Downtown Minneapolis has many new signs of vitality

Employment, hospitality, entertainment and mass transit usage were up last year in downtown Minneapolis.

The commercial real estate market absorbed the equivalent of nearly four Target stores full of space, and vacancy rates started to decline.

Crime and homelessness also were down as business rebounded and the arts-and-entertainment industries surged.

Those are the headlines from the Downtown Council's annual meeting last week.

The state of Minnesota's biggest commercial and entertainment hub is improving with the economy, said council CEO Sam Grabarski, who bases the council's annual report on statistics and anecdotal findings provided by businesses and government agencies.

But don't be surprised if former Gov. Jesse Ventura, host of a conspiracy-theory TV show, alleges that this fall's Metrodome roof collapse was rigged by sports and corporate interests in pursuit of a new Vikings stadium, Grabarski quipped.

On a more serious note, outgoing Downtown Council Chairman Tim O'Connor, an insurance executive at Hays Cos., and Elliot Jaffee, the incoming chairman who oversees U.S. Bank's Twin Cities operations, highlighted the community collaborations that have distinguished downtown as a safer and more humane place over the last year.

"We need to solve homelessness on the front end," Jaffee said.

O'Connor saluted Cathy ten Brooke, a tireless worker who is the Hennepin County end-homelessness director and business liaison.

Meanwhile, the Minneapolis Police and Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, in cooperation with eagle-eye merchants, targeted the 100 biggest chronic street criminals in the central business district, which resulted in a 77 percent reduction in downtown crime by these guys. Some of them are now sober and employed.

The Downtown Improvement District (DID), a business-funded effort that puts specially trained liaisons in bright jackets on the streets to assist pedestrians and report suspicious activity, is a big part of the solution. DID employees also tidy up sidewalks and plant trees and flowers.

Crime and homelessness are bad for business. These business folks are to be commended for their work with nonprofits and government. Among the interesting 2010 achievements:

There are 12 employers with 1,000 or more workers, including TCF Bank, Macy's and fast-growing Capella Education, which added nearly 100 jobs.

• The downtown office market filled an additional 392,134 square feet, thanks partly to expansion of Capella and the relocation from the suburbs of accountants Eide Bailly and medical information firm VisionShare.

However, the vacancy rate remains at 10.8 percent for top-priced space, 25 percent for Class B space and 25.7 percent for Class C space. That said, with a better economic outlook, there is speculation that a major office tower may spring up in 2012.

• The nearly $50 million renovation of the Shubert Theater into the Cowles Center for Dance & the Performing Arts will open this fall and fills a longtime hole on Hennepin Avenue's entertainment district.

• A block to the south, veteran local developer Bob Lux of Alatus has promised a multimillion-dollar overhaul of Block E, the suburban-mall style development that he acquired for an unspecified amount. It opened in 2002 at a cost approaching $165 million, including about $40 million in public land and tax subsidy.

• Mayor R.T. Rybak and the Minnesota Timberwolves have announced a $150 million overhaul of 21-year-old Target Center, which is the 28th most popular arena in the world, according to Pollstar, which tracks ticket sales.

• The Orpheum Theater rose from No. 38 to No. 14 in 2010 among the 100 most popular live-performance theaters in the world, as the State Theater fell from No. 78 to 98, according to Pollstar.

• The number of hotel room nights booked rose 14 percent to 1,691,997 in 2010 and occupancy rose nearly 12 percent, after a 12 percent decline in 2009.