Nicollet Mall is the backbone of downtown Minneapolis. It provides infrastructure for the visual, transit and pedestrian connections through the various neighborhoods and districts of the city. The 900 Nicollet mixed-use project responds to and engages the Mall, creating a structure for its retail and office program elements. This project (which includes a two-level Target retail store and support space; other retail; office space and 850 below-grade parking spaces) complements the historical face of the block opposite, as well as adjacent buildings around the block, enhancing the overall quality of the street and the pedestrian experience.
Primary building entries each have their own identity. Smaller retailers at the first and second floors enclose the Target store and benefit from a variety of architectural expression that is unique to all four façades of the building. Four new skybridges link the project to the extensive Minneapolis skyway system. Orientation is maintained through each of the two-story lobbies at the Target entry and the 10th Street office entry with escalators and visual connections to the street. The skyway is located at the outside wall of the building, providing direct visual connection to the street and orientation to the context of the Mall at each of the four skybridges.
900 Nicollet adds warmth and activity to an often gray downtown. At dusk or on a rainy evening, the corner glass rotunda glows with light and the movement of people inside. It’s a rare architectural moment in a downtown of masonry, tinted glass, square corners and masked insides – and a relief to those who feared a Target store would be a monolithic, inward-looking suburban intrusion.
Whatever the store’s future, the city wins. 900 Nicollet is no unsightly suburban intrusion, but rather a new downtown block that people can love.
Linda Mack
Minneapolis Star Tribune
October 18, 2001
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