Tag: heart of the city

Dare to DREAM: Giving life to Heart of the City

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Heart of the City Concept Development

From Discover to Dream, the Destination Medical Center’s Heart of the City public space design team is taking their direction from you.

On March 9, the design team invited community members to take part in the second phase of the design process at a Community Workshop at the Rochester Art Center. More than 130 people attended the 2 ½ hour interactive event.

“The turnout was great,” says Adam Ferrari, owner of the Rochester-based architecture and design firm 9.SQUARE and a member of the design team. But what struck Ferrari was the engagement by the group. “With events like this, it usually goes one of two ways,” he says. “People either react negatively – or they roll up their sleeves and get to work.” This group, according to Ferrari, did the latter.

Ramping up Rochester’s innovation capacity

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A diverse business landscape is critical to Rochester becoming a true Destination Medical Center. It will take more than excellence in patient care for the DMC vision to succeed. Susan Windham-Bannister knows this well.

Windham-Bannister is a life sciences industry expert and president and CEO of Biomedical Growth Strategies. She has spent years working in areas like New York, Boston, and Maryland to help communities create environments that are enticing to startups and established businesses alike.

Windham-Bannister joined more than 35 stakeholders from across the state to share her experiences and provide insight on how our own community should go about setting priorities to ensure DMC’s success.

Heart of the City: Discover. Dream. Design. Do!

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RSP Architects, the Minneapolis-based firm charged with championing public realm design for DMC’s Heart of the City sub-district, received accolades from the DMC Corporation board of directors on February 8 when they presented findings from the first of four phases of the design process. The RSP-led design team includes Coen+Partners, 9.Square, HR&A Advisors, and Kimley-Horn.

The Discover Report was the result of 17 days of interviews, surveys, and pop-ups conducted by the Heart of the City public space design team and the culmination of their first phase of design work. During this process, the design team met with hundreds of people – visitors, patients, and community members alike – recognizing that they must understand the community well because “solutions for Heart of the City need to be authentic to Rochester.”

UMR: Educating the next generation of medical professionals

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“We are preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist – to solve problems that aren’t yet known – using technologies that have not yet been invented.”

If you’ve heard University of Minnesota Rochester (UMR) Chancellor Stephen Lehmkuhle speak, chances are you’ve heard this statement.

UMR has a big job. They are tasked with educating the next generation of medical professionals and equipping them with the transferable skills they’ll need to succeed in today’s high-tech, high-touch world of health care.

Engaging the community through prototyping

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2016 brought a multitude of new ideas and excitement to downtown Rochester with the temporary installation of 16 prototypes at the first ever PlaceMakers | Rochester Prototyping Festival.

The idea of prototyping is not new, but it is new to Rochester.

Since the September festival, which addressed “Health and the Built Environment,” the community is beginning to see more examples of urban prototyping taking place.

Kicking off 2017: DMC puts you in the middle of it all

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The DMC vision is not one that can be accomplished alone – or overnight. But with the advancements that took place on the DMC Development Plan over the past year, Rochester is well on its way to becoming a premier global medical destination.

It doesn’t take an urban planner to recognize the qualities it takes for a city to be successful. DMC is in the middle of it all: growth, investment, culture, community, innovation… the list goes on. And Rochester is hitting the mark on each attribute, ensuring 2017 will be another year of success.

Growth: A map on the DMC website highlights the fourteen projects currently in various stages of development in the DMC district, including the Alatus Development Project in St Marys Place (#14), the Titan-OPUS Project in Discovery Square (#3), and the Lofts at Mayo Park in the downtown Waterfront (#9), just to name a few.

Investment: Private investment gained significant momentum during 2016 that put DMC on course to reach the $200 million threshold that unlocks $585 million in public funds spanning over 20 years.

DMCC Board approves $115M mixed-use development for St. Marys Place sub-district

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The Alatus Development project will add over 347 residential units, restaurant, commercial, and retail space. Project highlights growing momentum of Destination Medical Center initiative, with over $200 million in development since 2013.

ROCHESTER, Minn. (Dec. 15, 2016) – The Destination Medical Center Corporation (DMCC) Board of Directors today approved the $115 million Alatus LLC 2nd Street Development Project for the DMC St. Marys Place sub-district subject to a final review of the project’s financing. The 13-story mixed-use development is expected to include over 347 residential units, 13,500 square feet of ground floor retail space, and 7,500 square feet of second-floor office and retail space.

DMCC Board Reviews Two Major Mixed Use Development Proposals

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Projects would add over 270 apartment units and 200 hotel rooms to DMC district 

ROCHESTER, Minn. (Oct. 27, 2016) – The Destination Medical Center Corporation (DMCC) Board of Directors today received a preliminary view of two significant mixed-use project proposals aimed at building hotel, retail, and residential housing options in key sub-districts within the DMC District. Board members also received an update regarding transportation planning efforts and approved the DMCC’s funding request for 2017.

Titan Real Estate and Investments and the Opus Group provided initial background on a proposed 156-unit apartment complex that would be built in the Discovery Square district upon a First Ave. surface parking lot. The development would include retail and parking within, as well as a green roof and pedestrian access to downtown. Titan, a local company, was the developer of “Broadway at Center,” one of two DMC-approved projects.

Destination Medical Center Corporation Board Takes Major Step Forward on Heart of the City

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ROCHESTER, Minn. (August 25, 2016) – At today’s board meeting, the Destination Medical Center (DMC) Corporation Board of Directors took a major step forward on DMC’s Heart of the City sub-district by approving the recommendation of the Heart of the City Community Advisory Committee to select RSP Architects as the design team for public space in Heart of the City. The DMC Corporation Board also was updated on the latest progress of the Discovery Square sub-district and transportation.

“The Heart of the City district is an essential part of our strategy to ensure Rochester’s place as America’s City for Health,” said Lt. Governor Tina Smith, DMC Corporation Board Chair. “It will be the place where Mayo Clinic, medical innovation, new business and hospitality opportunities, and housing choices all meet. Today’s announcement takes us a step closer to this goal.”

Following the meeting, the DMC Corporation Board toured the recently reopened Conley-Maass Building located in Discovery Square and met with the building’s tenants and collaborators.

Heart of the City: Where healthcare meets hospitality

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Progress continued in the Heart of the City today as the Community Advisory Committee made its recommendation for the team charged with designing the DMC sub-district’s public space.

HeartOfTheCityThat recommendation is RSP Architects, a Minneapolis-based architectural firm with offices in Rochester, Phoenix, and other locations, and includes Coen Partners (Twin Cities), which will serve as lead landscape architect; 9.Square (Rochester), which will provide urban design, architecture, planning, and community engagement; HR&A Advisors (New York), which will provide open space development, management, and strategy services; and Kimley-Horn (St. Paul and Rochester), which will provide civil engineering, transportation, and DMC plan continuity.