Architecture Minnesota, the magazine of the American Institute of Architects Minnesota, won four awards in 2010 from the Minnesota Magazine & Publications Association’s prestigious Minnesota Publishing Excellence Awards: a Gold Award for Best Feature Article in the category of General Interest, Under 60,000 Circulation, for Minnesota Modernisms (Nov/Dec 2009); a Gold Award for Best Regular Column in the category of General Interest, Under 60,000 Circulation for Conundra; a Silver Award for Best Single Cover in the category of General Interest, Under 60,000 Circulation (Nov/Dec 2009); and Bronze Award for Overall Excellence in the category of General Interest.

“We were especially gratified by these awards because this was our first year in the General Interest category, in competition with a number of quality magazines with larger readerships—magazines that we’ve always looked up to,” says editor Christopher Hudson. “It’s a thrill to have fared well in their company.”

In addition to architectural stories, the magazine also publishes directories in each issue that serve as a resource to the public, architects, and allied professions. Each year’s May/June issue contains the Firm Directory for fine-tuning a search for an architect based on criteria like percentage of work by building type, firm location, and firm size. Each firm also has a listing of five projects that help directory users quickly familiarize themselves with a firm’s work.

In 2011, the bimonthly publication will feature these themes and directories (directories in parenthesis): Jan/Feb: On Campus: New University Projects (Directory of Consulting Engineers), Mar/Apr: AIA Minnesota Honor Awards & Landscape Architecture (Landscape Architecture Firms); May/Jun: Housing for Lifestyles (AIA Minnesota Firms, Consultants); Jul/Aug: Entertainment (Renovation, Remodeling, Restoration); Sept/Oct: Interiors (Interior Architecture/Interior Design); Nov/Dec: Health and Wellness (General Contractors).

In 1997, the MMPA established the Publishing Excellence Awards to recognize and foster outstanding publishing achievements in the areas of editorial, design and overall excellence. The judges are volunteers from the industry selected based on their expertise.

As the primary public outreach tool of AIA Minnesota, Architecture Minnesota is published to inform the public about architecture designed by AIA Minnesota members and to communicate the spirit and value of quality architecture to both the public and the membership.

Peavey Plaza when the fountains were still working. Beautiful, modern, urban, one-of-a-kind and located in downtown Minneapolis.

Peavey Plaza in Minneapolis, created by renowned landscape architect, M. Paul Friedberg, and constructed in 1975, is a landmark of modern design. Trees, shrubs and a corner fountain define the edges of the plaza—located in front of Orchestra Hall between 11th and 12th Streets on Nicollet Mall—and concrete steps directly connect the sunken plaza with the street. Peavey Plaza serves as an amphitheater for annual events such as the popular Sommerfest, as well as a stage for both residents and visitors to enjoy the theater of everyday life in the city. As the only urban gathering space in the core of downtown Minneapolis, and as a unique example of modern landscape design, Peavey Plaza is an urban treasure and an historical icon worthy of preservation.

Currently, two real and imminent threats endanger the integrity and future of Peavey Plaza. First, the plaza has been subjected to a combination of neglect and ill-advised renovations that have altered the original design and intent of the space. Second, the planned remodeling and expansion of the Orchestra Hall lobby threaten to culminate in a wholesale redesign of the plaza. Advocates for the preservation of Peavey Plaza are hopeful that they can work with the City of Minneapolis and Orchestra Hall to develop a maintenance plan for vegetation and materials, as well as a design plan for rehabilitation, to address contemporary needs while preserving historic resources. With advocacy and cooperation Peavey Plaza will remain an iconic modern landscape and a beloved place in the city.

Right now the City of Minneapolis and Orchestra Hall are looking to select a design team for the renovation of Peavey Plaza.  It has been narrowed down to eight teams, one of which includes the original designer of Peavey Plaza, M. Paul Friedberg and local landscape architect Tom Oslund.  In an economic environment such as we are living in today the best team for the job is not often chosen. Instead we are left with whoever can claim they will bring the project with minimal cost and quick turn around.  What is sacrificed in this scenario is design.  When a City such as Minneapolis is given the opportunity to preserve and renovate their only public gathering space and also given the opportunity to have the original designer of the space oversee the renovation it is too good let it slip by.

The StarTribune printed an article, on September 11, 2010 titled, “Plenty peeved about Peavey Plaza” which I am labeling the most sorry excuse for architectural criticism in a major city newspaper ever.  In the article StarTribune writers Rick Nelson and Claude Peck give out such terrible urban planning design advice as:

• Replace the sunken plaza with street level green grass / the reason not to do this: because every other park in the City of Minneapolis has street level green grass.  Minneapolis needs another park with street level green grass like it needs a hole in the head.  The reason that Peavey Plaza is unique and special is because it is a sunken plaza and because it is hard-scape.  If you take that away you have nothing.
• Don’t preserve Peavey Plaza because Orchestra Hall is getting a facelift / the reason not to listen to this: what kind of logic is this?  If the City of Rome thought like this they would have to destroy the Colosseum because an underground railway station was being built across the street from it.  What makes a city vibrant and alive is having great works of architecture from many different time periods juxtaposed against each other.  Europeans understand this.  For some reason Americans want things to be matchy-matchy-poo-poo.
• Peavey Plaza needs a beer garden / the reason it doesn’t: the most important thing about Peavey Plaza is that it is public space.  The minute that a private establishment is allowed to operate on the Plaza it is no longer public.  As the public we should never give this up.  We need space to gather, to sit, to have as community space.  Also, there are “beer gardens” all around Peavey Plaza.  If you want a beer you can go to The Local, Brits, The Newsroom, anywhere really.

As Americans we always struggle with architecture from the recent past.  We like brand new architecture.  We love architecture once it is 80 to 100 years old or older.  We have a really hard time with architecture that is 50 or less years old.  We love to tear buildings and landscapes down when then are no longer new and become “ugly” and out of fashion.  Then 50 years later, when the architecture we tore down 50 years ago would be 100 years old if it was still here, we look at old pictures and say, “why did we tear that down?”  The problem with Peavey Plaza isn’t that it is old, its that it isn’t old enough.  I suggest we find a way to preserve Peavey Plaza as the mid-century icon it was designed to be.  We have a responsibility as a community to not just preserve architecture from our distant past, but from our recent past, as it is the architecture from our recent past that is most in danger of being demolished.  We don’t need to replace Peavey Plaza with a beer garden, or a street level grassy plaza, or replace it with a brand spanking new design. We do need to keep our City’s unique architectural heritage intact and preserve Peavey Plaza.

This originally appeared on Minnesota Business where Jason Sandquist contribute articles regularly about commercial real estate and business.

It’s something that no business owner wants to face, after all most business owner’s think their first location is their last. Times change along with people and business that make for challenging decisions.

Relocating a business or moving is one of the biggest stresses around and if not done properly can leave your business handcuffed. Unlike a Broadway play, there really is no way to rehearse.

Moving a business does come with some short-term costs, whether moving costs or employees leaving because of distance and rehiring – the list is long.

Reasons For Moving Business

There are many reasons that a business might pick up and move its operations to a different location. Given the current economic conditions, many businesses are moving to different locations and taking advantages of lower rents. Something they might have not been able to get into a few years ago comes into play. Newer building, better amenities for employees, larger space for cheaper than current rent; the list could go on. Businesses are also downsizing or working on renewing leases to lower rates to better allocate funds.

Maybe you thought your landlord was on your side  but now they decide to raise the rent on your current lease. Maybe your business is bursting at the seems in a tiny space and you’re trying to get every inch out of your current space. Saving Getting closer to your core business users like customers and vendors is another reason that you might decide to move.

Be Realistic and Do Your Homework

Nothing’s worse than having a few good months of growth and deciding to move into a new shiny corner office that with a 5 year lease and realize you bit of to much. Budget accordingly so you can support the new lease that you signed.

Understand the location that you are interested in relocating to. Even if it takes a year or two until you decide. You’ll be there for a while and you want to make sure the location is perfect.

Here are some quick thoughts to take into consideration when trying to decide if a move for your business makes sense. Tour property with tenant rep and take notes of each properties characteristics to minimize as much risk as possible. If traffic is important, make sure to get a traffic count on the number of vehicles that pass by each day. The cost of the rent; is it a gross service lease where every thing is included or something like a triple-net (NNN)  that has a base price plus the tenant is responsible for taxes, insurance and operating costs. What are the build out costs for the space going to be? Can this be negotiated with the landlord paying some or all?

Is there space for growth? What are the condition of surrounding buildings or traffic?

Does the landlord carry a good reputation? Just like the saying “A happy wife is a happy life”, you could relate this to a landlord-tenant relationship.

Plan, Plan, Plan

The moving date will sneak up and fast.

As the business owner, you like to do everything yourself.  Probably not a good idea in this situation and delegation of tasks is the way to go.

Create lists that tell everybody the plan; 3 months out, 2 months out, 1 month out, then weekly if need be all the way down to the day of move. Breakdown responsibilities for every employee ranging in tasks from paper plates to web servers.

Most companies now rely heavily on internet connectivity. Seek out the correct IT advice to ensure everything is working properly the day you need it to.

One of the best resources to ask is other business owners that have been through the process, they can answer a lot of questions. Their input could be the greatest because they’ve survived it.

Make your move rewarding and important step towards the growth of your business endeavors.

While viewing tweets the other evening I was thinking about the word “Fiduciary”. My unconventional method of multitasking made me wonder if the words “Twitter” and “Fiduciary” have anything in common. Not much….except:

We live in a judge-a-book-by-its-cover culture and when something looks silly we tend to dismiss it, that is, unless we happen to be seeking something silly at that moment. Both “Twitter” and “Fiduciary” are likely listings in the Silly Word Dictionary. When I first heard about Twitter, I dismissed it as a waste of time but changed my mind when forced to confront it head-on.

“Fiduciary” is a word that doesn’t come up in every day conversation. When you hear it spoken, you can’t help but notice that the second syllable sounds like, “douche”. This causes some to avoid using the word especially if they’re not sure what it means and fear that it may be naughty.

Back in real estate school they teach you a mnemonic device to help you remember “the real estate agent’s fiduciary responsibilities to his/her client”.  The mnemonic is: L C Dora – like a person’s name: Elsie Dora…get it??? As with any mnemonic device, each letter represents the first letter of the word you’re trying to recall:

L = Loyalty;   C = Confidentiality;   D = Disclosure;   O = Obedience;

R = Responsibility;  and,   A = Accountability

Now that those words are in your brain, forget about them until a future posting in which we talk about each in more detail. For now, back to fiduciary.

“The first decade of the 21st century focused on a concerted effort by the forces of evil to remove all ethics from anything that resembled a business transaction”.  That could very well be a sentence from a future history book.   (Unless the book is, “The Fox News Idiots Guide to American History” – but we won’t go there right now!)

What was it that went so wrong almost causing our economy to implode in late 2008? How about:  Totally ignoring the fiduciary responsibilities we owe to each other when we enter into a business deal. Many transactions that took place prior to the beginning of what is now called the Great Recession focused on the following to the exclusion of all else:

What’s in it for me and how much richer will I be when this deal’s done?

The jury is still out on whether we’ve learned our lesson or if we are just taking a break to catch our breath before we return to the status quo.  I sincerely hope that the majority of you favor the former and not the latter!

Since commercial real estate agents don’t answer their phone or return them – the best message to leave is

I’m highly interested in your listing at , please call me back [phone].

And leave it at that! Nothing more.

The response rate goes through the roof!