Partners: CPED, Public Works

Budget: $150,000

Status: This project is installed.

This proposed multi-purpose municipal operations campus will facilitate a variety of large scale storage and maintenance needs. The main building will be comprised shop space, service bays, storage areas and staff offices.

In 2018, selection panel chose Minneapolis Artist Randy Walker to create public artwork for the site. Walker is best known locally for his work titled Return Journey, more commonly known as the Bracket Rocket, and has work all over the country from San Francisco to Greensboro, North Carolina.
With guidance from a Steering Committee of local individuals, Walker engaged with community members and future tenants of the site to learn more about the surrounding neighborhoods - past, present and future. Sites included:

• East Side Neighborhood Services
• Edison High School
• Holland Neighborhood Association
• Ecuadorian Consulate
• Language Central
• City of Minneapolis Public Works
• Fire Station 15
• Fair State Brewing Cooperative
• The Water Bar
• Sumner Library

The goals of the public art project are:

• Be a welcoming and iconic entrance to the city.
• Be thoughtfully integrated into architectural and landscape design.
• Respond to the setting by improving the appearance of University Avenue corridor and supporting the residential nature along the southern border of the site.
• Celebrate community history and the diversity of the area, people of all ages, origins, and stages of life.
• Support creative opportunities for community gathering and physical activity in the public open space, including people of all ages, origins, and stages of life.
• Celebrate the sustainability goals of this project and the facility and re-use materials from the site if possible.
• Highlight the City’s services and educate the public about them.
• Be durable and maintainable in Minneapolis' climate and urban environment.

Collection Point is an artwork inspired by the many collections found within Northeast Minneapolis, both seen and unseen. Collections are everywhere in Northeast Minneapolis. Ethnicities, artwork, architecture, and businesses are some of the more visible collections that define the unique character of northeast neighborhoods. The new East Side Storage & Maintenance Facility will be a center for collections less visible, but essential to all of Minneapolis. It is an artwork that celebrates the vital role the new facility and its employees will play in Minneapolis, and is envisioned as a community gathering place. Learn more about the artwork .