MINNEAPOLIS — By almost every metric, downtown Minneapolis continues to gain strength heading into the winter, although there's still a lot of progress left to be made.
According to the latest statistics shared by the Minneapolis Downtown Council, building occupancy rates in downtown's largest buildings have climbed to nearly 59 percent -- a 20-percent increase compared to last year. Other encouraging signs this fall include higher levels of hotel occupancies (64.8 percent), seated diners at restaurants (54.9 percent) and light rail ridership (41.3 percent).
To an extent, the workforce has also returned to downtown Minneapolis, although many companies still offer remote options or hybrid schedules that bring workers to the office only a few days a week.
Ted Farrell, the president of Haskell's Wine and Spirits, said his downtown location a block from Nicollet Mall has not bounced back as quickly as other locations in the metro.
"This store is dependent on the business environment. It's dependent on law firms, people downtown, people in skyscrapers, and they're not completely full yet," Farrell said. "So, we're still struggling with this store."
However, the downtown housing market remains hot, even if tamed somewhat by the recent increase in mortgage rates.
"Things are a lot better downtown than they were two years ago," real estate agency Cynthia Froid said while attending the Mill City Farmers Market on Saturday morning. "People are feeling a lot more confident in values downtown."
Patrick Patino, an attorney who moved with his family from Nebraska to the Twin Cities during the pandemic, said he was lured here by the promise of a vibrant downtown. While they live in Plymouth, Patino's family does visit downtown often, including for the farmers market on Saturday.
"With recovery, it takes a long time. You can see -- there's a lot of people down here right now," Patino said. "I think there's only one way, and it's got to be forward."
Watch more local news:
Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities in our YouTube playlist: