Article about big companies relocating back to cities from the suburbs (Minneapolis: rent, buy)

[queenswake]

Are the Millennials Driving Downtown Corporate Relocations? - Up Front Blog - Brookings Institution

Unfortunately, I think companies in the Twin Cities will be slower to jump on this bandwagon than many other cities, but it's an encouraging sign of things to come.

[west336]

I wonder what will happen if/when the Millenials (not sure where I fall -- 1981 B-D) have kids.....where will they want to locate THEN? Hopefully at least CLOSER to the core, and a shift back to the city can still make sense.

One thing that's pretty different between Chicago and here is that some of Chicago's "super suburbs" with major corporations are SUPER far away and very hard to get to during rush hour. Hoffman Estates is more like 40 (not 45 miles) miles away from the loop, Schaumburg is 35, Elgin and Aurora are 45, Naperville is 35......and most of the major suburban office districts in Minneapolis-St. Paul are within 10-15 miles of the core.

[xandrex]

I read the New York Times article that is mentioned in what you posted a couple of days ago and was intrigued that businesses are coming back to the city. In my opinion, it's great as have a less spread-out corporate environment can bring more people downtown (hopefully making it livelier) and making transit more efficient.

I know I'm certainly one of the younger generations that is demanding a more urban living and work environment. I'll be graduated by this time next year and the first place I'm looking for jobs are in places that a urban, vibrant, etc. My hope is in Minneapolis as I love this city, but I'm not opposed to going elsewhere.

[MplsTodd]

Originally Posted by queenswake

Are the Millennials Driving Downtown Corporate Relocations? - Up Front Blog - Brookings Institution

Unfortunately, I think companies in the Twin Cities will be slower to jump on this bandwagon than many other cities, but it's an encouraging sign of things to come.

There have been quite a few companies that have relocated to downtown Mpls in the past 5 years or so. A few examples include:

Colle+McVoie (from Bloomington)
Eide Bailley (from Bloomington in fall 2011)
Creative Publishing (from St Paul & Chanhassen)
Softbrands (from Richfield)
DLR (Architecture firm from Eden Prairie)
Fair Isaac Co (FICO) (from Shoreview)
Virchow Krause (from Bloomington)

[flyonpa]

My company is trying to empty floors in NYC (so they can rent them out) in our own'ed building. They are moving the jobs to the burbs, or to telecommuting jobs.

[Globe199]

I don't see it happening here to the degree you may see elsewhere. We don't have a comprehensive transit option like Chicago and New York. The weather here also pushes people to cars because it's so cold for so much of the year. Ergo, you need parking and you need a decent freeway system. Downtown doesn't offer either of those.

Furthermore, urban sprawl in the Twin Cities is limited only by money and appetite for horrendous commutes. There is no natural or geographic barrier to sprawl like Chicago and NYC (and even LA) have. We can just keep sprawling until people are commuting daily from Winnipeg. (To be fair, there is the St Croix River, but politicians are looking for ways around that now, with a $700m+ bridge proposal -- what a waste of money and a complete disaster of public policy).

All these factors and more contribute to the inefficient scenario we have. Combine this with state and local governments that are totally unwilling to move into the 21st century, and the Twin Cities will be left behind whilst competing cities like Denver and Seattle leapfrog us.

[west336]

Originally Posted by Globe199

I don't see it happening here to the degree you may see elsewhere. We don't have a comprehensive transit option like Chicago and New York. The weather here also pushes people to cars because it's so cold for so much of the year. Ergo, you need parking and you need a decent freeway system. Downtown doesn't offer either of those.

Furthermore, urban sprawl in the Twin Cities is limited only by money and appetite for horrendous commutes. There is no natural or geographic barrier to sprawl like Chicago and NYC (and even LA) have. We can just keep sprawling until people are commuting daily from Winnipeg. (To be fair, there is the St Croix River, but politicians are looking for ways around that now, with a $700m+ bridge proposal -- what a waste of money and a complete disaster of public policy).

All these factors and more contribute to the inefficient scenario we have. Combine this with state and local governments that are totally unwilling to move into the 21st century, and the Twin Cities will be left behind whilst competing cities like Denver and Seattle leapfrog us.

That is NOT what is keeping corporations out of downtown! In fact, it's locationally advantageous, if anything.

[laxster]

Originally Posted by MplsTodd

There have been quite a few companies that have relocated to downtown Mpls in the past 5 years or so. A few examples include:

Colle+McVoie (from Bloomington)
Eide Bailley (from Bloomington in fall 2011)
Creative Publishing (from St Paul & Chanhassen)
Softbrands (from Richfield)
DLR (Architecture firm from Eden Prairie)
Fair Isaac Co (FICO) (from Shoreview)
Virchow Krause (from Bloomington)

I know this is months-old, but I wanted to point out that Fair Isaac did NOT relocate to downtown Minneapolis. They still have their office in Shoreview and as far as I know have no plans on moving. They simply opened an additional office downtown.

[MplsTodd]

Originally Posted by laxster

I know this is months-old, but I wanted to point out that Fair Isaac did NOT relocate to downtown Minneapolis. They still have their office in Shoreview and as far as I know have no plans on moving. They simply opened an additional office downtown.

I don't have the means to copy the link but you can google Fair Isaac Moves to downtown Minneapolis and you'll see the articles. They moved in 2004 and have approximately 200 employees on the upper floors of the AT&T Tower at 9th & Marquette. I think they still have offices in Shoreview, but their top execs are in Mpls.

[ocsid]

If you look at the really large companies based here:
Best Buy - moved from Eden Prairie to Richfield a few years ago - not likely to move.
Target - Still downtown, but many jobs are at the massive new campus in Brooklyn Park
Medtronic - just built another new campus in Mounds View
Cargill - left downtown in 1974 for Minnetonka, and just added a second large campus in Hopkins
General Mills - huge campus in Golden Valley
US Bank - still downtown
Wells Fargo - not an official HQ, but many of the jobs are on the old Honeywell campus now in S. Mpls.


I don't really see the trend here.
As someone who works in the suburbs, I've never had a desire to work downtown. Most days I try to run some sort of errand over lunch and that would likely be a major inconvenience if I worked downtown. I want the freedom to leave and come back during the day if I want. Being downtown would feel like a prison to me.