Back to News

Area by Metrodome Would Have Whole New Look

Source: Star Tribune
By Paul Levy
April 2007

From inside the Vikings' proposed new stadium -- a $1 billion climate-controlled facility to be built on the site of the Metrodome -- fans will be able to look beyond the west end zone and see downtown Minneapolis.

From inside the Vikings' proposed new stadium -- a $1 billion climate-controlled facility to be built on the site of the Metrodome -- fans will be able to look beyond the west end zone and see downtown Minneapolis.

But it's not the downtown neighborhood we know.

The light-rail station outside the Metrodome will have been transformed into a Winter Garden, a dramatic transportation hub lined with trees, according to an urban planning firm that unveiled this afternoon its vision for eastern downtown and the possible future home of the Vikings.

Many of the parking lots along or near Chicago, Park and Portland Av. will be gone, giving way to office buildings, retail shops and restaurants. Where an annex to the Star Tribune's main headquarters now stands, there will be a park. For all the purple inside the stadium, there may be just as much green outside.

The stadium plaza will be open, expansive and inviting, ready to be used for outdoor events.

And then there is the stadium itself.

When the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission hired the ROMA Group, a San Francisco-based urban planner, the commission insisted that a new Vikings stadium had to be climate controlled with a retractable roof. The commission hopes to host a Final Four, Super Bowl concerts and other big events at the new stadium.

ROMA is not a stadium architect like HOK, the Kansas City-based company that is designing the Twins new stadium and has consulted with the Vikings the past year. But ROMA's vision of a retractable roof goes beyond shielding fans from the elements.

When the stadium is open, the view through the west end zone into downtown reminds fans where they are -- in case the ever-present purple borders weren't reminder enough. But when the roof closes, the view to downtown is seen through a glass partition.

The big caveat: Who pays for all of this?

Without a financial partner and without much time to present a case for stadium approval form the Legislature this session, the Vikings have become a football team with an innovative new plan, but without the players to make it happen anytime soon.

© Star Tribune

BACK TO TOP