Cedar Square West
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Riverside Plaza is a
modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
and
brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the b ...
apartment An apartment (American English, Canadian English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), tenement (Scots English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that ...
complex designed by
Ralph Rapson Ralph Rapson (September 13, 1914 – March 29, 2008) was Head of the School of Architecture at the University of Minnesota for 30 years. He was an interdisciplinary designer, one of the world's oldest practicing architects at his death at ag ...
that opened in
Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
,
Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...
in 1973. Situated on the edge of
downtown Minneapolis Central is a defined community in Minneapolis that consists of six smaller official neighborhoods around the downtown and central business core. It also includes the many old flour mills, the Mill District, and other historical and industri ...
in the
Cedar-Riverside Cedar-Riverside, also referred to as the West Bank, or simply Riverside, is a neighborhood within Minneapolis, Minnesota. Its boundaries are the Mississippi River to the north and east, Interstate 94 to the south, and Hiawatha Avenue and Inter ...
neighborhood, and next to both the
University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...
's West Bank and
Augsburg University Augsburg University is a private university in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It was founded in 1869 as a Norwegian-American Lutheran seminary known as Augsburg Seminari ...
, the site contains the 39-story McKnight Building, the tallest structure outside of the city's
central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...
. Initially known as Cedar Square West, the complex was renamed when an investor group bought it out of receivership in 1988. Riverside Plaza is composed of six buildings and has 1,303 residential units, making it the main feature of the city's
Cedar-Riverside Cedar-Riverside, also referred to as the West Bank, or simply Riverside, is a neighborhood within Minneapolis, Minnesota. Its boundaries are the Mississippi River to the north and east, Interstate 94 to the south, and Hiawatha Avenue and Inter ...
neighborhood. The buildings form a series of landscaped courtyards, featuring fountains, a clock tower, terraces, playgrounds, and various other amenities. Each building has a different height, intended to reflect the diversity of its population. Rapson was inspired by the time he spent in
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
an cities, where people of different ages and levels of wealth coexisted in close quarters. The area was developed with support from the
U.S. federal government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, execut ...
's New Town-In Town program, and was originally planned to be part of a utopian design that would have seen 12,500 units spread across four neighborhoods housing a total of 30,000 people. Cedar Square West was the first project in the country to receive Title VIII funds from the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It administers federal housing and urban development laws. It is headed by the secretary of housing and ur ...
(HUD), and it is the larger of only two New Towns-In Town that ultimately qualified for that program.


History

The imposing concrete structures use multi-colored panels (attempting to emulate
Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , ; ), was a Swiss-French architectural designer, painter, urban planner and writer, who was one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture ...
's
Unité d'Habitation The ''Unité d'habitation'' (, ''Housing Unit'') is a Modern architecture, modernist residential housing Typology (urban planning and architecture), typology developed by Le Corbusier, with the collaboration of painter-architect Nadir Afons ...
design), which strongly dates the period of construction. Rapson's initial design featured large, blank panels on the building, meant to be painted by residents according to their own preferences. However, the federal government raised concerns, worrying that the panels could be used for antiwar messages or offensive content. To resolve the issue, the panels were simply painted in the primary colors seen today.
Interstate 94 Interstate 94 (I-94) is an east–west Interstate Highway connecting the Great Lakes and northern Great Plains regions of the United States. Its western terminus is just east of Billings, Montana, at a junction with I-90; its eastern ter ...
and I-35W both pass nearby, giving good highway transportation options for occupants, but the corridors also act as barriers to pedestrians. Despite these drawbacks, the complex has been successful in maintaining a high occupancy rate, rarely dipping below 90% in the complex's nearly 50-year life. The concept, publicly introduced in 1966, had originally been called Cedar Village. It came from a collaboration between
Gloria Segal Gloria M. Segal (née Rodich) (April 11, 1928 – October 27, 1993) was an American politician and businesswoman. Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Segal graduated from North High School, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Segal graduated from the Un ...
, her husband Martin, and
University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...
professor Keith Heller — who controlled a majority of the property east of Cedar Avenue — and the B. W. and Leo Harris Company, investors west of Cedar. The city was also involved after the city council directed its planning commission to prepare a redevelopment plan for the area in 1965. Gloria Segal recalled the sequence of events that led to Cedar-Riverside being the nation's first New Town-In Town: “In February of 1970 we proposed a first stage project to the Minneapolis Housing and Redevelopment Authority. Preliminary approval was given in April of 1970. That spring a number of people began urging us to consider a New Communities loan guarantee application. A preliminary application was submitted in June and accepted in August of 1970. Final application documents were then prepared and a letter of commitment for a $24,000,000 guarantee was received June 28, 1971.” The project was to include housing for a range of incomes: 117 public housing units, 552 units subsidized by the FHA 236 program, 408 units targeted at middle-income tenants, and 223 “semiluxury” units. The complex was thus initially a mixed-housing initiative earmarked for both high-income and low-income residents, including renters and leasers. The original plan changed, however. Federal housing regulations initially placed all the semi-luxury units in a single building with additional amenities, creating a divide between residents and fostering an "us versus them" mentality. Another building was primarily home to residents of color, many of whom requested to live near others of their race, despite the developers' goal of promoting racial integration. With 40% of the complex's residents being students, turnover was expected, but a survey of first-year tenants revealed that 80% intended to stay for no more than two years, which hindered the development of a strong community. The original plan was to build a pedestrian bridge across Cedar Avenue to connect with a future Cedar Square East, but since that was never built, just a stub remains. New residents of Cedar-Riverside, including students and counter-culture activists, organized a number of protests that ultimately slowed down large-scale development plans. Instead, they advocated for a vision that focused on preserving historic buildings and supporting local businesses, rather than replacing them. According to Rapson, who designed the towers and still lived and worked in the neighborhood, the buildings' new owners did not take proper care of the buildings after converting the structures into subsidized housing to benefit from a 10% state subsidy in addition to regular rental revenue. Members of the media have used nicknames such as the "Ghetto in the Sky", and the "Crack Stacks" to describe the housing complex. A string of
homicide Homicide is an act in which a person causes the death of another person. A homicide requires only a Volition (psychology), volitional act, or an omission, that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from Accident, accidenta ...
s in the early 1990s also contributed to a negative image. According to local police, however, neighborhood crime has fallen over the years following the deployment of a few additional patrol officers.$65M facelift aims to restore luster to Minneapolis' Riverside Plaza, haven for new arrivals
/ref> The Plaza has also evolved into a lively haven for new immigrant families. In 1993, Cedar-Riverside Community School opened around the Plaza. The school met the needs of the Plaza's residents, including its new immigrant populations. It operated in former commercial spaces near McKnight Tower and Chase House. The school closed in 2021. Brian Coyle Community Center, named after onetime city councilmember
Brian Coyle Brian John Coyle (June 25, 1944 – August 23, 1991) was an American community leader, elected official, and gay activist. Coyle was one of the founders of the alternative newspaper '' Hundred Flowers''. He later became the first openly gay M ...
, opened adjacent to Riverside Plaza in 1993. As of 2011, Riverside Plaza has over 4,500 tenants living in 1,303 units, split equally between market-rate and subsidized apartments. The average duration of occupancy is three to four years, a relatively quick turnover owing to the
upward mobility Social mobility is the movement of individuals, families, households or other categories of people within or between social strata in a society. It is a change in social status relative to one's current social location within a given socie ...
of the newly arrived tenants, who are using the apartments as a temporary housing solution while they get on their feet. The complex was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
on December 28, 2010. The statement of significance cites its importance as a well-preserved example of urban redevelopment spurred by the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It administers federal housing and urban development laws. It is headed by the secretary of housing and ur ...
, and the first to receive Title VII funding. It is also locally significant as one of the most prominent examples of Ralph Rapson's work. Most of the current residents of Riverside Plaza are
Somali Americans Somali Americans are Americans of Somali ancestry. The first ethnic Somalis to arrive in the U.S. were sailors who came in the 1920s from British Somaliland. They were followed by students pursuing higher studies in the 1960s and 1970s, by the la ...
. In October 2016, residents of the complex declined permission to
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...
to film their upcoming series ''Mogadishu, Minnesota'' in their building.


Renovations

In 2011, a major renovation of the then almost 40-year-old complex began, prompted by major problems with their mechanical, plumbing, and electrical systems. The renovation was completed in two years on a budget of $132 million, most of which came from private sources. The
United States Department of Housing and Urban Development The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It administers federal housing and urban development laws. It is headed by the secretary of housing and u ...
, which viewed the complex as an example of effective multi-family public housing, backed $50 million in loans for the project. During the rehabilitation, improvements included the replacement of outdated systems with new, environmentally-friendly ones that comply with current codes. This involved replacing miles of deteriorated piping. Additionally, the original insulated aluminum windows were refurbished, historic concrete was repaired, and accessibility upgrades were implemented. The restoration repainted the faded colored panels to their original hues.Segal, G., & Heller, K. (2023, December 9). *Riverside Plaza's colorful history: From Cedar Square West to vibrant landmark*. *Star Tribune*. https://www2.startribune.com/riverside-plaza-cedar-square-west-gloria-segal-keith-heller/600250598/


In popular culture

Exterior shots of the complex were featured on
television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
as the residence of
Mary Richards Mary Richards, portrayed by Mary Tyler Moore, is the lead character of the television sitcom ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show''. Character biography Mary Richards, born in 1940 in Roseburg, Minnesota, is the only child of Walter and Dottie Richard ...
in the final two seasons of ''
The Mary Tyler Moore Show ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (also known simply as ''Mary Tyler Moore'') is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns and starring actress Mary Tyler Moore. The show originally aired on CBS from September 19, 1970 ...
''. It is speculated that the color scheme of the
Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves (often referred to as the Wolves or T-wolves) are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Divisio ...
's 2022-2023 season City Edition jerseys was partially inspired by elements of Riverside Plaza's design; both notably have similar blocks of vibrant color.


See also

*
List of tallest buildings in Minneapolis Minneapolis, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, is home to 190 completed high-rises, 41 of which stand taller than . The tallest building in Minneapolis is the 57- story IDS Center, which rises and was designed by archite ...


Notes


References

*William Swanson (November 2003)
The Legend and the Landmark.
'' Mpls.St.Paul Magazine''.


External links

* {{Authority control 1973 establishments in Minnesota Apartment buildings in Minnesota Brutalist architecture in Minnesota National Register of Historic Places in Minneapolis Residential buildings completed in 1973 Residential buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Residential skyscrapers in Minneapolis