This structure is the University of Minnesota Southeast Steam Plant. It is used genreate steam that is used to heat most of the buildings on the Minneapolis campus. While this structure is built right on the river, it is not a hydro power plant. It was hoped that this building would be removed when it became obsolete in the 1980s. Instead, the University invested millions to rebuild the plant. This rules out using much of the east bank of the river for parkland.

Fans of the rock band Pink Floyd think of the album Animals when they see this building. While this bulding resembles the powerplant on the cover of Animals, that power plant is the Battersea Power Station on the River Thames.

The photo above is a summer view of the Southeast Steam Plant as seen from the Infinite Bridge at the Guthrie Theater on the south bank of the Mississippi River. The bridge pier in the river channel is from the Lower Bridge, a bridge that was demolished 1943.

These two photos are views of the Southeast Steam Plant as seen from the same location on the Stone Arch Bridge. The photo above is a view from the fall of 2008, while the photo below is a view from the winter of 2009.