TOWERSIDE, THE MSP INNOVATION DISTRICT
Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota
How often do you have a chance to work on a project with an absolutely amazing vision and purpose? KimbleCo had this opportunity on Towerside.
Towerside is the only designated innovation district in the Twin Cities with the intent to mix entrepreneurs, residents, researchers, developers and businesses with a new, restorative, healthy and arts-inspired community. It is a national model for developing a thriving equitable urban community.
Towerside represents a new way of thinking about a significant area of underdeveloped land in the heart of the Twin Cities. It’s a place that embodies the old-world principles of community gathering spaces and walkability. It is a rich mix of spaces, places and activities supported by a district-wide network of innovative services and systems.
KimbleCo was hired to translate stakeholder vision into actionable implementation, including establishing priorities, developing integrated timelines, budgets and approval processes, negotiating of agreements, securing of district-level funding (over $2M), development of the business case analysis, and stakeholder and technical consultant management., We were accountable to launch Phase I of District scale systems to include new and enhanced green street grid, parking, energy, greenspace, stormwater and regional transportation connectors for pedestrians, bikes and cars.
We worked with an amazing group of over 30 stakeholder organizations, both public and private including many property owners and developers who were instrumental in making Towerside’s launch a reality. The Towerside vision will be developed over many years and KimbleCo played a key role in laying the foundation for this 370 acre, community-inspired innovation district.
“It has been my pleasure to work with Julie. She is driven to achieve results. She not only understood the interwoven issues in our complicated public-private district, her depth of development expertise and leadership were instrumental in how far we were able to advance our mission.”
Product Type
Land & Community Infrastructure Development of a 370 acre site
Scope of Services
Development Implementation Consultant
Client
Prospect North Partnership - comprised of 33 stakeholder organizations
Goals and vision
Sustainability & Resiliency
Diversity & Equity
Research & Innovation
Economic Competitiveness
Healthy Living
Accessible Public Realm
Lifelong Learning
Design/Art/Culture