Wanna own a skyway? Too late! It's going to be a lakeside home in Brainerd

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An out-of-commission skyway from Minneapolis has a new home – and will be a new home for a family in Brainerd.

After nearly 10 years under its ownership, architecture firm CityDesk Studio has confirmed that a winner has been selected from numerous proposals for the 84-foot long, 280,000-pound structure that used to span South 5th Street.

The winners are Aimee and Preston Jobe, who with the help of CityDesk will move the skyway to their lakeside property in Brainerd where it will be transformed into their family home.

So how did they beat off competition for the structure?

"They got in contact early on after we issued the appeal for proposals, almost immediately," CityDesk's Ben Awes told BringMeTheNews. "They had done their done their research and had a good idea of what it would take to do."

"Their proposal was something we had been thinking of for some time," he added, "and they wanted us to stay involved in the project which wasn't a requirement, but we have had the skyway for over nine years and it was our dream to see it saved so it's good that we can be involved in its next iteration."

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The Jobes own a lakeside plot that features a lot of wetland, and Awes says the skyway will be elevated so it does not have too much of an impact on the land.

Although plans are still being drawn up, he says that there will be an extension added to the structure, and that when completed it is likely to have three or four bedrooms.

Although the skyway has in previous years been for sale for $79,500 and $49,500, in the end CityDesk have passed it on for nothing, and are even contributing $5,000 to help with the moving costs.

Aimee Jobes, a wedding photographer in Brainerd, has been sharing her family's delight about securing the skyway on Instagram, saying on one posting: "To say I am excited to head to the cities tomorrow to check the progress on the skyway is a huge understatement.

"Demo of the 100,000+ pound concrete floor has started, we just received our architectural proposal (ahhhh...awesome plans), contractors are being lined up and progress made on land placement. Ahhh...yeah EXCITED!"

Before the lake house – an art installation

The skyway is currently located on a parcel of storage land owned by the City of Minneapolis near to TCF Bank Stadium, and members of the public will get the chance to have a look at it before it moves to Brainerd.

The Star Tribune reports that it will be turned into a temporary art installation by Vancouver-based design studio Dream the Combine.

According to the group, the installation, entitled "Longing" will be open to the public from April 18 to early May.

"We propose to reestablish this fragment within a network of its own making using gimballed mirrors placed at either end," Dream the Combine's website says. "This creates a visually recursive environment within the skyway, bridging toward distant horizons."