[Urbannizer]

Developers change plans for driveway for Minneapolis condo tower

Residents of the planned Eleven condos in the Minneapolis Mill District would have to enter the condo complex via a private roadway instead of the developers’ preferred route on a road that runs along the Mississippi River, under a revised proposal.

Developers Arcadia and Ryan Cos. had hoped to build a driveway off West River Parkway for vehicles to access the 39-story condo tower it’s looking to build near the Guthrie Theater in downtown.

But the parkway is owned by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, which has a high bar for approving such encroachments of its land.

Driveways off parkways can be dangerous to pedestrians and cyclists, park commissioners have said. But Ryan Cos. and Robert A.M. Stern Architects have argued that a driveway and crosswalk could slow down traffic on the parkway. Emergency personnel also preferred access from a public road.

Ahead of the board’s Aug. 15 planning committee meeting, Ryan Cos. has tentatively prepared to change its site plan so residents would get to the 101-unit condo building and parking ramp from 11th Avenue via a private road it would create behind the complex, said Carl Runck, Ryan’s director of real estate development, at the Monday meeting of the Downtown Minneapolis Neighborhood Association (DMNA).

“We are proceeding towards city approvals this fall,” Runck said.