For over a century, the machine shop—located on Second Avenue Southeast in the St. Anthony Falls District—served Minneapolis’s A Mill complex well by housing equipment production and repair activities that kept Pillsbury’s and (later) Archer Daniels Midland’s operations humming. Yet regardless of its prime riverfront location, free-span spaces, and beautiful brick exterior, the Machine Shop has stood idle since ADM vacated it in 2005. (It had some intermittent uses as a theater venue, arts workshop, and offices.)
Strong, steady neighborhood growth and revitalization makes redevelopment of this historic structure pivotal. The recently completed Phoenix and Cobalt condominium towers and additional living units planned for adjacent properties promise to bring 1,600-plus residents to the old machine shop’s doorstep. Existing multi-modal transit options alone won’t prevent people driving elsewhere to purchase basic goods and services.
If the Pillsbury machine shop were creatively converted into a mixed-use commercial facility, it could help attract new urban dwellers.
