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.