Nicollet Island, East Bank and Marcy Holmes

It wasn’t that long ago that long-time East Bank wine shop Surdyk’s was nearly the only thing going in this once lonely stretch of downtown. “It was a very depressed area,” acknowledges owner Jim Surdyk. But within the last five years, retail and residential developments have bloomed around his business, from tony clothing, baby, and cooking shops to independent restaurants and bars, and the brand-new and long-sought full-service Lunds grocery store on Central and University.

Surdyk credits the condo boom with injecting new life into his neighborhood. No fewer than eight new developments have either come online or are planned, bringing in a potential 1,667 new units of housing. “I’m very excited about all the people who want to live in urban dwellings in downtown Minneapolis,” he says. “You see this kind of movement in cities like New York and Chicago, too, and it’s going to make Minneapolis that much stronger.”

Despite the condo boom, the Nicollet Island, East Bank, and Mary Holmes neighborhoods are still among the most underdeveloped, says Diane Hofstede, the area’s City Council member for Ward 3. Yet their proximity to the Mississippi, the rest of downtown, and the University of Minnesota make it critical to balance many competing needs to get development right.

“The area is an extension of the Convention Center and the downtown entertainment district,” Hofstede says. “At the same time, use of the river is another piece.” It will be a big job to encourage the right mix of business, residential and homeownership, and retail opportunities, balanced against the need for sustainable and environmentally sound development, she says. “There’s a lot of potential.”

Among the new and up-and-coming neighborhood developments:

Lunds and Cobalt Condominiums
On the ground floor of the new ninety-three–unit Cobalt Condominiums at 45 University Avenue SE is a 26,000-square-foot Lunds (see sidebar below), which residents expect and hope will draw even more needed neighborhood services. “For the last twenty years, downtown has wanted a grocery store, and now we’ve finally got one because of this critical mass of people,” says Tom Hoch, president of the Hennepin Theatre Trust and an active member of the Downtown Minneapolis Neighborhood Association. “It’s terrific to have this in my neighborhood.”

East Bank Mills
By far the development that will have the biggest neighborhood impact is the redevelopment of the historic Pillsbury A Mill (built in the late 1800s) and the area surrounding it. Set along an industrial portion of the river between Main and 2nd Streets, the East Bank Mills project will add 900 condominiums and 85,000 square feet of office, retail, and restaurant space to the Marcy Holmes neighborhood in an eleven-building plan that spans nearly eight acres and will convert neighboring mill, grain elevator, warehouse, and machine shop space, as well as add several new buildings.

“It will retain the historic flavor, add additional housing, and I think it will have some lovely views of the river and falls area,” Hofstede says. A private street running through the site will provide access to a vine-covered parking ramp, which may also contain small shops. Main Street will house restaurants, coffee shops, retail stores, and outdoor cafes. Construction is scheduled to begin this spring. 

Flour Sack Flats
Construction on fifty-nine condo units at Flour Sack Flats at 521 SE 2nd Street, next door to the East Bank Mills development, is scheduled for completion in spring 2007.

The Soap Factory
This unheated art gallery next door to the old Pillsbury A Mill has started a $3 million fundraising campaign to update its space, in preparation for the new housing developments soon anticipated to surround it.

Gopher Stadium
Bringing University of Minnesota football back to campus in its own stadium will have a marked impact and “has energized the neighborhood,” Hofstede says. Groundbreaking for the new stadium took place last fall at the corner of Oak and Fourth Streets. Construction will start next spring, and the stadium is slated to open in fall 2009.

Hofstede says all of the recent and ongoing development in the Nicollet Island, East Bank, and Marcy Holmes neighborhoods will refocus attention on the area as a desirable place to live. “More attention is going to be given to this area because of its proximity to downtown,” she says. “We’re close to the commercial corridors that have a lot of potential, and we don’t have quite as high housing costs as some other areas of the city.”  –S.A.

Lunds is here!
There’s something new in the old East Bank neighborhood. Traveling across the Third Avenue Bridge from downtown’s business center, the eye first catches the mod, all-glass Cobalt Condominiums, a striking ten-story, blue-hued counterpoint to the historic brick buildings it surrounds.

But it’s what’s on the ground level of the new development that’s generating the most talk: hometown grocer Lunds’ new 26,000-square-foot market, the long-overdue answer to downtown residents’ nearly decade-long campaign for a neighborhood grocery.

“There has been a need for a full-service grocery store in the downtown Minneapolis area for some time, especially with the revitalization and renovation efforts that have occurred in this part of the city,” says Tres Lund, CEO of Lunds Food Holdings.

The new market-sized store, which opened in November at Central and University Avenues, is smaller than other Lunds and Byerly’s stores but decidedly tailored to its urban clientele. The prepared foods selection is extensive—there’s a soup station, a full-service deli, salad and sushi bars, and a Gourmet Food Fast buffet with a bi-weekly changing menu of ethnic and comfort foods. To streamline the checkout experience, shoppers form one line that feeds to the next available cashier, a technique Lunds staff borrowed from their fact-finding trips to urban grocery stores in the United States and Europe. The new market is also home to a Caribou Coffee, Minneapolis Floral, White Way Cleaners, and PrairieStone Pharmacy.

Many customers arrive by foot or bus, but there’s also an attached parking ramp. Parking is free and a set of escalators—one for people and one for carts—whisks shoppers from the store to their cars on the second level.

The East Bank store is the first of two Lunds planned for downtown over the next year. The other, still in the design stages, will be located in a historic building at 12th Street and Hennepin Avenue in the Loring Park neighborhood.

Lisa Goodman, City Council member for Ward 7 and a Loring Park resident, has been personally lobbying for a grocery store since elected in 1998 and is eagerly awaiting Lunds’ move into the neighborhood. “Downtown,” she says, “becomes much more of a neighborhood when neighborhood-type amenities, like grocery stores, are offered.”  –Rikki Murray

5 Great Spots »Nicollet Island Inn A classic, romantic spot for dinner or a Sunday champagne brunch. Visit the Nicollet Island Pavilion for stunning views of downtown, the Stone Arch Bridge, and the historic Horseshoe Falls. 95 Merriam St., 612-331-1800 »The Times Bar & Café Check out the nightly jazz acts and the  jazz brunch on Sundays, plus three kinds of fondue. 201 Hennepin Ave. E., 612-617-8098 »Terminal Bar It will never win feature-length status in a national magazine, but this little dive bar caters to regulars and rockers alike with its cheap pitchers, popcorn machine, and local musical acts. 409 Hennepin Ave. E., 612-623-4545   »Wilde Roast Cafe Relax for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or late-night dessert at this yummy, yummy café and wine bar featuring a 1900s fireplace and updated Victorian rugs, sofas, and chairs. 518 Hennepin Ave. E., 612-331-4544 »Restaurant Alma Restaurant Alma puts a gourmet spin on locally grown and raised organic produce, cheeses, and meats, giving northeast Minneapolis a hip dress-up-and-dine destination. 528 University Ave. SE, 612-379-4909