Mill City Explorer

I recently wrote about the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome and its loss of my favorite tenant, the Minnesota Twins. As luck would have it, just days after that post I was able to tour the new home of the Minnesota Twins, Target Field. It is currently under construction in downtown adjacent to the Ford Center, Butler Square, the Target Center, and the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center. Prior to arriving on site we had to sign an indemnity waiver and were instructed that photos would not be allowed. Being a rule following goodie-two-shoes, I left my fancy schmancy camera at home. Lo and behold...upon arrival to the construction site our tour guide clarified that the Twins only wanted us to refrain from taking pictures of the enclosed portions of the building (such as the locker rooms and whatnot - something about a phased media unveiling). Needless to say I was disappointed that I did not learn of the details of these rules before getting to the ballpark. Regardless, one of my tour partners had a camera stowed away in her purse and was able to take a few photos that I've included below. I'm hoping to sneak onto another tour in the near future and snap my own photos.


There has been much talk of the open concourses in the local media and how "intimate" this ballpark is going to be. As someone who has followed the project very closely, I was still completely awestruck by how incredible this building is going to be for baseball. Many people tout Petco Park in San Diego, CA, as the benchmark for "intimate" in the new era of baseball stadia - I believe it currently has more seats closer to home plate than any baseball stadium in the country. Don't get me wrong, I've toured Petco and it is an amazing facility...but Target Field blows it out of the water in terms of how close to the action you feel. You can see the field from literally everywhere on the lower concourse, and every seat that I was near afforded an incredible view of the field and the downtown skyline. This happened in part because the site is so small. Our tour guide noted that workers refer to the building as a "mushroom" or "muffin" in that the foundation of the structure actually takes up less space than the upper portions - physics demanded that the seats be as close to the field as possible.

One of the issues hyped constantly by the local media regarding the stadium (and the subject of multiple whiny remarks by Nick Coleman at the Star Tribune) has been the apparent stench of the adjacent Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC) - a.k.a. "the garbage burner." I've long contended that you cannot smell a thing as you are walking around the neighborhood. However, there is a walkway ringing the stadium that allows you to get fairly close to the loading doors of the HERC. While the smell was far from overwhelming (no worse than standing next to a garbage can downtown, or getting a waft of a backed up sewer), it was certainly noticeable. Nowhere else on the ballpark site did I notice a smell, inside or outside the stadium. Regardless, HERC plans to relocate the loading doors to the 7th Street side of the building before next spring; the source of the smell actually being the trucks coming and going from the site - not the exhaust stack.

If you snoop around the site (legal snooping of course), you will notice that a vertical circulation building has been constructed that connects the Northstar Commuter Rail station that is below the stadium with the Hiawatha Light Rail station that is on Fifth Street at grade with the stadium entrance (Northstar is scheduled to open in November 2009 and the Hiawatha line extension to the stadium set to open before Spring 2010). There have been grumblings that the pedestrian loading space for the LRT station is not adequate, and it looks likely that platform extensions will be necessary as the number of lines coming through the area increase. If you wander over to take a look, note the sign on the vertical circulation building declares that you have reached "Target Field Station." Makes sense. There's Target Field, and there's a train station. However, it looks like this was done without consulting Metro Transit, as Metro Transit has already installed its own signs and named it the "Downtown/Ballpark Station." Confusing? Maybe not, but it seems the signage was a little presumptuous on the Twins part.

As an interim step to a larger facility, the vertical circulator was built by the Twins/Hennepin County, and has recently been transferred over to Metro Transit as they will operate it year round. Signage drama notwithstanding, this is the first inkling of what is to become the Multimodal Transportation hub of Minneapolis. Eventually, up to four light rail lines (Hiawatha, Central, Bottineau, and Southwest), six commuter lines (Northstar, Red Rock, Rush Line, Bethel, Dan Patch, and Norwood/Young America), and high-speed service to Chicago and Duluth could all converge at this location. Currently, 15% of Twins fans get to games via public transportation. The Twins are hoping that number climbs to 60% as more of these transit options come online. There are a number of other infrastructure improvements happening around the ballpark to assist visitors in getting to a from the area.

• The much ballyhooed pedestrian plaza is looking great, with a number of art installations and greening projects yet to come. The plaza will be connected by stairway and skyway to surrounding parking ramps as well as 1st and 2nd Avenues. It will also be open to the public year round, and there will be public access through certain portions of the ballpark site to various locations near the stadium (hours to be determined - imagine it working like the skyway system).


• 3rd Avenue North will be reconstructed from Washington Avenue to 5th Street, resulting in much wider sidewalks that better connect the ballpark to parking ramps, a bus depot, and some of the entertainment uses on Washington Avenue in the North Loop. 3rd Avenue North south of 7th Street will also see increased pedestrian space on the north side of the street as traffic lanes are shifted to the south.


• The Cedar Lake Trail is being extended directly under the ballpark, making for a somewhat intimidating ride. Lighting and cameras should help to dissuade undesirable activity, and the complete connection for bike users southwest of Minneapolis will be helpful for more than just visiting the ballpark.


• New bike lanes are being striped on 7th Street as well as Glenwood Avenue. Improvements on 7th Street will also include increased pedestrian space at the expense of an auto travel lane. HERC has also proposed some improvements to their site along 7th Street to make the area more pedestrian friendly, but those details are not yet worked out.


• While not directly related to the ballpark, station platforms along the Hiawatha line are being extended to accommodate three car trains. The capability to add another train to the current two car system should help to get people home a little bit faster after games.

I've only witnessed four outdoor Major League Baseball games (at Milwaukee County Stadium, Shea Stadium, Fenway Park, and Yankee Stadium), and I can't wait for the chance to see the Twins in their own place under the sun. My season tickets are all set to go (although the four seats are split between sixteen of us - so I'll have about 20 tickets total). My guess is that this will be one of the more difficult tickets to find for at least a few years. Keep in consideration that I am amenable to bribery, I'm going to need some company!