Restaurants, coffee shops, businesses, etc. in North Minneapolis (Windom, Jordan: renting, crime rate)

[midwestern yogi]

My boyfriend and I have been living in the Windom Park neighborhood of NE Minneapolis for the last three years and have truly enjoyed our time here. We love being within walking distance of the East Side Co-Op, our favorite Thai restaurant, and numerous coffee and locally owned shops. Not to mention, we are excited about the explosion of tap rooms and micro breweries in the area!

This summer we intend to purchase our first home. Of course we would love to stay in NE, but our price range and the way the market is moving is not necessarily in our favor. We don't need a lot of space or fancy amenities, but I definitely need a home with some character! My boyfriend and I both grew up in the south suburbs and do not want a cookie cutter home. We like homes with charm. I've been obsessively searching various homes and neighborhoods for the past few months and realize that neighborhoods within North Minneapolis have a lot of what we want in our first home. I can't get past the amazing woodwork and architecture!

Of course we are familiar with the bad wrap North Minneapolis receives. We aren't naive and do understand that certain areas of North have a higher crime rate than other neighborhoods in Minneapolis. But for us, it's about common sense. The crimes rates within North Minneapolis are something we're considering in our decision to purchase a home in that area, but the purpose of this post has nothing to do with that... Just in case someone wants to inform me on crime rates, please know I've been doing my research.

As I mentioned before, we love being able to walk to and support local businesses in our current NE Minneapolis neighborhood. Ideally we would move to another community that is similar to what we currently have. I haven't spent a lot of time in North Minneapolis, but whenever we've driven/walked through areas we're considering moving to, we don't come across many businesses. Of course we can Google search anything and everything in regards to North Minneapolis businesses, but I'm interested in hearing specifically from people who currently live or have recently lived in North. North is a large area, so to be more specific, we're looking at Victory, Cleveland, Folwell, and Willard-Hay neighborhoods. What restaurants do you love? What coffee shops do you meet friends at? Where can we go out and meet our potential neighbors?

Thanks for your responses!

[jayhopethismeeturstandard]

haha.., wow, what an open ended question. I live in near north and I must say that there are some wonderful areas of North Minneapolis like the Gold Coast and Heritage Park and some other areas that are still rundown, and then there are neighborhoods in transition that are being revitalized. Understand that North Minneapolis has the potential to experience major growth in the coming decades as redevelopment begins to pick up and commercial and residential interests take hold. The new Minneapolis public schools headquarters on West Broadway and Girard Avenue was just built, and they are proposing building. The good thing here is property is very cheap and the area is ripe with families trying to afford their first home. I heard somewhere that north had the highest population growth in city in 2012 or like the highest number of families so who knows whats in store? Restaurant wise I can bring up Victory 44 on 44th and Penn absolutely wonderful you can check them out here Victory 44. Or Olympic Cafe - Minneapolis, MN - W. Broadway Ave - 55411, Or Fast Freddies in the Bryn Mawr Bryn Mawr Pizza & Deli – The Best Pizza in Minneapolis « . There is also a Cub foods on Broadway, Aldis on Penn and Lowry, Popeyes is coming to Broadway and Girard (right across from the new Public School building) whenever they finish taking over KFC. Crime wise it is rare unless you get caught up so just pay attention to your surroundings and find out who your neighbors are.

[bbr1973]

Agree with all the suggestions from the previous post, plus:

Tootie's On Lowry (Lowry & Upton)
Emily's F & M Cafe (44th & Oliver)
Milda's Cafe (Glenwood & Logan)
Avenue Eatery (West Broadway & Emerson)
Good Sports Bar & Grill (West Broadway & N. 2nd St.)
El Burrito Cubano (4729 Lyndale Ave. N.)
Pair of Dice Pizza (West Broadway & Upton)

I've lived in the Homewood area of Willard-Hay for five years, and love it here. If you want a house with character, you'd do well to check out this neck of the woods. It's one of the Northside's best kept secrets.

-Brian

[Mplsite]

I've heard good things about The Lowry, a brunch spot several blocks east of Tootie's (quality place btw) including their sake bloody marys. There's also a bike co-op on Glenwood near Penn which I've been to and it's a nice addition to the area.

The problem with North, which I'd say is worse than the crime overall, is the lack of amenities: there's just not much to go to and what's there is very spread out. Broadway has the densest collection of commercial buildings, but it's also where the highest rate of crime occurs (Jordan and Hawthorne). I can see streets further out like Lowry and Glenwood seeing more destinations like restaurants and coffee shops pop up, but there's not many commercial buildings to begin with either occupied or vacant from what I've found. I think if the proposed greenway is a "go" then that will help bolster enough interest for entrepreneurs to seriously look into opening some worthwhile businesses in the safer spots of North nearby. Even better if you guys can open a unique business right there in North for the rest of us to patronize.

Needless to say, North does have a zombie bar and Broadway Pizza is just a couple of blocks away. No other Mpls neighborhood, let alone NYC, Chicago, etc can brag about even having a zombie bar.

[Beenhere4ever]

I'm guessing a lot of businesses don't want the trouble they perceive south of,say,Dowling Ave. Not a lot of customer base, and lots and lots of roaming youth who may make the streets outside look threatening. To me, it just is not a place to buy and think about walking to some local coffee shop. Uptown is like that. The east end of town by the river in South Minneapolis is like that. But North, most of it, is caught in a vicious cycle. Cheap houses that attract those who can't afford more. Single parent families unable to keep track of where the kids are. I think there'd need to be a revolution in parenting values for most of the area to break out. And how such a thing would occur I don't know. The church leaders seem to want it, but maybe the single parents just aren't followers of church leaders.