IDS Center

Hey IDS security guards, I get you don’t want homeless people sleeping in the upscale lobby area. But, sternly telling my 9 year old son to sit up while sitting on your bench is ridiculous! Besides, there is no posted «rule» you can’t lay down on the bench. I see why there is only 3 people here today. Beautiful lobby, jerk security guards.

I really enjoy the IDS center. It’s one of the many skyway hubs where you can get to and from a lot of places. They have a variety of restaurants including Mission, Cosii, People’s Organic, Starbucks, yogurt and sandwich shops.
During the summer and winter months they also have events, exhibitions or performances in the center of the tower. For example, there have been floor murals and choirs for various holidays or celebrations. It’s always fun to see what’s going on in the IDS tower, and even without anything going on the water fountain and sky lighting is enough to make you sit down and relax. Which you can do on one of the many white benches they have available. IDS is a good spot and you should definitely check it out if you haven’t already.

Extremely professional and comfortable setting with plenty of seating. It has that cool waterfall from the ceiling and the only downside is that there are no public rest rooms unless you pay money at cosi.

Nice place in Downtown Minneapolis to just sit back & enjoy a coffee. eateries & shops all around. Theres a touch screen information center which is really cool & a fountain of water falling from the ceiling. Relaxing, yes.

MN’s tallest building!

Three stars for being such a beautiful building, for having a small farmer’s market on the lobby floor, and for having shop after shop on the second floor. I liked that people congregated there as a seeming morning ritual to relax with a snack and beverage. On the outside they have some kind of very nice bicycle rental station. All in all, it was nice, just need to work on bringing the friendliness quotient higher.

I was sick and walking the Sky Way from my hotel to Target on a freezing fall/​winter day. The Sky Way, is certainly an interesting concept. It’s crazy how you can be in a mall one second and then in a random lobby of some place another.
My favorite Sky Way experience was at the IDS Center. As I walked over a street, I approached a big expanse. It looked as though I was approaching an outdoor (dare I say tropical) scene. The big square was a beautiful park like square. What pulls your view though is liquid.
Yes, falling from what appeared to be nowhere was a stream of rain. Drops of water fell from the sky down to a fountain below. The rain looked as though it was from the sky, but here the sky is covered by glass. So yes, this amazing fountain was several hundred of feet tall. The sound of splashing water could be heard in the cavernous area of this square.
I could have curled up and just went to sleep here.
I, of course, loved the water. I loved the open-​ness. This place had a homey feel to it. This enclosed capsule of life could have been anywhere. It could have been in space. It’s a biosphere for the public.
The waterfall uplifted me and helped me make it to the drugstore for medicine. I think I made it because this place was its own medicine.

The five stars is for the Crystal Court, which is on the ground floor of the building. I like the tower of the IDS Center only because its a landmark and our skyline would look weird without it. However if you like all — glass skyscrapers this is one of the nicest ones I’ve seen.
The Crystal Court is an amazing space. It’s got a really unique terraced glass ceiling that almost appears to be floating (see my photos), and from outside looks like a piece of ice sculpture. Wish it was illuminated at night, man would that be spectacular. It’s the largest public space Downtown and is smack dab in the middle of it. It’s so centrally located that if you’re taking the Skyways you’ll have to go through it to get from one direction to another.
It is a grand, but welcoming space that doesn’t have an uncomfortable imposingness to it. There are tons of places to sit under the ceiling mounted waterfall, which is a great place to have some coffee, read, or chat. During the holidays there are really awesome decorations in here including a giant Christmas tree. That part hasn’t changed a bit since I was a child, it’s still magical. Wish they’d bring back all the great food kiosks that used to be in there though.

This is the tallest building that we have here. Its the blue glass one. Just in case you’re confusing it with the Wells Fargo. No, this is the IDS.
Its purdy, it has a big fountain. And security guards. Lots of them, maybe I just look suspicious, but there are always there.
Its 57 stories high, and you can rent out the top floor for your special celebrations. The view is incredible and the carped, yep, there is carpet there is funky. But yeah, the view is great, you can see over the other buildings and its amazing.
There is also a Starbucks and Godiva in there. Within ten steps of each other. Cant beat that.

First kiss. First apartment. First architectural marvel. Yes, thank you Mr. Philip Johnson for my beloved IDS building. All these firsts are glorious memories, filed away in the scrapbook of my mind. Standing 57 stories tall, this chiseled blue glass edifice will always be the star of the Minneapolis skyline. From Mary Tyler Moore lunching on the mezzanine to my first Bennetton store. From the endless miles of skyway commuting to the revolving doors spilling out onto the infamous Nicollet Mall. And the sky high restaurants and bars. To be so young and feeling like a million bucks high atop my Minneapple, well, it puts a lump in my throat. Since it’s erection (c’mon, I had to say it) in the early 70s (oddly enough when I had my first erection), the IDS building has championed Minneapolis into a respected and beloved city. And the hotel in the IDS… fantastic!!! A must stay for any visitor or resident. Thanks for the memories IDS… I hope we have many more.

Gorgeous. So many things about Minneapolis made me want to move there, and this was no exception. I recently visited this building, where on the ground floor there is shopping, several pretty fountains, a «mall» feel. We were guests of a Groom’s Dinner here, the day before some friends were married. They rented out the very tippy-​top of this, the tallest building in Minneapolis, for the event.
After about a dozen of us scrambled out of the elevator (it went about a floor per second, I swear) we were spewed out into a lovely lobby type area, where coats were hung on several racks. We deposited ours there and meandered in.
It was breathtaking. And really, I do not do well with heights, but this was spectacular. We could practically see over the Wells Fargo building.
As far as the food went, they had little h’ors doeuvres laid out for us to help ourselves, and they were all tasty as can be. The line for the bar was gaining members rapidly, so we jumped in there, to be greeted by a bartender (who I would later become better acquainted with) named Jim. Great guy! I tend to be drawn to the people working the parties, more so than the guests, and Jim made it so easy. His White Russians were divine, he did not scoff at us or anyone else for drinking a lot of Slivovitz (a traditional Serbian 100 proof plum brandy, provided specifically for this occasion), and he let me go on the honor system for tipping later (which I did!)
Dinner was set up buffet style over 3 different locations. One station was for fajitas, one for stir-​fry, and one for pasta. Everything I tried was excellent… and the fajitas were my particular stand-​out.
After dinner, I would be asked to stand up and make a speech for the bride and groom (unexpectedly) which I would stammer nervously… so back to Jim to numb my pain of having the worst speech. Then, we sang songs. We sang nothing too memorable… just testing out who knew what… mostly songs from movies. (Just for clarification, this was not a flirty thing– others were present, and I am no wait-​staff picker-​upper floozy.)
All in all, fantastic night! Beautiful location, wonderful food, and most of all a happy bride & groom to be.