Uptown: Reimagined

With significant street construction coming to an end along Hennepin Avenue from 31st to 28th Streets, Uptown is ready for a renaissance – French for rebirth.
“I think we’re on the rise. That’s my current feelings,” Ra’ Sekou P’tah said. “I know I watch my numbers go up dramatically.”
P’tah, who manages the LAFitness on the upper floor of Seven Points malls, added, “When the construction was finished on this side of Lake Street, on this side from the liquor store [Hennepin Lake Liquor] all the way back to Hennepin, I saw it open up, and the doors start opening for the restaurants.”
That sense of optimism about Uptown is shared across Hennepin Avenue at Queermunity, a new, multigenerational space for the LGBTQ+ community, located above Magers & Quinn Bookstore.
“There is a renaissance happening in Uptown of new, small businesses popping up really trying to re-cultivate a neighborhood in this area,” said Seth Anderson-Matz, “Outreach & Partnerships Manager” for the center. (See article on Queermunity on page 7.)
“I think having certain projects wrapped up, construction wrapped up, will be a big difference,” said Aaron Blaser, owner of the Curioso Coffee Bar in Seven Points mall.
While Blaser, who has owned Curioso for three years, said he doesn’t expect a return to pre-COVID business levels soon, he does see a “a general trend upwards” and hopes the area can be reimagined to take advantage of nearby, densely populated neighborhoods where people need places to go to.
Many Minneapolis residents know Uptown has historically cycled through good and bad times, with good ones peaking in the late 90s and early 2000s. The mall with its 175,000 square feet of space is owned by Northpond Partners, which bought the old Calhoun Square and its 175,000 square feet of space in 2019, renaming it Seven Points, and proposed turning it into a residential and retail hub. That work has yet to start.
The company has worked with some tenants to keep mall space affordable and said Uptown’s demographics keep it a “desired area by some retailers and businesses,” but those businesses and services “need to be unique” to bring people back.
One unique and reimagined space in the mall is the Speshel Project L.L.C. gallery located on the first floor and “presented by Minneapolis Art Shows” (MAS) that has a stated goal to “transform vacant storefronts into immersive art experiences, showcasing the talents of local artists across contemporary styles,” according to its website.
The artist Trace created the gallery and worked with Sam Morrow, owner of the Lyn-Lake marketing firm Clubhaus Agency, to start MAS, which markets the gallery and acts as a registry for other artists.
“I think the current state of Uptown is a lot better than it was two years ago,” Morrow said. “I know it’s going to take time, and I do feel that it’s inevitable it will come back stronger and better than it was.”
Trace, who said he is a proud Minnesota native, is hopeful about Uptown and Minneapolis in general. “We’re creating our own style,” he said, adding, “There’s a style about Minneapolis that is world-wide known.”
While Morrow acknowledges too many empty store fronts present bad optics, he and Blaser point to successful music venues from large (Uptown Theater) to medium (Green Room) to small (Troubadour Wine Bar) that attract Uptown visitors and as does Magers & Quinn, an Uptown fixture. Plus, the area boasts a roller skating rink (TCS Skating Studio).

The question remains:
What is a reimagined Uptown?
For Morrow and Trace, it’s a natural environment for art and artists to thrive. “Minneapolis has a really great art community, and I think we should really rely on our artists to help to revive the area,” Morrow said.
For P’tah, it’s a place for retail. “I think that we need stores,” P’Tah said. “I shouldn’t have to go to St. Louis Park to go to Trader Joe’s. Everything that we need should be put here for me and the community.”
The reality is Uptown is big enough for both art and retail, including a farmer’s market as well as holiday and ongoing craft fairs.
Regardless of what eventually fills empty spaces, Blaser said he believes it will be different. “Opportunities are not going to look traditional like they used to like with the past businesses. Maybe there’s more popups,” he said, adding, “There’s been a lot of thought, and creative thought, about how to do things differently.”
“We just want more people to come into this part of the city,” Trace said, adding one way to make that happen is to be flexible about Uptown parking, especially with the parking structure adjoining Seven Points.
Blaser and Morrow agree, suggesting the city work with the owner of the structure to offer reduced parking fees or some variation on that theme.
“The parking structure controls the flow of people wanting to have access to Uptown,” said Trace, who designed and painted the structure’s north-facing mural and chose to get gallery space in the mall instead of payment for his public art.
P’tah added that the city could do more to support ongoing Uptown businesses by giving them tax breaks to keep them operating successfully and to reduce costs that they must pass along to customers.
Hilary Otey, co-founder of Queermunity with Kayla Barth, said parking didn’t factor in as heavily with the decision to locate in Uptown. Instead, it was the positive feedback they received from the LGBTQ+ community, especially older LGBTQ+ members.
“That’s where we grew up,” she said they told her. “That’s where we were back in the day! We would love to be able to come back.”
“We’re excited to be a part of the renaissance kind of in this neighborhood,” Otey said.