Downtown/Lowertown : Featured Stories

MSP’s increasingly amenity-rich downtowns offer irresistible quality-of-life benefits that help firms attract and retain top talent. Here’s a look at why some companies moved to the downtowns of Minneapolis and St. Paul.  

The creation of affordable artist live/work housing is a proven initiative that reinvigorates neighborhoods, while artists and their work bring members of diverse communities together.

This month’s feature highlighting arts, entertainment and culture not to be missed in MSP focuses on innovation, startups and artistic initiatives that will scare and inspire you, and spice up your life.  

This month’s arts and culture feature includes visual and literary arts that continue to break boundaries and forge new alliances.

As the rapid proliferation of urban farms, CSAs, community gardens, hyper-local farmers’ market stalls and farm-to-fork restaurants shows, MSP’s urban agriculture ecosystem is only getting stronger.  

All of these homegrown breweries are located on or near major bikeways, making for convenient — and safe — access. String two or three of these bike-friendly breweries together for a pedal-powered, DIY brewery tour.  

In this month’s feature highlighting arts, entertainment and culture not to be missed in MSP, the focus is on community events that inspire, entertain, invite participation —and give back.      

Baseball season is upon us. Why not turn game day into an opportunity to explore neighborhoods around CHS Field in St. Paul's Lowertown and Target Field in Minneapolis' North Loop, which are bookended by Green Line light-rail stops?

Strike up a conversation at an art opening, microbrewery, maker event, co-working space, tech-entrepreneur gathering, placemaking conference or food truck, and chances are that person is a coastal transplant living the life they’ve always wanted.  

Artspace’s residential projects fill a critical niche in a city’s ecosystem of affordable housing, particularly for artists. But making the case for public policies and resources to realize these transformative projects is challenging.

Looking to sample the region’s freshest produce without braving traffic? In celebration of the Green Line’s first full farmers market season, here are seven MSP markets within walking distance of a major transit line (in many cases, the Green Line itself).

There’s a movement afoot to rebrand MSP as “IoT Alley” in recognition of its historical and current innovations in the field of Internet to cloud devices. MSP startups, in fact, are leading current growth in the field.

Birds are chirping, patios are open and soon food truck season begins in earnest. These new additions to our burgeoning mobile foodie scene show off MSP’s evolving restaurant culture, stimulate street life and generate community.

A merry band of farmers market managers and vendors are braving the cold and dark to keep us supplied with locally grown food, locally made food products and locally sourced crafts. Here's where you can find them this winter!

Ken and Roberta Avidor have been car-free since 2010. Union Depot is their jumping-off point for bike, bus and train trips around the Twin Cities—and beyond. They're also making a name for themselves in the Twin Cities’ urban-sketching movement.