Located at the intersection of 35W and I-94, it is primarily home to East African immigrants. Minneapolis has a huge Somali population (fun fact: the much more commonly used "Somalian" is grammatically incorrect!)--in fact, Minneapolis has the largest Somali population in the United States.
When I was little, I thought this building was so cool, because of the painted squares on the outside that set it apart from other skyscrapers in the city. I don't know if it's a side-effect of me growing older, or if the buildings' colors have faded from the sun over the years, but they now seem dingy and dated, an embarassing hulk of real estate set apart from the rest of Minneapolis's reflective glass skyline. It was built in 1973 and looks like it was built in 1973.
Now, the owners of the development are planning a $100M renovation of the property, and are looking for the state to grant the buildings historic status in order to get over $20M in federal and state tax credits to help finance the project. Usually, a building needs to be over fifty years old to be considered for historic status, or have a great significance. I don't personally believe that these buildings are historically significant enough to be granted this status.
Am I biased, based on the buildings' not-so-flattering nicknames? My opinion is not based on racial stereotypes associated with these buildings, I just don't think they deserve historical status, and therefore don't deserve the funding from the government for their project. What do you think?
