Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board : Minneapolis Park And Recreation Board Approves Purchase Agreement For New Parkland In North Loop N ...

Press release from the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board:

2021-04-08

On April 7 Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) Commissioners approved Resolution 2021-157, which authorizes a purchase agreement to acquire 25,007 square feet of new parkland in North Loop neighborhood.

The land is currently a surface parking lot located on 3rd Street N between 7th and 8th Avenues. The purchase price of $2,101,567 includes property acquisition and development of base park amenities on the site prior to fee title transfer to the MPRB. Current property owner BC Properties is responsible for demolition of the existing parking lot, soil correction, sod placement and irrigation system installation. Park Dedication Fees available within the North Loop neighborhood area provides almost all funding to complete the purchase agreement.

North Loop has never had a neighborhood park and the area is identified as a park gap in The Trust for Public Land’s annual ParkScore metrics, which ranks the park systems of the 100 largest cities in the United States, based on park access and quality. In Minneapolis, 98% of residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park. This new parkland would help fill a gap for some of the 2% of residents who do not live within a 10-minute walk of a park.

The Downtown Service Area Master Plan (DSAMP) was approved in November 2017. It guides development of existing neighborhood parks and potential new parkland in downtown Minneapolis. DSAMP identifies this site as the western anchor of a linear park, called the 8th Avenue Streamscape, that will eventually wind through North Loop and provide a recognizable public connection to regional parkland on Mississippi Riverfront. The MPRB is currently working with several developers to complete this vision:

• The Riverloop Connection, a Board-approved park dedication land-in-lieu agreement, provides public trails between West River Parkway and 8th Avenue.  It was constructed in the fall of 2020 and is open to the public.
• The TractorWorks site, a Board-approved easement agreement, will create an accessible plaza connection funded by MPRB and local philanthropy.
• The Nordic Property will fulfill park dedication requirements by providing public passage across its site.

8th Avenue Streamscape Graphic [PDF]

This press release was produced by the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board. The views expressed here are the author’s own.