Bandana Square is now an office center but was originally designed to be an enclosed shopping center in Energy Park (an industrial street) in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The site is in the National Register of Historic Places.
It included a Best Western hotel and conference center, along with several unique restaurants such as the successful Dakota Jazz Club and Restaurant that is now located in Minneapolis. The Dino's Greek fast-food chain, formerly known as Dino's Gyros, also had its first year-round restaurant at Bandana Square (previously, the company had only set up stands at the Minnesota State Fair and other events).
The complex opened in 1984 after several nineteenth century railroad buildings (the Northern Pacific Railway's Como Locomotive Shops) were converted into what was to be a large festival marketplace. Richard Faricy FAIA, the architect, would later recount that it was a remarkable project from the start. The financing and cooperation came from everyone—the railroads, the government, and even private grants.
However, the venture was unsuccessful and the facility was eventually transformed into office space.
Read more about Bandana Square: Museums
Famous quotes containing the word square:
“O for a man who is a man, and, as my neighbor says, has a bone in his back which you cannot pass your hand through! Our statistics are at fault: the population has been returned too large. How many men are there to a square thousand miles in this country? Hardly one.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)