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North Loop, Minneapolis

14K views 31 replies 21 participants last post by  Jaybird 
#1 ·
Since gas is starting to get expensive, I thought it might be a good idea to stay home and get some shots of my own city.

Today I spent the afternoon wandering the North Loop, a mostly residential district directly northwest of downtown Minneapolis. The North Loop has an unusual mix of both historic and modern architecture, which reflects the once almost exclusively industrial nature of the neighborhood.

As early as ten years ago, most of this area was filled with abandoned buildings, industrial waste, and block-after-block of parking lots. Massive revitalization efforts and gentrification have transformed it into a beautiful, thriving neighborhood that has become one of the most desirable (and expensive) areas of the city.

North Loop, Minneapolis

April 7, 2012







































































































 
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#7 ·
Thanks everyone for the nice comments!



And we're about a month ahead of schedule. :) Normally at this time of the year, tree buds are only just beginning to swell, and the grass is still brown. This has been a strange weather year so far, to say the least.
 
#21 ·
Thanks! If you'll look closely, you'll notice that there are young trees throughout the neighborhood, but they're hard to see because they haven't leafed out yet since it's still early spring here. This is a relatively new residential area (in what used to be a purely industrial part of the city), so trees haven't had time to mature.

Also, this is a historic district, and the city of Minneapolis has regulations on where trees can be planted. Some streets/areas are to remain free of trees to maintain the industrial character of the neighborhood.
 
#25 ·
They're actually "Nice Ride" bikes, which is a bike rental organization that operates in the Twin Cities only. There are stations all over Minneapolis and St. Paul, so they're quite convenient. I've seen lots of people taking advantage of them this spring.

Over the last decade or so, the Twin Cities (and Minneapolis particularly) have been heavily focusing their efforts to push bicycle transit, and bicycle lanes have been installed on most key streets. If you ever get the chance to visit, a bike ride around the Grand Rounds is probably one of the coolest ways to see the city of Minneapolis. :)
 
#26 ·
Lately, I've been wondering why people call this area the North Loop.

I think Chicago calls their downtown area The Loop because of the train lines looping around downtown. Minneapolis doesn't have any train lines and nothing else seems to loop around downtown.

Do people just think any downtown is a loop or is there some other reason?
 
#28 ·
I've always thought (and I might be the only one) that the Warehouse District is pretty much everything from Hennepin to 3rd Avenue North, and that the North Loop is on the other side of the tracks.

I guess I assumed that the name was because the tracks and 94 create a sort of "crescent" shaped loop around the neighborhood...
 
#29 · (Edited)
Well that's what I thought too at first.


The North Loop neighborhood association appears to use the name interchangeably. From the official page:


The Warehouse District North Loop Neighborhood is located along the Mississippi River, adjacent to the heart of Downtown. The
geographic boundaries of the Neighborhood are the Mississippi River on the east from Plymouth Avenue to Hennepin Avenue,
Interstate 94 on the west from Plymouth Avenue to 1st Avenue North, Plymouth Avenue on the north from Interstate 94 to the
Mississippi River, and 3rd Avenue North on the south from Washington Avenue to 1st Avenue North.
We are also provided with a diagram, which complicates things further:



While part of the Warehouse Historic District is indeed included in North Loop, a rather large chunk of it appears to lie outside the neighborhood boundaries.

Confusing?
 
#32 · (Edited)
Another beautifully preserved warehouse and factory district! This reminds me a lot of Heartside in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which is a very similar type of neighborhood.

Thanks for the tour, Jennifat! Even though it was over a year since it was posted. Forgive me, I'm taking a great interest in the Twin Cities lately and I'm trying to catch up on all the photo threads!
 
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