Moving to MNPLS/ST Paul....working in Minnetonka (Minneapolis, Corcoran: lofts, condominiums)

[kcitti]

What are some of the larger employers in the downtown area?

[Slig]

Originally Posted by kcitti

What are some of the larger employers in the downtown area?

This was taken from the wikipedia entries of Minneapolis and St. Paul:

Five Fortune 500 headquarters are in Minneapolis proper: Target Corporation, U.S. Bancorp, Xcel Energy, Ameriprise Financial, and Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. Fortune 1000 companies in Minneapolis include PepsiAmericas, Valspar and Donaldson Company. Apart from government, the city's largest employers are Target, Wells Fargo, Ameriprise, Star Tribune, U.S. Bancorp, Xcel Energy, IBM, Piper Jaffray, RBC Dain Rauscher, ING Group, and Qwest.

Major corporations headquartered in Saint Paul include Ecolab, a chemical and cleaning product company which was named in 2008 by the Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal as the eighth best place to work in the Twin Cites for companies with 1,000 full-time Minnesota employees, Securian Financial Group Inc., Lawson Software, a business software and support company, and Gander Mountain, a retailer of sporting goods which operates 115 stores in 23 states.

The 3M Company is often cited as one of Saint Paul's companies though it is located in adjacent Maplewood, Minnesota. 3M employs 16,000 people throughout Minnesota. St. Jude Medical, a manufacturer of medical devices, is directly across the municipal border of Saint Paul in Little Canada though the companies address is listed in Saint Paul.

The city is home to the Ford Motor Company's Twin Cities Assembly Plant, which it opened in 1924. Recently slated for closing, Ford now expects the plant to remain open through at least 2011 despite massive corporate losses. The site is located in Highland Park on the Mississippi River adjacent to a company-owned dam, which generates hydroelectric power.

[MplsTodd]

Originally Posted by kcitti

What are some of the larger employers in the downtown area?

Besides what Slig mentioned, downtown Minneapolis also has a huge collection of law firms, advertising firms, accounting firms and architecture firms. I think 10 of the 10 largest law firms in Minnesota are located in DT Mpls.

[Camden Northsider]

Originally Posted by kcitti

Taking the commute time to Minnetonka out of the equation, would you reccomend MPLS or St Paul areas for this type of urban living?

kcitti- although there are a lot of great/ cool areas in St. Paul, I would recommend Minneapolis- Minneapolis in general feels a lot more urban than St. Paul- St. Paul, IMO, has more of a sleepy industrial town-city if that makes sense (albeit that statement doesn't do it a lot of justice- it is a very interesting urban city in its own right, and might even have a little more character than Mpls). A couple of areas that you might like that I am guessing are in your price range would be Dayton's Bluff, West Side, possibly some areas around Midway or Frogtown- although I really am not one to be giving St. Paul advice as my knowledge is very minimal. FYI just about all of the areas mentioned by locals in the st. paul thread you started (Cathedral Hill, Mac-Groveland, etc., etc., etc.) are generally considered some of the most expensive and gentrified areas in St Paul.

Also, putting the commute time back into the equation, the areas in your price range in St. Paul might be a little farther out from Minneapolis, and I disagree with previous statements that living in St. Paul would only minimally increase your commute times- the days where I have meetings in St. Paul at the end of the day, I dread having to get into 94 traffic and crossing the bridge over into Minneapolis (admittedly I'm a little spoiled with my Mpls-Mpls commute and coming from St. Paul isn't that bad, but doing this always feels a little like a double commute). And although you might think you'd be doing somewhat of a reverse commute, 94 in the downtown areas of both cities, which would be one of your few if not only options, gets gridlocked from both directions. I'm not sure if bus commuting is an option for where you'll be working in Minnetonka, but if it is, coming from St. Paul will add a lot of time and likely a lot of transfers as well.

Also- another cool urban neighborhood in Minneapolis that may be within reach for you- Cedar Riverside (adjacent to Seward). Good luck-

[Slig]

Originally Posted by Camden Northsider

Also- another cool urban neighborhood in Minneapolis that may be within reach for you- Cedar Riverside (adjacent to Seward). Good luck-

I would agree that Cedar-Riverside is a cool area but good luck finding a single family home there. You'd be hardpressed to find a condo there either. I'm convinced the area is comprised of nothing but apartments and student housing.

[kcitti]

Camden Northsider - Although I have a job lead in Minnetonka, I am also looking in St Paul.

While I would rather work and live in Minneapolis, based on the job market, this is looking less and less likely.

Basically, I feel like my options may come down to the following:
1) Live in Minneapolis, commute to Minnetonka.
2) Live in Minneapolis, commute to St Paul
3) Live and work in St Paul

I would say that my first priority is living in an urban walkable community, hopefully served by LRT. Since it's not looking like I will be able to walk or take LRT to work on a daily basis in any of the above circumstances, I would like to make my commute time as little as possible without giving up too much in in the way the way I like to live (urban).

Right now I am still trying to find the right job match and will clearly get more in depth as far as neighborhoods go once I hammer down the job location. Until then, I am trying to get a feel for what is out there (neighborhood wise). I've never been to the area so it's hard for me to get an idea.

[Camden Northsider]

Good point Slig- I didn't realize the housing situation was that bleak- Cedar-Riverside Real Estate & Homes for Sale - REALTOR.com.

Kcitti, sometimes it's helpful to "google image" the name of a neighborhood to get a little bit of a feel for it- this isn't always the most reliable and likely will produce a lot of results that are totally unrelated, but sometimes is a good way to get a picture of an area. Google Maps' Streetview is another good tool for this type of thing, and considering that your #1 priority is "urban walkable", your top choices will likely be on there.

The #1 issue I foresee you having is that in Minneapolis (and similarly St. paul to an extent), the most walkable neighborhoods tend to be the most expensive neighborhoods in the city as well- we haven't done the greatest job of spurring economic growth in areas that lack high real estate values. There are some exceptions- I would consider my neighborhood fairly walkable, albeit on a fairly small scale, but it feels far from urban around here. Areas around Lake Street or Franklin Avenue might be your best bet in Minneapolis as far as finding affordable housing options that might be walkable. Powderhorn area, Seward/ Longfellow are pretty nice areas and depending on what intersection you're on, can also be somewhat walkable as well- ask Slig what his thoughts are on this. If you're in Seward, you're adjacent to Cedar Riverside, which I would consider the most "urban" residential neighborhood in the city (with a lot of neat independent restaurants, bars, delis, etc.), but Seward is fairly residential in composition. If you're interested in condo living, you could check out the Whittier neighborhood as well: Whittier Real Estate & Homes for Sale - REALTOR.com.

[miramera]

I think you'd be really happy in Seward. Other thoughts are Hiawatha, Cedar-Riverside, and maybe Nokomis or Minnehaha. In St. Paul, I love the Macalester College area, but housing would probably be out of your price range. If you're interested in renting, the Grand Ave. area East of Snelling Ave. is great, and a very easy commute in downtown St. Paul.

My favorite Seward cafe: http://www.birchwoodcafe.com/

[Slig]

So let's see here, with the limited price range, acceptance to diversity and tolerance to some crime and transitional areas along with a desire to live in a very urban walkable area, except you want a single family home...have you looked at properties in Phillips yet?

[kcitti]

Phillips is probably one of the places i am most interested in so far...but definitely trying to generate other ideas. Not much in the way of single family housing. Like I said, without seeing it first hand, its hard to get an idea of what its like.