The Borders bookstore in the downtown Minneapolis Block E complex is finally making good on its promise to close up shop. This news follows a string of other announcements from retail businesses stating that they would leave their downtown locations. The news about Borders’ departure is particularly troubling because it couldn’t find another tenant to sublet the space. The restaurants and nightclubs in Block E are thriving, but the city councilmembers who voted to subsidize the development probably didn’t envision that it would have tens of thousands of square feet of vacant retail space within five years of opening. And I have yet to understand why the city invested millions of dollars in a poorly lit, poorly designed structure that looks like something out of a cheap theme park.
Minnesota Monthly recently ran article on how Block E could be improved. Some of the ideas are questionable (giant video walls?), but almost anything would be an improvement.
