Minneapolis Parks and Rec buys land to create park in North Loop

The center of major revitalization – and gentrification – over the past decade, Minneapolis' North Loop is now set to get its first park.

The Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board earlier this week approved a purchase agreement to buy a 25,000-square-feet of surface parking lot along 3rd Street north – between 7th and 8th Avenues – that it will transform into parkland.

This, it says, will help it "fill the gap" for some of the 2% of Minneapolis residents who don't live within a 10 minute walk of a park.

The parks board has agreed a purchase price of just over $2.1 million that includes property acquisition and the development of "base park amenities" on the site prior to the title being transferred.

The current owner, BC Properties, is responsible for the demolition of the existing parking lot, as well as "soil correction, sod placement and irrigation system installation."

When completed, the park will be home to a series of gardens, seating areas, and an outdoor cafe.

The Parks Board notes that the North Loop has "never had a neighborhood park," and its creation fits into a wider vision of the 8th Avenue Streamscape, a "linear park" that winds its way through the the North Loop to connect to the Mississippi River.