The Hennepin County Government Center address is 300 South Sixth Street . The North Plaza is on the north block of that address. It was installed in 1974 when the Government Center was first constructed as part of the original design. The total plaza square footage is approximately 82,000 sf. With the exception of the ramps going into and out of the garage (which is on the 2nd - 4th floors below the plaza), the entire plaza and surrounding sidewalks are over interior useable space (not parking). The actual green area - trees, shrubs, green - is approximately 11,000 sf. The plantings include grass (don't know what kind), hostas (again, don't know what kind), crabapple trees, and locust trees. We also do some annual bedding plants, typically petunias. The trees are in raised planters with 2' - 3' of growing medium. The grass is on 6" - 12" of medium. I don't believe our "medium" is anything close to what one would spec today. The area is fully accessible to the public. I don't have the original description of the project but it is intended to be a significant public open space, both as a place to meet for informal time and for public gatherings. I don't have any information offhand as to the designers used other than that the original architect for the Government Center was John Carl Warnecke. I also don't know who the installers were. What I don't know would be in archives and I'm not sure how accessible that information is right now.
