North Loop

More Change on the Way
Residents and business owners are bracing themselves for two big arrivals critical to the neighborhood’s development as a cohesive, self-sufficient urban community: a Whole Foods Market (and the Two Twenty Two luxury condominium tower that will sit atop it), and the new Twins Stadium.

-Whole Foods and Two Twenty Two
Opening in summer 2009, a 73,000- square-foot Whole Foods will occupy almost the entire city block where Washington and Hennepin meet, currently the site of a Jaguar dealership. A significant portion of the store will be devoted to prepared foods, including sushi, meats, and a juice bar. Two entrances will allow for a wine shop to be connected to the grocery store, and a green roof is planned for the third story (on top of Whole Foods) with both public space and a private area for residents to run their dogs, barbecue, lounge in the sun, and possibly play bocce ball.

The 290 residential units will be priced from $300,000 to more than $2 million. Developer Don Milliken isn’t worried about the high price-point or the fact that the condo market has cooled. “Minneapolis is ready for this type of urban mixed-use living,” he says. “It will raise the bar.”

-Twins Stadium and North Loop Village
David Frank, the chair of the North Loop Neighborhood Association, isn’t a baseball fan, but he is excited about the new stadium, opening in spring 2010. That’s in large part because he believes that the team behind the housing and retail project the North Loop Village (formerly Twinsville), primarily Elness Swenson Graham Architects (ESG) and Hines Interests, has a vision for dense, transit-oriented development that is congruent with the North Loop’s plans for safe, pedestrian-friendly growth.

In fact, the expansion of the Hiawatha Light Rail line may have an even bigger impact on foot traffic than the stadium itself. The new station will be located at 5th Avenue North and North 5th Street, right in the heart of the neighborhood. Many residents would like it to be named, appropriately, the North Loop Stop.

-Serious About Greening
Minneapolis Mayor R. T. Rybak would like to initiate the transformation of Washington Avenue into Washington Boulevard, a concept (for now) that unites the University of Minnesota’s Seven Corners neighborhood and West Broadway by improving the pedestrian experience along Washington Avenue. With the help of residents and design professionals, Rybak hopes to create more continuity among distinct urban villages like the Mills District, the area around the Central Library, and the North Loop.

When David Graham, a principal with Minneapolis-based ESG, met with the North Loop Planning and Zoning Committee to discuss the mayor’s vision for the grand boulevard, he liked what he heard. “They want wide sidewalks dotted with trees and good lighting to support the continued growth of small, creative street-level retail like coffee shops and restaurants,” Graham says.

The North Loops knows it’s no longer an industrial corridor. While realizing it’s important to preserve the architectural integrity that attracted everyone to the area in the first place, the emphasis now, in both the mayor’s plan and the neighborhood’s vision for itself, is on creating wider, more accessible sidewalks, more green spaces, and even throwing in a bench or two so residents and North Loop day-trippers can buy a latte or a magazine and stop to take in the city.