"Everybody's going Uptown. That's where I wanna be."
So says the website of Meet Minneapolis, the city's convention and visitors association, citing a song lyric. It continues:
"Made famous in Prince's song 'Uptown,' the area surrounding Hennepin and Lake Street in Minneapolis is a youthful fusion of global cuisine, local retail, and lively nightlife with nature rooted just beyond the bustling main intersection."
That indeed has been the perception for a few generations now. But — if you'll forgive an easy play on words — things are looking down in Uptown. Major retailers began bugging out a few years ago, and the pandemic has swatted at the stragglers. Anchor restaurants have closed. The familiar shopping complex that sparked an earlier renaissance is being reinvented yet again, and a name change has been squared away.
As in other parts of Minneapolis, public safety has become a concern.
Meanwhile, a streetscaping project meant to promote walking, biking and bus-riding paradoxically made the area less inviting, replacing the shabby-chic feel of a key block with a flinty appearance, an evolution in keeping with Minneapolis' incorrigible tendency of whiteboarding the colorful etchings of its past. The changes also did away with some street parking, which, as you'll see in a moment, still matters.
Why should this commercial district be of special concern in a city roiling with needs, including an equitable reconstruction after the summer's riots? The previously mentioned cultural cachet is one reason. Another is that Uptown has been a regional destination, with relatively easy access to its amenities for those coming from afar. That should continue to be the case despite the buildout of residential units in the area in recent years and notions that catering primarily to those residents may be the best path forward.
In an article in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, Denny Magers, owner of the Magers & Quinn bookstore, explained that two-thirds of his customers drive there. "I need to draw from a bigger trade area than a circle around the store," he said, yet he's competing with suburban stores that have free parking.