Retail on Street, Hold the Mayo

Second St. SW and First Ave. SW intersection

Second Street Retail on Street

US Bank Building:  Corner Coffee Shop

201 Building:  Corner Entrance Atrium and Food Court

What would happen if all office space was vacated on the ground level of buildings surrounding the Second Street SW and First Avenue SW intersection?

This epicenter of activity for the Mayo Clinic, the Rochester Downtown Alliance's Urban Village, and Thursdays on First, is currently dominated by commerical office or unleased tenant space. In many cases, only one or two entrances into the peripheral buildings exist across the entire block. Additionally, the Second Street right-of-way spans 5-lanes of traffic and can be overwhelmed with vehicular and bus traffic.

The amount of latent energy that exists in this node of the downtown core is wasted on blank street facades and narrow concrete sidewalks in need of expansion and activation. The base of these buildings should relate to the human scale and allow for interaction between indoors and out. Ground floor uses and retail activities should spill out into the sidewalks and streets to blur the distinction between public and private space. Preferably, active ground floor uses that create enriched experiences along each street for both pedestrians and motorists. Sidewalk activity has been shown to slow vehicular traffic to make pedestrians feel safer when crossing the street.

Consider what might happen: the impact on Rochester's downtown core would be minimal, but the precedent that such an action would create could formalize additional development of the proposed Urban Village and University of Minnesota Rochester campus. We should be so lucky to have a downtown with complete streets that are vibrant, accessible, convenient to public transit, linked to surrounding neighborhoods, safer and healthier.