The Itasca Condos

THE ITASCA 716 North First Street, Minneapolis When architect John Cuningham renovated The Itasca in the early 1980s for his offices, the North Loop was a forgotten backwater of gritty, obsolete industrial structures. Many people were probably bewildered, if not shocked that he would invest and work in this utterly unredeemable area. By today, the North Loop is unrecognizable in almost every respect. Except that The Itasca is still here. Redeveloped into condominium lofts, The Itasca differs significantly in character from the early twentieth-century industrial loft ethic characterized by exposed concrete ceilings and structure. By contrast, The Itasca was built of a nineteenth-century type of industrial construction, called Heavy Timber. That accounts for the exposed wood ceilings and structure, similar to the landmark Butler Square on First Avenue North.