what's your feeling about downtown Minneapolis? (St. Paul, Marshall: apartments, hotels, neighborhood)

[newcomermandy]

I chatted with some friend about searching for an apartment in downtown or uptown Minneapolis. and they all responded like-oh,there's just nothing in downtown. Is that true? what's your opinion about downtown Minneapolis? culture, ethnic foods, shopping, nightlife yet not late-nightlife...

[Clifford63]

Here is your main difference. Downtown is hopping and swinging during business hours, and the maybe till 8:00 p.m. you have people stopping for a drink on the way home. After that you get the crowd coming in for the bars and some people still go to twolves games I guess. Generally a very young meetmarket crowd. Lot of the bars are packed like sardine cans.

Uptown is lazy in the morning, and gets rolling around 10:30 or so. It has more variety of foods from lowend to high end, grocery store which downtown does not, and pretty decent selection of shops. You have some bars that are trendy in uptown too, but quite a few hole in the wall places where you see a bit of everything.

Downtown is more expensive for sure. For me it would be uptown in a second if I had to pick. Oddly, uptown is easier to get around in on foot. Stuff is closer together where stuff downtown can be quite a distance apart. Like Britts and Grumpy's.

[ZenArcade]

Anyone who thinks there's nothing in downtown Minneapolis probably hasn't spent very much time there.

Also, I can't seem to find the actual stats right now for some reason, but compared to a lot of other cities its size, MPLS has a very large popualtion of people who actually live in its downtown. I guess There must be SOMETHING keeping them there.

[MplsTodd]

I work in downtown Mpls and consider it to be a great place to be. I also wonder what your friends would mean when they say there's nothing downtown. There are about 33,000 people living in downtown (basically the area bounded by the I-35W/I-94 loop plus the St Anthony Falls/Riverplace neighborhood on the east bank of the river), plus about 150,000 working there. There's scores of restaurants & bars, many theaters (from the Guthrie on the river to the Pantages/State/Orpheum/Illusion on Hennepin), a few museums (Mill City, The Walker if you stretch the boundary a bit), Music Venues (First Ave/Fine Line), Retail (the flagship Macy's, Target, Niemans, Gap, Barnes & Noble, Marshalls...), the new Central Library, St Anthony Falls, the Stone Arch Bridge, Metrodome, Target Ctr, the new Twins Stadium, Acme Comedy Club... lots of interesting hotels (The W, the Chambers, Bank lobby at the Westin). I could continue...

I agree about the lack of a grocery store downtown, but there is Lunds just across the river, plus Target has a huge grocery section and its open until 10PM.
I also agree that downtown is spread out--including Pings/Market BBQ on South Nicollet to the ACME Comedy Club to Bandbox (at 10th & Chicago) to Spill The Wine on Washington & 11th, but anyone who says there's nothing in DT either has never been downtown or is a Manhattan snob.

[Miley Cyrus]

I often just find myself wandering the skyways around Nicollet, the IDS tower and Gavidae Commons. Not too exciting to most, I know, but it's a good way to kill time and get some extremely Americanized Chinese food at Leean Chin.

[fashionguy]

In my humble opinion, downtown has some of the finest restaurants in Twin Cities, like Cosmos, Oceanaire, 112 Eatery and a few Japanese ones. All of them are worth a try, but on the more expensive side. Retail is poor though. Nicollet Mall has very few stores and is constantly declining except that the Macy's there is nice. Neiman Marcus is supposed to be luxury but it is just too small and poorly laid out to be anything spectacular. The only brand-name stores are GAP, Banana Republic, Ann Taylor, Brooks Brothers, Cole Haan and one or two more. I am not using "etc." because it would give you the wrong idea that there are a lot more. There are't!! These are pretty much all of them and only Brooks Brothers is uniquely downtown. Also they close early everyday and most of them are closed on Sundays. A 2-story Target is on the mall though for you to grab a few things you need right away so I consider that as a plus. Opheum theater is also downtown. There are broadway shows five or six times a year, mostly during summer. "Rent" is coming soon for example. Target Center, Metro Dome and the future Target field are also downtown so living there avoids parking headaches if you want to watch games. There is one movie theater, Kerasotes, not one of the best here though, no 3D I believe.

I guess if you work downtown, it is a good place to live. Otherwise I don't see lifestyle a lot different just by living downtown in Minneapolis. Not a lot of things are within walking distance. You still have to go out to the suburbs (grocery, shopping mall) to buy most of the stuff you need if you don't want to sacrifice your living standard. To say there is nothing in downtown is not correct, but most of the daily or weekly needed stuff are not the best in neither quality nor price in downtown. (For example, I would consider living near southdale/rosedale more convenient. You have a reasonably sized shopping mall (more choices/bargins than Nicollet Mall), a good AMC movie theater (with 3D and better sound system), large grocery stores (usually larger and less expensive than Lunds and Lunds is not quite within walking distance from the core of downtown. The new downtown Lunds is yet to come and God knows when.), and a few OK but less expensive restaurants both inside the mall and outside. They are not perfect and I am not recommending living there but at least they prove downtown is not very special except for the showy skyscrapers. Most of the stuff uniquely provided by downtown are not constantly available (games, shows) therefore going there once a while will do. If downtown cannot provide the "everything within walking distance" life style, I for one don't see a reason to live there. If you still have to drive out often, why not live in a nice quiet suburb with less expensive housing. I can easily see myself living in downtowns of SF, Boston and Portland, even San Diego, but not LA, Dallas, Atlanta or Minneapolis/St. Paul.

[DaPerpKazoo]

You are incorrect in saying that downtown doesn't have a full sized movie theater- block e has a thirteen screen one.

Also, between downtown, northeast, uptown, and Whittier, there's really no reason to go shopping in the suburbs. If you must, hop on the LRT and be at the MOA in 25 mins.

[skylarkmn]

It's not my personal style to love living Downtown or in Uptown (I live here now), but I can definitely say they're fun places to visit. I'm not a clubber or bar-hopper, but I can definitely call myself a lover of food and recreation. Here are some great places in both locations.

UPTOWN: This place doesn't seem to go to 'sleep' as early as other locations. Its got the busy-ness of downtown but the people are a less little hurried if that makes sense. Many of the restaurants are also bars which pushes their closing times to be later than other restaurants. There's Barbette's, Amore Victoria, Stella's Fish Cafe (this place gets rave reviews,) Zeno (dessert/coffee/martini bar), Chino Latino's (tons of different foods and things...its my favorite in Uptown), and so much more. There are also less expensive restaurants too like A Slice of New York (awesome pizza-great small shop), Old Chicago, Leann Chinns, Chipotles, etc.

Then, Uptown has the lakes: Calhoun, Lake of the Isles, and Lake Harriet. These are all beautiful and there's lots of space to run/walk/jog, tennis courts, sailing, etc. etc. Its a great place to be around in the summer and fall. The people of Uptown are a mixed bunch. There are young singles, families with children, artists (very artsy neighborhood), etc. etc. That's a lot of fun. Its not hard to find someone new and interesting to talk to.

Downtown: I would never live here but my best friend and her husband live there and LOVE it. They live in the warehouse district which has a lot of cool apartments to offer (its over my budget for sure, but anything in downtown is). I have found it kind of hard to do anything at night downtown though. If you're not into bars, its hard to do anything past the close of restaurants and a lot seems to close earlier vs. later. But I do know some great restarants and stuff to go to.

Zelo (best Italian ever,) The Local (amazing Irish pub...great atmosphere, awesome food), the Shouthouse (a bar with dueling pianos...good fun) on Block-E, Buca di Beppo's (a good filling time for all-Italian), The Old Spaghetti Factory, and tons more I've wanted to try but haven't gotten to. Things are on the expensive side for downtown, but its the price you literally pay for spending time there. Then, in the winter there's the Depot for ice skating, very fun. There's a lot of stuff to explore for sure and it has it's charms. There are quite a few free things to go to as well, which my best friend has found, and that's always fun.

So...summary: if you like downtown living, it's not going to be as exciting as it would be in some place like New York or LA, but it can be quite charming. There are lot of things to explore and a lot of little hidden charms (as well as the obvious ones) throughout Minneapolis/St. Paul and the surrounding suburbs. Don't move to downtown St. Paul though if you want a nightlife. It hasn't one. I happen to like it, but its very different from Minneapolis.

Good luck!

[uptown_urbanist]

Originally Posted by fashionguy

You still have to go out to the suburbs (grocery, shopping mall) to buy most of the stuff you need if you don't want to sacrifice your living standard.

It all depends on what you think of as your "living standard," I guess. There's certainly plenty of options - including food (I personally HATE airplane-hanger size huge grocery stores) - within walking or at least close bus proximity to downtown. Some areas are more interesting than others, and offer more convenient daily life essentials, but there's no need to ever head to the mall unless you want to. And like DaPerpKazoo points out, it's an easy quick LRT ride to MOA if you do need a mall fix.

I agree that I think Uptown is more livable around-the-clock, at least for now. You could also go for something more in-between and try a neighborhood like Whittier. Or head to the other side of the Stone Arch Bridge and go with Marcy-Holmes or Northeast.

[fashionguy]

"There is one movie theater, Kerasotes, not one of the best here though, no 3D I believe."

Please read carefully. I admit I don't explain things so well though.

Originally Posted by DaPerpKazoo

You are incorrect in saying that downtown doesn't have a full sized movie theater- block e has a thirteen screen one.

Also, between downtown, northeast, uptown, and Whittier, there's really no reason to go shopping in the suburbs. If you must, hop on the LRT and be at the MOA in 25 mins.