• The News Room* - 12.34%

Streetscape Greening
• Fulton Taproom – 51.43%
• Millwright – 26.71%
• Kraus Anderson Development* - 21.86%

Streetscape Green Infrastructure
• Nicollet* – 57.52%
• Minneapolis Convention Center – 27.15%
• Washington Avenue S* - 15.33%

Entryway Greening
• Aloft Minneapolis - 54.97%
• HQ Apartments* - 28.47%
• Mpls DID Pop-up Satellite Office* - 16.57%

Public Realm Improvement
• Westminster Presbyterian Church – 22.04%
• Hennepin Healthcare Pocket Park – 19.51%
• Nicollet Redesign – 14.72%
• Kraus Anderson Development – 10.04%
• Colonial Warehouse Alleyway – 9.76%
• Carry On Homes by Peng Wu, Zoe Cinel, Shunjie Yong, Preston Drum and Aki Shibata* - 7.77%
• Haskell’s Wine Bar – 6.32%
• Washington Ave S Redesign – 5.33%
• Nicollet Lanterns by Blessing Hancock – 2.08%
• The News Room – 1.63%

Best Neighborhood
• Loring Park – 35.63%
• Downtown East – 35.53%
• North Loop – 12.91%
• Elliot Park – 11.31%
• Downtown West – 4.62%

*New Nominee in this category

For more information, visit www.mplsdid.com/greeningawards or log onto Facebook, Twitter or Instagram searching @MplsDID.