Star Tribune
HCMC wants a $1 billion patient tower, but first it needs a new parking ramp
Hennepin County leaders took the next big step on Tuesday toward building a $1 billion in-patient hospital tower at HCMC.
To clear the way for the tower’s construction, county officials need to replace the aging parking ramp that now sits where the new building will be constructed.
The County Board gave staff the OK to buy property along Centennial Place between Ninth and Tenth streets in Minneapolis to build a new 1,000-stall ramp. County officials say they hope to purchase the necessary properties without using eminent domain.
After the new ramp opens in 2027, the county can demolish the existing parking structures and other buildings just south of the hospital campus and begin planning for the structure.
The new hospital building is still a decade away and will be built on the “Parkside block” that’s just east of Chicago Avenue between Eighth and Ninth streets.
County Administrator David Hough said system-wide improvements to HCMC have been in the works for well over a decade. The plan is to consolidate HCMC’s eight block campus and to update facilities, some of which are 100 years old.
Hennepin Healthcare System operates the hospital and other clinics for the county, which oversees its $1.5 billion budget and owns the hospital’s buildings. HCMC is Minnesota’s largest safety-net hospital and has one of the state’s level one emergency trauma centers.
County leaders acknowledged Tuesday a system-wide facilities overhaul takes a long time and is expensive.
“We have heard over and over we need improved facilities,” said board chair Irene Fernando.. “Yet, we are still so many years out from facilities that match what residents deserve.”
There has been progress with the Hennepin Healthcare Clinic and Specialty Center completed in 2018 across from the main hospital campus. The county bought the Parkside Professional Building and adjoining parking ramps a decade ago for $20 million as the site for the new hospital tower.
Hough said building a new ramp just south of where the new in-patient tower is planned will be convenient for both workers and patients. The county has earmarked $70 million in its capital improvement budget for the new ramp, but costs could be higher.
“I don’t want to telegraph pricing until we’ve gone through design work,” Hough said. “We really want to manage our costs.”
Earlier this year, county leaders lobbied the Legislature to convert the 0.15% sales tax that helped pay for Target Field to fund hospital renovations. The tax potentially could raise $40 million in annual revenue for health care.
Lawmakers were unable to come to an agreement on converting the tax, which will otherwise expire after the stadium debt is paid off next year. County leaders are considering another push in 2025 to keep the ballpark tax and use it for health care.
Star Tribune
St. Paul’s Lowertown ‘rocked’ by senseless shooting, but know the neighborhood remains safe
“It’s alarming,” Khan said.
Friends and Lowertown residents, including the artist Ta-coumba T. Aiken, in hat, gathered at the Lost Fox, a coffee shop in the St. Paul neighborhood, Sunday afternoon, September 29, 2024 to remember Lowertown resident and artist Carrie Shobe Kwok, who was murdered last week. ] JEFF WHEELER • Jeff.Wheeler@startribune.com (Jeff Wheeler/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
As Khan and Mellem spoke, the hour grew past 9 p.m. in Mears Park, a sort of town square in Lowertown.
Just like the water in the park’s manmade stream, dogwalkers and other passersby flowed through. Classical music played from the bandshell’s speakers. A couple danced in the shadows of one corner. Across the street, bar patrons sat with drinks indoors and out on a patio.
Noecker, the city council member, said that any urban area is going to have people engaging in negative activity, “but if they are vastly outnumbered by people just doing neutral and positive activity… then it feels and is safe.”
She said the neighborhood demonstrated it would remain that way after such a shocking act of violence.
“People have been coming out to comfort one another and to talk with one another,” she said. “That’s ultimately one of the most important ingredients for safety and it’s not something that’s easy to create if it isn’t already there.”
DULUTH — When registration opened Tuesday night for next year’s Grandma’s Marathon, the destination race along Minnesota’s North Shore, there were 7,500 hopefuls queued up and ready to commit to the mileage.
It made for long wait times for some runners who were logged in for up to 2 hours, though some cruised through the process in under 20 minutes, according to race officials. It also made for a record-setting entry pace. The Garry Bjorklund Half-Marathon is expected to sell out less than 24 hours after it opened. The William A. Irvin 5K could also sell out by the end of the day.
“We had over 11,000 signed up in the first five hours — more than we’ve ever had before,” according to Zach Schneider, the event’s marketing director, who added the servers were also running slow on opening night. “It was the perfect storm. People had to exercise a little patience.”
Grandma’s Marathon and the Garry Bjorklund Half-Marathon are scheduled for June 21, 2025. The William Irvin 5K is June 20.
For those considering the challenge, an entry in the full marathon will be the easiest to secure, with more than 5,000 spots still available. By midmorning Wednesday, there were only about 350 entries left for the half-marathon and 400 for the 5K.
Schneider said a lot of runners took up the sport during the pandemic and, combined with decent weather the past few years, Grandma’s Marathon has consistently filled fast.
“We know our race depends so much on word-of-mouth,” he said. “When we get good weather, people go back and tell family and friends.”
Walz previously said he was in Hong Kong in May 1989 before the massacre, MPR News reported. He also said he was in Hong Kong the day the massacre happened on June 4 during a 2019 radio interview, CNN reported.
However, a photo taken on May 16, 1989 put him in the United States working at the National Guard Armory in Alliance, MPR reported. And a story published in a Nebraska newspaper on Aug. 11, 1989 quoted him as saying he would leave for China that Sunday, more than two months after the Tiananmen Square massacre.
“To watch what happened at the end of the day on June 4 was something that many of us will never forget, we pledge to never forget, and bearing witness and accurate telling of history is absolutely crucial for any nation to move forward,” Walz said during a 2009 congressional hearing to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the massacre.
Walz has also misstated the number of times he’s visited China. The campaign previously said he visited the country more than 30 times. However, MPR reported the campaign now says he was there closer to 15 times.
The discrepancy in Walz’s timeline comes as Republicans have been raising questions about whether Walz’s ties to the country, which has become one of the United States’ top adversaries, is influencing his decision making. The GOP-led House Oversight Committee has launched an investigation into his time there and has asked both the FBI and now the Department of Homeland Security via a subpoena for any relevant information the agencies have on Walz.
Walz on shooting his son witnessed and viral “friend with school shooters” moment
