It’s like a secret town less than a mile from the central business district of downtown Minneapolis. Where 11th Street, 14th Street, and Chicago Avenue converge is a small dreamscape of old storefronts and row houses. Most look vacant.
One storefront has the mysterious name “Del Kingsriter Center for Intercultural Relations” above its opaque black windows. Another says “Eshkol Mission” in small gothic letters. Around the corner, there’s a small grocery store, and, of all things, a 1930s-era diner. Pedestrians are few and far between.
This curious intersection is the heart of Elliot Park, the city neighborhood you may never have heard of, and the one corner of downtown Minneapolis that redevelopment almost forgot.
Other downtown neighborhoods—Loring Park, the Warehouse District, the riverfront—have all become centers of urbane redevelopment, with condominium developers rehabbing old buildings and putting up new ones. As well-to-do newcomers have moved in, retail businesses have followed.
That hasn’t happened yet in Elliot Park. But it’s what the neighborhood’s champions are working toward.
The area has attracted two successful, large-scale condominium projects that have boosted its prospects in the new millennium. And its mix of high-end and affordable housing is drawing residents who want a distinctly urban experience.
Those who move in will find they have influential neighbors who could have a lot to say about what happens next in Elliot Park. Hennepin County Medical Center is updating and expanding facilities as its business model changes. Aeon (formerly the Central Community Housing Trust) is headquartered in the neighborhood and manages numerous low-income properties here. North Central University, a small Pentecostal institution, has been in Elliot Park since 1930 and is a major landowner in the area. (The Kingsriter Center is, in fact, one of its facilities.)
Ten times a year, Elliot Park is also home to the Minnesota Vikings. While funding is still a big question mark, team owners dream of a new stadium on the Metrodome site and an ambitious mixed-use development project surrounding it.
