Riverside Plaza

Riverside Plaza is a modernist and brutalist apartment complex designed by Ralph Rapson that opened in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1973. Situated on the edge of downtown Minneapolis in the Cedar Riverside neighborhood, and next to both the University of Minnesota's West Bank and Augsburg University, the site contains the 39 story McKnight Building, the tallest structure outside of the city's central business district. Initially known as Cedar Square West, the complex was renamed when an investor group bought it out of receivership in 1988. Riverside Plaza is composed of six buildings and has 1,303 residential units, making it the main feature of the city's Cedar Riverside neighborhood. Each building has a different height, intended to reflect the diversity of its population. Rapson was inspired by the time he spent in European cities, where people of different ages and levels of wealth coexisted in close quarters. The area was developed with support from the U. S. federal government's New Town In Town program, and was originally planned to be part of a utopian design that would have seen 12,500 units spread across four neighborhoods housing a total of 30,000 people. Cedar Square West was the first project in the country to receive Title VIII funds from the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and it is the larger of only two New Towns In Town that ultimately qualified for that program.

The imposing concrete structures use multi colored panels (attempting to emulate Le Corbusier's Unité d'Habitation design), which strongly dates the period of construction. Interstate 94 and I 35W both pass nearby, giving good highway transportation options for occupants, but the corridors also act as barriers to pedestrians. Despite these drawbacks, the complex has been successful in maintaining a high occupancy rate, rarely dipping below 90% in the complex's nearly 50 year life. The concept, publicly introduced in 1966, had originally been called Cedar Village. It came from a collaboration between Gloria Segal, her husband Martin, and University of Minnesota professor Keith Heller — who controlled a majority of the property east of Cedar Avenue — and the B. W. and Leo Harris Company, investors west of Cedar. The city was also involved after the city council directed its planning commission to prepare a redevelopment plan for the area in
1965. A string of homicides in the early 1990s also contributed to a negative image. According to local police, however, neighborhood crime has fallen over the years following the deployment of a few additional patrol officers. The Plaza has also evolved into a lively haven for new immigrant families. The school meets the needs of the Plaza's residents, including its new immigrant populations. It operates in former commercial spaces near McKnight Tower and Chase House. As of 2011, Riverside Plaza has over 4,500 tenants living in 1,303 units, split equally between market rate and subsidized apartments. In October 2016, residents of the complex declined permission to HBO to film their upcoming series Mogadishu, Minnesota in their building.

In 2011, a major renovation of the then almost 40 year old complex began, prompted by major problems with their mechanical, plumbing, and electrical systems. The renovation was completed in two years on a budget of $132 million, most of which came from private sources. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, which viewed the complex as an example of effective multi family public housing, backed $50 million in loans for the project.

Exterior shots of the complex were featured on television as the residence of Mary Richards in the final two seasons of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. It is speculated that the color scheme of the Minnesota Timberwolves's 2022 2023 season City Edition jerseys was partially inspired by elements of Riverside Plaza's design; both notably have similar blocks of vibrant color.