Article about big companies relocating back to cities from the suburbs (Minneapolis: homes, living in)

[xandrex]

Originally Posted by ocsid

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.

Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks, of course, but I've never found downtown to be a prison. My internship this last summer was great to have downtown. I was in an office environment, so on lunch breaks, it was great to be able to run to places on the skyway. Tons of different food choices, a bustling feeling that helped break up the monotony of the cubicle, and lots of services. Our group of interns wandered nearly every day from US Bank Plaza over to Target just to stretch our legs and pick up things we needed later in the day after work was done. It was great.

Of course, I also worked at the Northeast Target, which allowed me to drive, which was especially convenient since I was living in the Como neighborhood. It meant a less than ten minute drive. But it's much more isolating because you can't really leave during a break...there just isn't as much around there. I didn't mind it, and it was nice to be out of downtown on some days, but downtown is definitely my preference.

[Minnesota Spring]

I would much rather just take the light rail downtown if that was an option. The thing is that most people that work in the suburbs don't have short commutes, they tend to drive from one suburb to another. I like the fact that Downtown is easily accessible by all mass transit options now, your within walking distance of many restaurants, you can stop at a store on Nicollet Mall after work if need be and instead of sitting for an hour in traffic you can just get on the train or bus and read and relax on your way home. I don't understand why people put up with the long commutes in the car. Not for me.

[uptown_urbanist]

US Bank VIPs are mostly downtown, NOT out in Bloomington! And USBank's presence is definitely bigger downtown than in Bloomington. They still have some Bloomington presence (as well as offices in other parts of the metro area, and didn't they recently move a bunch of St. Paul employees to Richfield?), but it's a major stretch to in any way suggest that the downtown buildings are somehow a satellite to Bloomington.

Also for what it's worth, on the topic of "cost" for employees -- many of the larger employers offer subsidized bus passes (and most local suburbs around here have express buses to DT) so for anyone willing to ride public transportation (which for some of those commuter buses is both fast and fairly plush) the costs are small.

Most of the people I know, even those who live in the suburbs, prefer to work downtown because they're (a) less likely to be stuck in an office park somewhere, and (b) it offers a convenient central location with good transit options. Now if you were lucky enough to have a home located next to your job in the 'burbs, then I suppose it would be different. Many people don't, though, as seen in the average commute times to work across the metro area.

As far as errands go, the downtown Target has been very useful on that front.

[Minnesota Spring]

Originally Posted by Globe199

I remember seeing on a Minneapolis wall calendar back in 1999 that approximately 160,000 people worked downtown (and I don't know how old that figure was at the time). From what people are saying here and elsewhere, that number has not grown since then, and may even have declined. Obviously that's bad news for downtown. It would take an act of god to reverse that trend.

I guess that can be attributed to the downturn in the economy as I'm sure many cities in America have seen their downtown workforce decline slightly since the booming 90's. But since the 90's in Mpls. they have building the new Target HQ's, US Bancorp HQ's and Ameriprise Offices so I would be surprised if it declined that much. I think business have more of an incentive to come downtown now with all the new condo development attracting young professionals and the expanding light rail system.

If we can't keep a vibrant Downtown and loose everything to the suburbs the Twin Cities might as well just become another Detroit with a dead city and endless suburbs, nothing significant, nothing to distinguish it from any other metro. Pretty depressing to think about.

[1stpontiac]

Originally Posted by uptown_urbanist

US Bank VIPs are mostly downtown, NOT out in Bloomington! And USBank's presence is definitely bigger downtown than in Bloomington. They still have some Bloomington presence (as well as offices in other parts of the metro area, and didn't they recently move a bunch of St. Paul employees to Richfield?), but it's a major stretch to in any way suggest that the downtown buildings are somehow a satellite to Bloomington.

Also for what it's worth, on the topic of "cost" for employees -- many of the larger employers offer subsidized bus passes (and most local suburbs around here have express buses to DT) so for anyone willing to ride public transportation (which for some of those commuter buses is both fast and fairly plush) the costs are small.

Most of the people I know, even those who live in the suburbs, prefer to work downtown because they're (a) less likely to be stuck in an office park somewhere, and (b) it offers a convenient central location with good transit options. Now if you were lucky enough to have a home located next to your job in the 'burbs, then I suppose it would be different. Many people don't, though, as seen in the average commute times to work across the metro area.

As far as errands go, the downtown Target has been very useful on that front.

I think that's the key. I live up in the far North suburbs, very close to where my wife works. If my next job is in, say, Blaine, then that will all be great. But if my next job is in Bloomington, or Inver Grove Heights, then that will be very annoying. At least going downtown, there are fairly reasonable public transit options from most of the metro.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by 1stpontiac

I think that's the key. I live up in the far North suburbs, very close to where my wife works. If my next job is in, say, Blaine, then that will all be great. But if my next job is in Bloomington, or Inver Grove Heights, then that will be very annoying. At least going downtown, there are fairly reasonable public transit options from most of the metro.

Except that if you live in Minneapolis and don't drive and your company moves to say Maple Grove, you are kind of out of luck too. I'd rather take the chance of my company moving from say Eagan to Maple Grove and have access to a car then get stuck anywhere without one.

[west336]

In that case you could just get a car....which is easier than moving if the company moves.

[uptown_urbanist]

Originally Posted by golfgal

Except that if you live in Minneapolis and don't drive and your company moves to say Maple Grove, you are kind of out of luck too. I'd rather take the chance of my company moving from say Eagan to Maple Grove and have access to a car then get stuck anywhere without one.

Wouldn't the easy solution simply be to get a car, then? And at least if you lived in Minneapolis and your company relocated to either Eagan or Maple Grove, your home location would still be fairly central, even if your workplace wasn't. You wouldn't suddenly be stuck making a long cross-metro commute from Eagan to Maple Grove. Either way, the worst-case scenario for me, anyway, would be having to deal with a long commute from one side of the metro area to the other. The people living and working in Eagan and suddenly forced to schlep across town to Maple Grove would have it worse, at least from the commuting standpoint.

It's not as though living in Minneapolis means that you don't have access to a car. Most people in Minneapolis own cars. Some people prefer not to own cars (and obviously some people can't afford them or can't drive for health reasons, but presumably you're talking about people who have choices here), but that doesn't mean that they can't go out and buy one if they suddenly require one for work. Or, in times when the economy is stronger, won't just find a better job located in a more desirable location.

[xandrex]

Originally Posted by golfgal

Except that if you live in Minneapolis and don't drive and your company moves to say Maple Grove, you are kind of out of luck too. I'd rather take the chance of my company moving from say Eagan to Maple Grove and have access to a car then get stuck anywhere without one.

As others have pointed out, this follows the assumption that living in Minneapolis (and, I presume from what we have been previously talking about, commuting to downtown via public transit) means life without a car. Quite to the contrary. I have a car and a lovely U-Pass. I can drive to places where it's more convenient (Target trips, going to the suburbs for certain restaurants or stores, or getting to residential areas of Minneapolis, for instance) and I can also take public transportation. That means my internship downtown didn't require me to drive...I used my U-Pass. When the weather gets miserable or I'm feeling lazy, I can hop on the bus and head to my classes at the U...instead of paying ridiculous parking prices.

The world is lovely with options, and so I'm happy that I can live in Minneapolis where driving, taking public transit, biking, and walking are all feasible and reasonable solutions to getting around.

[mkmb]

Originally Posted by golfgal

Except that if you live in Minneapolis and don't drive and your company moves to say Maple Grove, you are kind of out of luck too. I'd rather take the chance of my company moving from say Eagan to Maple Grove and have access to a car then get stuck anywhere without one.

Does Golfgal just assume people in the core cities are too poor to afford cars? How bizarre! Where does she come up with this stuff? Richard Davis, I suppose....