But Old Town, as Parkin and a growing swath of people call it, isn’t stuck in the past. It is a vital, growing community where residents enjoy a diverse blend of restaurants, bars, shops, entertainment venues, riverside parks, and charming apartment buildings and townhomes that evoke a distinctly European feel.
Officially, the city designates the area as Nicollet Island-East Bank neighborhood—or NIEB, an initialization with all the charm of an obscure government agency. But what’s in a name, anyway? According to Parkin, just about everything.
“Uptown, Downtown, Dinkytown, Tangletown: all these names create a distinct sense of place—a brand,” Parkin explains. “On the simplest level, businesses benefit from attracting visitors who want to experience what the area offers. Deeper than that, it provides a way for residents and businesses to advocate for their interests.”
Originally founded as the town of St. Anthony in 1849, before Minnesota was even a state, the area has undergone many transformations and been known by countless names. Since it was annexed by Minneapolis in 1872, it’s been called the East Bank, RiverPlace, CenHenn, the Polish Riviera, and half a dozen variations on Northeast, including Downtown Northeast, Little Northeast, and the directionally challenged Near Northeast. And for those who those identify neighborhoods by proximity to alcohol, the moniker, “Over by Surdyk’s,” serves as a kind of boozy homing beacon.
Of all these names, Parkin takes greatest umbrage with those pegging the area as Northeast.
“It can be very confusing, especially for Realtors®,” Parkin said. “A lot of them think the Old Town neighborhood is in Northeast and search that way on the MLS. But they will miss it because it’s actually connected within the University community region. It’s further confusing because East Hennepin divides NE and SE street addresses.”
And if Realtors® can’t find it on a map or database, there’s a good chance that prospective homebuyers and business patrons won’t find it either. Recognizing that its obscurity could impede the area’s growth and long-term prosperity, Parkin and a group of like-minded business owners and residents began an ambitious renaming campaign in 2017. They soon launched a website, and newsletter, and published slick collateral aimed at influencing the Nicollet Island-East Bank Neighborhood Association (NIEBNA) and members of its Placemaking Committee. After presenting their best case for officially adopting the Old Town name, NIEBNA voted against the change by a slim one-vote majority.
Ghosts give way to gentry
Although wounded, Parkin took the defeat in stride, recognizing that change takes time in a place with such a long history. He recalled arriving in Old Town in the early 1990s, when the area was emerging from decades of steep urban decline.
“It was pretty desolate, but the bones were still there,” Parkin recalls. “You could see it in the old buildings. It felt like something important had happened here and faded away—but it was still there. It was a quiet, affordable backwater then, and I fell in love with it.”
Affordable living in the heart of Minneapolis soon drew other urban settlers. In the first decade of the 21st century, about 2,000 residents inhabited renovated apartment buildings, condos, and townhomes. Restaurants and other businesses began popping up in abandoned spaces where long-forgotten furniture and clothing stores once thrived. Today, more than 5,000 people live, work, shop, and recreate in Old Town. With growing demand for homes, modern apartment and condo towers began rising above the historic neighborhoods. At the current rate, Parkin estimates Old Town’s population could double over the next decade. That’s why he believes it’s vital for everyone invested in the community, from residents to business owners, to advocate for keeping Old Town’s very human and livable scale intact.
Yet one component of Old Town living that’s already endangered is affordability.
“The vast majority of new apartments being built in the neighborhood follow what's going on in the North Loop and Mill District and other parts of downtown: they’re market rate and they’re expensive,” Parkin observed. “It’s getting harder for someone who works in a restaurant or almost any working-class job to find a home here. Sure, there are still affordable apartments and townhomes, the range goes from entry-level to $3-million-dollar penthouses. But realistically, it’s becoming a fancy, gentrified neighborhood.”
Even with the city’s ambitious 2040 plan—which is currently being challenged—would restructure Minneapolis zoning laws to allow for more multi-family dwellings, finding an affordable home in Old Town will become increasingly challenging. However, Parkin said, there are some hopeful developments.
A new town rises above the old?
200 Central, a new 27-story apartment tower slated to break ground in fall 2023, will include 180 rental units priced to be affordable to those earning 50% to 80% of the area median income. To help meet affordability goals, the city of Minneapolis contributed more than $16 million in tax increment financing. Located near St. Anthony Main and the 3rd Avenue Bridge, the building will include over 3,600 square feet of ground-floor retail space, better connecting it to the existing streetscape and community. Despite these efforts, some residents are protesting the presence of a behemoth tower so close to the village-like setting of Old Town. Yet given growing demand for apartments in the area, building upward may be the only feasible way to accommodate all the new residents. Old Town may be historically down to earth, but its future rises to the sky.
A model for urban revitalization
All this begs the question: how is it that enchanting places like Old Town became so rare? Why wasn’t the entire city built on such a human scale? Of course, once upon a time it was. On the same ground where gleaming skyscrapers shadow streets beneath feet of concrete and iron, elegant brick and stone facades once graced the landscape. In a fit of post-war modernism called the Gateway Project, the city declared much of this 19th-century acreage “blight,” and blasted and bulldozed it to smithereens. Office space trumped residential areas as city dwellers fled to the fresh-cropped lawns of suburbia. Downtown became a ghost town after business hours; a florescent-lit mausoleum where buzzing streetlamps replaced the din of crowds.
Yet today, there are signs of revitalization. In the wake of so many downtown offices closing during the pandemic, new apartment towers are rising, and office buildings are being converted to apartments and condos. A slow trickle of residents is increasing, and developers are banking on many more to follow. But vital ingredients are missing. Although there are some chain cafes and fast-food joints, there are few restaurants, pubs, food markets, or entertainment venues within walking distance of the new residences. Despite increasing population, a desolate vibe prevails. Can an area designed only for business become a thriving community where people live, recreate, and raise families? Perhaps a model for the new Downtown lies across the river in Old Town.
“I think it starts with defining a brand for your community,” said Parkin. “And that’s directly tied to how people experience a place in their daily lives: what they love, what they lack, and even what drives them crazy. All of that becomes part of a vision for creating a place you want to live; a place that will attract other people, too.”
Once a brand is defined, Parkin continued, people need to embrace it and advocate for making it reality. Thirty years ago, Old Town was a forgotten urban backwater. Today, it’s hard pressed to make room for all the people who want to live there. That didn’t happen by accident. Like-minded residents and business owners came together and built the community they wanted.
“The work never ends, of course,” Parkin added. “And we’re just part of a much longer story. But if you stay connected to the roots of a place, you can help it thrive far into the future.”
This article appears in the November/December edition of The Minnesota Realtor® Magazine. To read in our digital magazine, click here.