Minneapolis' North Loop Green project aims to evolve downtown space, bring in more visitors

MINNEAPOLIS -- The future of downtown Minneapolis is green.

Construction of the new North Loop Green project began earlier this year. The project aims to make downtown a place where people want to live, work and play as it continues to recover from the pandemic and unrest.

City leaders said there are signs downtown continues to rebound. More than eight million people came downtown for events in 2022. Steve Cramer, president and CEO of the Minneapolis Downtown Council, acknowledges that number is still down from the nine million in 2019, but he said that number continues to improve every year.

Cramer said North Loop Green will help propel the downtown area into the future.

"There are aspects of downtown that simply won't be like it was before and we can either look at that as a negative or a threat or we can understand what those trends are and see them as opportunities to maybe reinvent parts of the downtown experience and again, a project like North Loop Green brings so many of those elements together," said Cramer.

The project is situated next to Target Field with easy access to the Metro Transit Light Rail and bike trail. Project leaders hope to bring together the North Loop neighborhood and the central commercial district with the new build.

The design includes 350 residential units, 100 hospitality units and 15,000 square feet of premiere food and beverage offerings. It will also include a 1-acre green space that will be fit for hosting family friendly year-round events, including outdoor yoga or movie nights and holiday celebrations.

This project also includes 350,000 square feet of what project leaders call "next generation" office space.

Cramer said around 216,000 people are employed in the North Look and commercial core, which has stayed relatively steady, but most of them are continuing the pandemic era routine of working from home.

Cramer said even if more people have gotten used to working remotely, the new office space will be designed to cater to companies with flexible work schedules.

"There will be a remain demand for office space," he said. "It might have shrunk a little bit because companies need less space because they do have remote work policies. There will be demand for office space, but that's mostly going to be for the higher quality buildings so a new building like modern park green can really compete effectively for the demand for office space that will still exist."

The project is expected to be complete in early 2024.