Minneapolis Riverfront Redevelopment Oral History Project: Interview with Kit Richardson

Titles: Minneapolis Riverfront Redevelopment Oral History Project: Interview with Kit Richardson (Supplied title)

Description: BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Kit Richardson is a Minneapolis architect and developer, and partner with Peter Gelzer in Architectural Associates. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Purchase of North Star Woolen Mill in 1979; the ways in which the 1985 national riverfront conference introduced Minneapolis to the larger world of waterfront development and vice versa; Harry Wirth's negative effect on West Bank development efforts, including Ding Pei's proposal for the World Trade Center; the real estate slump of the late 1980s. Richardson also owned the Standard Mill, which became the Whitney Hotel, and discusses the Crown Roller Mill fire; formation of Mill District Associates; the use of the Ceresota Elevator for grain storage; removal of the Chicago Avenue viaduct; West Bank vs. East Bank; the trolley study; the negative impact of the Industry Square Redevelopment District; Hayber Development's role in the Whitney Hotel and Ceresota Elevator; the politics of riverfront development; his vision of riverfront activity, and his purchase of the Pillsbury A Mill property.

Dates

• 12/17/2008 (Creation)

Creation

• interviewer: Mack, Linda
• interviewee: Richardson, Kit

Identifiers

• Library Call Number: OH 117.21
• Accession Number: AV2009.52.21
• Link to Finding Aid

Holding Type: Oral History - Interview

Project

• Oral History - Project, MHS Collection, project: 'Minneapolis Riverfront Redevelopment Oral History Project' <OH 117>

Quantity: 1.5 hours sound disc 29 pages transcript

Format

• Content Category: sound recordings
• Content Category: text

Measurements

• 90 minutes length

Subjects