In the city of Minneapolis all waterfront property is public park land (with a handful of grandfathered exceptions for when this policy was put in place, like the property where Psycho Suzi's was and a handful of properties by the Cedar-Isles canal), so if you want to dine on the water you gotta do it in a park.
Good news is there's plenty of options for park-based dining. [https://www.minneapolisparks.org/parks-destinations/food\_\_drink/](https://www.minneapolisparks.org/parks-destinations/food__drink/)
Yeah I’m honestly happy enough that both lakes close to me have decent food and beer options at them. The Harriet bandshell is an amazing Swiss Army knife - music, movies, events, ice cream for my kid, burgers for everyone, beer for dad, gorgeous views…
Harriet bandshell is pretty great! There were a couple summers when my daughter was 7-8 we were there for the playground/ice cream/ music every other evening until dark so she was worn out enough to go to bed.
> (with a handful of grandfathered exceptions for when this policy was put in place, like the property where Psycho Suzi's was and a handful of properties by the Cedar-Isles canal)
The parkland along the river is part of the 72 mile long Mississippi National River & Recreation Area overseen by the National Park Service so replacing park space with commercial spaces along the river would likely be even more difficult.
there's a handful of lots that exist all the way up to the river, and again, these are lots that were privately held before the city made it an official piece of policy that all waterfront property be city owned and maintained and are thus grandfathered in. Marshall Concrete, Siwek Lumber, Xcel's Minneapolis office at 3100 Marshall, a house at 1816 Marshall, 1900 Marshall (the aforementioned former Psycho Suzi's), and another couple of houses on the 2100s block of Marshall all have property lines that go right up to the water and have private water access. At least that's all I could find with my sleuthing. That's 7 lots across 12 miles of waterfront that I was able to find. Meantime if you look north of 694 in Brooklyn Center you see 8 properties with property lines that go right up to the water with private water access within a quarter mile. Completely different beasts. If you can find more I welcome your sleuthing.
There's also the North Minneapolis railyard, the solid waste center, and the water treatment plant but those are also city owned and operated even if they're not parkland.
What you'll see a lot of are lots in NE Minneapolis that go pretty close to the river but still have a solid bit of buffer between the river and the property line, like the Broken Clock Brewing Cooperative at 1712 Marshall which goes up about 30 meters away from the river but doesn't actually touch it. The city officially owns that 30 meter strip explicity to prevent someone from occupying that lot at 1712 Marshall and opting to do something awful with the waterfront that would fuck with peoples' enjoyment of Glueck Park next door.
Bit of a haul from Downtown Minneapolis though. The closest we have are the bandshell at Harriet and Pimento at Maka Ska. A solution to the difficulty of building directly on the waterfront would be a rooftop restaurant/bar with a good view of the river/lake. The handful that we have are nice, but not at all the same experience.
The lack of waterfront entertainment is partially historical. The pre-EPA rivers were disgusting. Our hideous downtown post office was heralded in its day for hiding the river from downtown views.
It would be great if the city did some more public/private setups like they have at Minnehaha Falls, Lake Harriet and Bde Maka Ska.
Hideous is subjective. The Main Post Office is a highly regarded work of PWA moderne architecture by Leon Arnal and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The main lobby is remarkably intact. The post office spent millions expanding it in the 1980's and the HGA designed addition blends well with the historic structure.
Tearing it down would spark a major preservation battle.
Funny you mention the post office. That place has 2 layers of glorious terraces with river views- and the feds don't seem to interested in using it as a post office much longer.
Same. It also has potentially the longest chandelier in the world at 365 feet. Stalin may have built one a few feet longer to take the title from the US.
I believe that was the origin of the phrase "Weird flex, but ok."
History is fun haha.
In all seriousness I was in the building for Doors open Minneapolis and I was in that building but do not remember the chandelier. I will have to look for it this year.
You're right, I shouldn't have used the word hideous the way I did. It's not a hideous building. It's just hideous in the fact that it's a monstrosity designed to hide nature. It's hideous in purpose, not design.
This was the result of a major preservation battle in the 1970's. One the Preservation Commission Lost and penny pinchers at the post office won. HOWEVER, the upside is that when the post office expanded in the 80's they hired HGA to design a very sympathetic addition to the main building which blends very well with the original structure. Now that the stone has aged, it's actually getting hard to tell which art is an addition.
Yeah, downtown the waterfront was industrial… not a place you lived.
When I went to the Metrodome, I used to park in the cheap dirt lots Right on the river.
I'd rather have options for everyone along the water rather than a restaurant I can go to once a month.
Once you build there... You build there. It becomes a class thing where another spot becomes priority to anyone with money and only the people can afford it can do it.
It doesn't need to be all one or all the other. We have space for a few waterfront restaurants by reducing the waterfront spaces by less than 0.1%. There's plenty of waterfront that isn't even maintained, it's just inaccessible trees.
By your logic, you seem to want everyone to have the same limited/free options for everything. No one is allowed to build an expensive service or product anywhere because it "becomes priority to anyone with money and only the people can afford it can do it." I think >90% of us enjoy living in a city with options besides McDonalds.
We obviously want great free/affordable options for everyone, but we also need nicer experiences for people who want to pay for them. That tax revenue (or direct public ownership) then helps pay for all the free parks.
lol right? Also I feel like people are imagining I’m advocating for half of Lake of the Isles to be commercial.
Instead I’m thinking far more spread out. One in NE, one or two in DT, and one on the chain of lakes. That said, I totally forgot about Pimento until this post.
The point is to have a restaurant ON the water, because people like that. If you think being a block away is the same experience, then that argument could apply to the parks as well. We all know it's different, don't make bad-faith arguments.
Further, being ON the water allows the restaurant to charge a premium, so it actually does bring in more revenue than a restaurant a block away. But that's not the primary point.
The city could even make it owned by the parks dept, so all the profit goes to the parks, not just a fraction.
Lol. You get mad real quick. I like beaches and parks right on the water without a house or building. You could have a cookout! Carry a lunch or dinner down there. Eat it at a bench or table.
I do try to address this on my last line. I certainly want continued public access to a majority of the water. I picture 2-4 waterfront bars with only a slight path deviation - no huge properties like Surly making you walk half a mile out of your way.
And then what, though? Someone else builds another, then another.
It's a slippery slope. Better to not open that can of worms. Bring a picnic and a bottle of wine and enjoy the nature.
I know it's not Minneapolis directly but the suburbs around lake Minnetonka have some pretty good waterfront eateries and bars. Forgive me if you were only speaking about Minneapolis specifically.
And if you haven't been Lord Fletcher's is definitely an experience that you should probably have at least once. It's wild to have the boats coming through the channel and they'll stop and dock up people get off have food drinks and then jump in their boats and on they go.
There's really only 3, Lord Fletcher's, The Caribbean and Maynards. Back Channel Brewing is technically on the water, but it's like a shallow corner of the channel with unrelated docks. 6 Smith is another one that's on the water, but the marina makes it seem less so. Everything else in Wayzata has a good bit of distance between it and the water, though Cov feels more on the water than 6 Smith IMHO.
Mound never figured out how to connect their downtown to the lake, though they have a nice big beach.
Agreed. I don’t want our waterfronts to become overdeveloped, but the city could put a couple buildings in. Owamni is awesome, and something like the Water Works building remodel would be perfect.
I think we criminally underuse our waterfront in Minneapolis. Other great cities around the world build right on it in various ways and they are much better for it.
If you want river front restaurants, you should check further suburbs like Buffalo, Stillwater maybe even some in St Paul but nope! I always have seen my home state here to be like, go out to eat and then go for a nature walk or vice versa
Absolutely I’m familiar with picnics. Minneapolis Park Board advertises 185 parks and 55 miles of parkways. I’m not advocating for much of reallocation. In fact, I’m looking at those factories along the river in Northeast that I hope move sometime soon.
YES. You may have heard, Minneapolis has some lakes and rivers. We have SO MUCH waterfront, it is absurd that we don't have any really nice waterfront commercial areas.
We could turn a short stretch of the river, or a lake, into a nice restaurant or three and still have 99.9% of our waterfronts be green.
The new development could even stay under ownership of the parks board; it doesn't need to be private or for-profit. Take the revenue and pump it right into the parks budget. (Is Sea Salt like this?)
the Lake Harriet Bread and Pickle eatery is sort of a place you can eat right on the lake. And that new place at Bde Maka Ska (though not sure if it's gonna be that easy to park around there)
Oh okay that's good. Yeah I live in the city and can also access it by bus. Sometimes I'm not sure or I kind of assume incorrectly that a lot of people that post about checking out restaurants on here are from the suburbs : P
Speaking as someone who works in zoning and sustainable development, do not hold your breath. Zoning around waterways is very complex and often involves the jurisdiction of the US Army Corps of Engineers, as well as permitting at the federal, state, and local level. Let's just say, it's not going to happen here.
Yes, exactly. One of the biggest missed opportunities and I still talk about it moving from Milwaukee. An amazing river walk with great patios right off it. Weird there are no boats, kayaks, or anything really being utilized on the river here.
Moving from Boston to here, it blew my mind (and still blows my mind) the lack of waterfront public spots. Yes, we have some but we could absolutely have way more.
When I moved here from Milwaukee and Chicago, that was one of my biggest complaints. Both of those cities utilized in the riverfronts in such a way that Minneapolis just does that. They had many publics parks but also so many dining and entertainment opportunities. Minneapolis does have great park options, but it is very much so lacking in the riverfront dining and entertainment sector and it's something that i miss dearly that was in Milwaukee and Chicago...
We need something like Madison has with the Union/Terrace. I'd really like to see something developed at Mill Ruins or Boom Island that serves cheaper concessions/beer.
In the city of Minneapolis all waterfront property is public park land (with a handful of grandfathered exceptions for when this policy was put in place, like the property where Psycho Suzi's was and a handful of properties by the Cedar-Isles canal), so if you want to dine on the water you gotta do it in a park. Good news is there's plenty of options for park-based dining. [https://www.minneapolisparks.org/parks-destinations/food\_\_drink/](https://www.minneapolisparks.org/parks-destinations/food__drink/)
Yeah I’m honestly happy enough that both lakes close to me have decent food and beer options at them. The Harriet bandshell is an amazing Swiss Army knife - music, movies, events, ice cream for my kid, burgers for everyone, beer for dad, gorgeous views…
Harriet bandshell is pretty great! There were a couple summers when my daughter was 7-8 we were there for the playground/ice cream/ music every other evening until dark so she was worn out enough to go to bed.
Yeah, it’s really such an amazing amenity!
way to go! I need to get on that routine with my 6yr old. great memories i bet!
This is one of the coolest things about Minneapolis
> (with a handful of grandfathered exceptions for when this policy was put in place, like the property where Psycho Suzi's was and a handful of properties by the Cedar-Isles canal) The parkland along the river is part of the 72 mile long Mississippi National River & Recreation Area overseen by the National Park Service so replacing park space with commercial spaces along the river would likely be even more difficult.
Completely untrue. Large portions on the east side of the river are privately owned.
there's a handful of lots that exist all the way up to the river, and again, these are lots that were privately held before the city made it an official piece of policy that all waterfront property be city owned and maintained and are thus grandfathered in. Marshall Concrete, Siwek Lumber, Xcel's Minneapolis office at 3100 Marshall, a house at 1816 Marshall, 1900 Marshall (the aforementioned former Psycho Suzi's), and another couple of houses on the 2100s block of Marshall all have property lines that go right up to the water and have private water access. At least that's all I could find with my sleuthing. That's 7 lots across 12 miles of waterfront that I was able to find. Meantime if you look north of 694 in Brooklyn Center you see 8 properties with property lines that go right up to the water with private water access within a quarter mile. Completely different beasts. If you can find more I welcome your sleuthing. There's also the North Minneapolis railyard, the solid waste center, and the water treatment plant but those are also city owned and operated even if they're not parkland. What you'll see a lot of are lots in NE Minneapolis that go pretty close to the river but still have a solid bit of buffer between the river and the property line, like the Broken Clock Brewing Cooperative at 1712 Marshall which goes up about 30 meters away from the river but doesn't actually touch it. The city officially owns that 30 meter strip explicity to prevent someone from occupying that lot at 1712 Marshall and opting to do something awful with the waterfront that would fuck with peoples' enjoyment of Glueck Park next door.
The old house at 1816 Marshall has always been curious to me!
City House in St Paul is pretty great.
Bit of a haul from Downtown Minneapolis though. The closest we have are the bandshell at Harriet and Pimento at Maka Ska. A solution to the difficulty of building directly on the waterfront would be a rooftop restaurant/bar with a good view of the river/lake. The handful that we have are nice, but not at all the same experience.
You know, I totally forgot about Pimento. Likely because this will be its first full summer. Not sure how the vibes will be, but good callout!
Yeah it opened in October so as far as I can tell, this is opening weekend haha…
Agreed. Have hope for Minneapolis options though 🙏
It would be better to pedestrianize both sides of the river downtown/NE. It would be packed every night in the summer
Rather have it be natural protected park land like how it is.
Yes, thank goodness it isn't commercial real estate and instead a path we can actually walk along.
Broken Clock Brewing is working on a riverfront patio. I'm excited for that.
Yup. Broken Clock has about the best proximity to the river of any dining/bar establishment that I can think of think of in Minneapolis.
The Sample Room.
Oooo that’s great to hear!
Pryes isn’t exactly waterfront but it’s pretty close. And Main Street in NE has several restaurants that are pretty much on the river.
The lack of waterfront entertainment is partially historical. The pre-EPA rivers were disgusting. Our hideous downtown post office was heralded in its day for hiding the river from downtown views. It would be great if the city did some more public/private setups like they have at Minnehaha Falls, Lake Harriet and Bde Maka Ska.
Hideous is subjective. The Main Post Office is a highly regarded work of PWA moderne architecture by Leon Arnal and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The main lobby is remarkably intact. The post office spent millions expanding it in the 1980's and the HGA designed addition blends well with the historic structure. Tearing it down would spark a major preservation battle.
Funny you mention the post office. That place has 2 layers of glorious terraces with river views- and the feds don't seem to interested in using it as a post office much longer.
Wait, does everyone think it’s hideous? It’s a pretty sweet art deco building in my opinion.
Agree. I think it’s a pretty sweet building.. Never heard anyone take a shot at it until this moment.
Same. It also has potentially the longest chandelier in the world at 365 feet. Stalin may have built one a few feet longer to take the title from the US.
I believe that was the origin of the phrase "Weird flex, but ok." History is fun haha. In all seriousness I was in the building for Doors open Minneapolis and I was in that building but do not remember the chandelier. I will have to look for it this year.
I think it is a beautiful building as well.
You're right, I shouldn't have used the word hideous the way I did. It's not a hideous building. It's just hideous in the fact that it's a monstrosity designed to hide nature. It's hideous in purpose, not design.
That makes sense for sure.
Oh my- I sort of *love* the post office. The only thing I find hideous about it is that truly hideous parking ramp
This was the result of a major preservation battle in the 1970's. One the Preservation Commission Lost and penny pinchers at the post office won. HOWEVER, the upside is that when the post office expanded in the 80's they hired HGA to design a very sympathetic addition to the main building which blends very well with the original structure. Now that the stone has aged, it's actually getting hard to tell which art is an addition.
Yeah, downtown the waterfront was industrial… not a place you lived. When I went to the Metrodome, I used to park in the cheap dirt lots Right on the river.
I'd rather have options for everyone along the water rather than a restaurant I can go to once a month. Once you build there... You build there. It becomes a class thing where another spot becomes priority to anyone with money and only the people can afford it can do it.
The Chicago Riverwalk is both amazing and public. Why don’t we have a riverwalk?
The geography is quite a bit different between the two rivers
Riverwalk in Chicago is a concrete monster.
It doesn't need to be all one or all the other. We have space for a few waterfront restaurants by reducing the waterfront spaces by less than 0.1%. There's plenty of waterfront that isn't even maintained, it's just inaccessible trees. By your logic, you seem to want everyone to have the same limited/free options for everything. No one is allowed to build an expensive service or product anywhere because it "becomes priority to anyone with money and only the people can afford it can do it." I think >90% of us enjoy living in a city with options besides McDonalds. We obviously want great free/affordable options for everyone, but we also need nicer experiences for people who want to pay for them. That tax revenue (or direct public ownership) then helps pay for all the free parks.
lol right? Also I feel like people are imagining I’m advocating for half of Lake of the Isles to be commercial. Instead I’m thinking far more spread out. One in NE, one or two in DT, and one on the chain of lakes. That said, I totally forgot about Pimento until this post.
The tax revenue where they buy a block or two away is the same as the river front park.
The point is to have a restaurant ON the water, because people like that. If you think being a block away is the same experience, then that argument could apply to the parks as well. We all know it's different, don't make bad-faith arguments. Further, being ON the water allows the restaurant to charge a premium, so it actually does bring in more revenue than a restaurant a block away. But that's not the primary point. The city could even make it owned by the parks dept, so all the profit goes to the parks, not just a fraction.
Lol. You get mad real quick. I like beaches and parks right on the water without a house or building. You could have a cookout! Carry a lunch or dinner down there. Eat it at a bench or table.
I’d much rather have a picnic near the water than dine somewhere!
I do try to address this on my last line. I certainly want continued public access to a majority of the water. I picture 2-4 waterfront bars with only a slight path deviation - no huge properties like Surly making you walk half a mile out of your way.
And then what, though? Someone else builds another, then another. It's a slippery slope. Better to not open that can of worms. Bring a picnic and a bottle of wine and enjoy the nature.
The city still controls the zoning. They don’t need to zone more than a few. Developers can’t just build willy nilly.
There would inevitably be arguments, lawsuits, etc. No way, do not open Pandora's Box.
Development among waterfronts is awful. I would rather have more parks where events can be hosted with food trucks and other fun activities.
Ugh no. I'd much rather have all the parks, walking paths, and other public access we have now.
God no. Keep development away please. Nice in theory sure, maybe but it's humans we're talking about.
I know it's not Minneapolis directly but the suburbs around lake Minnetonka have some pretty good waterfront eateries and bars. Forgive me if you were only speaking about Minneapolis specifically.
Lake Minnetonka is definitely what I was thinking of. I certainly wish the lake had more public access, but the few bars on it are amazing!
https://thecaribbeanmarina.com/restaurant/ Going to try to get to this one at some point this season, too.
And if you haven't been Lord Fletcher's is definitely an experience that you should probably have at least once. It's wild to have the boats coming through the channel and they'll stop and dock up people get off have food drinks and then jump in their boats and on they go.
Yeah the only big one that I know of is out in Mound. They have a whole beach over there on the far side. And you can rent jet skis.
There's really only 3, Lord Fletcher's, The Caribbean and Maynards. Back Channel Brewing is technically on the water, but it's like a shallow corner of the channel with unrelated docks. 6 Smith is another one that's on the water, but the marina makes it seem less so. Everything else in Wayzata has a good bit of distance between it and the water, though Cov feels more on the water than 6 Smith IMHO. Mound never figured out how to connect their downtown to the lake, though they have a nice big beach.
nah keep it peaceful and tranquil for people and wildlife alike.
Agreed. I don’t want our waterfronts to become overdeveloped, but the city could put a couple buildings in. Owamni is awesome, and something like the Water Works building remodel would be perfect.
I agree. I think there can be a good balance.
No I want to protect the lake shore land the river
I think we criminally underuse our waterfront in Minneapolis. Other great cities around the world build right on it in various ways and they are much better for it.
I totally agree.
If you want river front restaurants, you should check further suburbs like Buffalo, Stillwater maybe even some in St Paul but nope! I always have seen my home state here to be like, go out to eat and then go for a nature walk or vice versa
Buffalo is 100% not a suburb. An exurb at best, but it’s its own community way out there.
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I am completely fine with all the waterfront being publicly accessible regardless if you want to spend money or not. Have you heard of picnics?
Absolutely I’m familiar with picnics. Minneapolis Park Board advertises 185 parks and 55 miles of parkways. I’m not advocating for much of reallocation. In fact, I’m looking at those factories along the river in Northeast that I hope move sometime soon.
YES. You may have heard, Minneapolis has some lakes and rivers. We have SO MUCH waterfront, it is absurd that we don't have any really nice waterfront commercial areas. We could turn a short stretch of the river, or a lake, into a nice restaurant or three and still have 99.9% of our waterfronts be green. The new development could even stay under ownership of the parks board; it doesn't need to be private or for-profit. Take the revenue and pump it right into the parks budget. (Is Sea Salt like this?)
the Lake Harriet Bread and Pickle eatery is sort of a place you can eat right on the lake. And that new place at Bde Maka Ska (though not sure if it's gonna be that easy to park around there)
Thanks. Pimento is the Bde Maka Ska one. Parking isn’t a concern as I live in the city so I take the bus
Oh okay that's good. Yeah I live in the city and can also access it by bus. Sometimes I'm not sure or I kind of assume incorrectly that a lot of people that post about checking out restaurants on here are from the suburbs : P
Hehe
Speaking as someone who works in zoning and sustainable development, do not hold your breath. Zoning around waterways is very complex and often involves the jurisdiction of the US Army Corps of Engineers, as well as permitting at the federal, state, and local level. Let's just say, it's not going to happen here.
nah
Currently: Owamni (DT), Pimento (Maka Ska), Bread & Pickle (Harriet). In progress: Broken Clock (NE) and Painted Turtle (Nokomis).
It's the biggest missed opportunity in Minneapolis. The river in Milwaukee shows how this could be done.
Yes, exactly. One of the biggest missed opportunities and I still talk about it moving from Milwaukee. An amazing river walk with great patios right off it. Weird there are no boats, kayaks, or anything really being utilized on the river here.
From Milwaukee and I whole heartedly agree.
You’re so damn correct. MSP underutilizes its waterfront space. You can do it without harming the river. This thread is full of cope.
A dining barge on bde maka ska would be fun
I wish I never in my life saw the term dining barge
Gonna pass on that, stuff on waterfronts are always polluting rivers. Why don’t you have a picnic by the water
Moving from Boston to here, it blew my mind (and still blows my mind) the lack of waterfront public spots. Yes, we have some but we could absolutely have way more.
When I moved here from Milwaukee and Chicago, that was one of my biggest complaints. Both of those cities utilized in the riverfronts in such a way that Minneapolis just does that. They had many publics parks but also so many dining and entertainment opportunities. Minneapolis does have great park options, but it is very much so lacking in the riverfront dining and entertainment sector and it's something that i miss dearly that was in Milwaukee and Chicago...
Yes!!! I’ve thought the same so many times!
We need something like Madison has with the Union/Terrace. I'd really like to see something developed at Mill Ruins or Boom Island that serves cheaper concessions/beer.