Having studied the Twins’ plans for Target Plaza, I think it’s another sign this isn’t going to be another cookie-cutter ballpark. This will be the main gateway to the ballpark from downtown, not to mention an art spectacle, open to the public 24/7.

For inspiration, the Twins used San Diego’s center field knoll at Petco Park and San Francisco’s McCovey Cove. Minneapolis is pretty special, but no one is pretending to have the same scenery at Target Field that Giants fans have overlooking San Francisco Bay.

In fact, when you sit down the right field line at Target Field, the one object that will dominate your view — besides that lush, green playing field — is Parking Lot B. So what did the Twins do? They turned it into a piece of art.

One wall of the parking ramp – 285-feet wide, 60-feet tall — will be this gigantic wind veil, with thousands of aluminum pieces moving, creating an ever-changing image, illuminated with LED lights.

The artist is Ned Kahn, and to understand why the Twins are so excited, you should click on his web site. Twins officials went to Charlotte, N.C., to see a similar piece of Kahn’s work and were mesmerized.

Eventually, the Twins will unveil statues of their legendary players (Harmon, Tony, Carew, etc.)  along Target Plaza. There will be an over-sized cast-bronze glove for additional photo ops. Trees, shrubs and shade.

The cost for the entire plaza — split by the Twins and Target — will be close to $9 million. I told a Twins official they could sign Joe Crede for less than that. Yeah, he said, but this will last about 30 more years.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 12th, 2009 at 11:01 am and is filed under Twins thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.