Upper River visions and plans
City plans focused on the Upper River
There’s a pile of plans and regulations that impact the Upper River. But there are three applicable city planning documents focused on the Upper River:
Together, these three documents outline the future of the Upper River area. This page provides an overview of the vision forwarded by these documents. The full documents are available by clicking on them above.
Land use changes
Here are the major land use changes expected:
- The riverfront will be lined by continuous parks and trails. On the west side of the river, the first several hundred feet of land back from the river is envisioned as park. On the east side, from the Xcel Riverside Plant south to 16th Street, all land riverward of Marshall Street is envisioned as park.
- On the west side of the river, redevelopment focuses on attracting more good jobs for nearby residents. Plans call for lighter industrial, commercial, and office uses. In the vicinity of Upper Harbor Terminal and Olson Park, residential development could also be appropriate; though market research indicates new housing at Upper Harbor Terminal would not be viable for many years.
- Change will generally come through incremental land aquisition by willing sellers. Previous plans and efforts at riverfront redevelopment made substantial use of the City’s condemnation authority. Because of recent legal and political changes, these new plans envision “incremental property acquisition based on opportunity with willing sellers.”
Design guidelines & zoning changes
- Plans include very general design guidelines for new buildings appropriate to each part of the riverfront, along with sample images. These are simply guidelines rather than strictly-enforcable zoning-based design controls.
- City code will be updated to include a new zoning classification for business parks.
- Changes to the zoning designation of individual parcels will generally be phased in over time, as opportunities arise and the implications of rezoning better understood.
Priority public sector-led projects envisioned for the Upper River
Map data updated November 2015. Data source and methodology: Base data source is Hennepin County Parcel Dataset (January 2015). Specifically for parcels adjacent to the riverfront, this county parcel ownership information has been supplemented with information from the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board, which in some cases provides more current data on land purchases than the County information is able to provide. Any land purchase which the Park Board has fully approved is reflected on the map, regardless of closing date. You may link to this data as an ArcGIS service at this link.
Click title to expand for more information. Site numbers correspond to the map.
- Specific plans for redevelopment at the 48-acre Upper Harbor Terminal site have yet to be established, but the Park Board and City are working to finalize very soon a planning path forward.
- This site is envisioned as having light industrial, office, commercial, and possibly residential uses, behind a riverfront park edge (see sample images above). The Above the Falls Plan envisions a node of office and commercial uses near Dowling. And where Dowling intersects the riverfront, the City and Park Board are now planning for a major public destination.
PROGRESS REPORT: In early 2016, the City and Park Board agreed to a groundbreaking Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) about how to jointly proceed and plan for the site and how to work together to find new ways to think about use of the land for both public and private purposes. For the past year, they have been actively seeking community input on plans for the property.
In January 2017, the Minneapolis City Council and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board completed their collaborative request for qualification process and selected a master developer team for the Upper Harbor Terminal site. This team is led by United Properties and includes THOR Development and First Avenue Productions.
- The RiverFirst Plan envisions greening 26th and 28th Avenue between the Riverfront and Farview Park, and in the long term using 27th Avenue to treat stormwater. In 2015 and 2016, 26th Avenue is being upgraded as a greenway with improved off-road biking and walking options.
- The RiverFirst Plan envisions the possibility of capping I-94 between 26th and 28th Avenue.
- A new river pier/overlook (bottom photo above) is proposed where 26th Street meets the river. A trail connection under the BNSF railway will connect the pier south to Ole Olson Park.
PROGRESS REPORT: The City is constructing a new greenway trail link along 26th Ave. between the river and Wirth Park. Construction began in 2015 on segments of the avenue. The final segment, near the river, is currently planned for 2017.
The Minneapolis Parks Foundation is leading efforts for the creation of the Great Northern Greenway River Link. This would link 26th Ave. to the river and connect West River Trail from Ole Olson to 26th Ave., closing a crucial gap in the trail system along the river.
- Hall’s Island Park (aka Scherer Park) will be located just north of Boom Island Park. Hall’s Island, which existed until the 1960s, will be re-created in the river. The island will be designed as habitat, and will be reachable by boardwalk.
- Buildings toward the rear of the site will include park rentals, concessions, as well as private uses. Private uses will help pay for the cost of the park and upkeep.
- A gravel beach will allow connection to the river for launching kayaks, or simply getting down to the water.
PROGRESS REPORT: The Park Board bought the site in 2010 and is currently finalizing state regulatory approval. In 2016, the Park Board submitted a state bonding request for $12 million to complete the project. The bonding request was held with other requests at the Legislature. The timetable for construction calls for the project to be completed by 2020.
- Create a riverfront that is continuously accessible and in public ownership. The only notable exception outlined in plans is the Xcel Riverside Plant, which presents cost and security challenges.
PROGRESS REPORT: The Park Board owns more than half the Upper Riverfront, though not all of that land is park - yet. The Park Board has made many purchases in recent years that retain their former uses as homes or businesses, until funding is found for parks to be developed. See the map on the previous page for an inventory of what the Park Board already owns. At the end of 2016, 52% of the riverfront will be public parkland, up from 43% in 2013 when the Above the Falls plans were adopted.
- Create continuous bicycle and pedestrian trails along both sides of the length of the riverfront.
- Create the opportunity for biking and walking “loops”. A riverfront walk or a bike ride is much more compelling when one can go in a loop, instead of having to double back on one’s route.
- Create a trail connection across the BNSF Bridge between Broadway and Lowry, as part of a loop.
PROGRESS REPORT: The East Bank Trail is the newest trail segment along the river. Opened in fall 2016, the trail extends river trails northward from Boom Island to Marshall St NE near 16th Street. On the west side of the river, trails extend from downtown to Orvin “Ole” Olson Park. With completion of the East Bank Trail, 48% of the riverfront is served by contiguous bike-ped trails, up from 43% in 2013 when the Above the Falls plans were adopted.
Map key
| future park, MPRB owned | |
| park | |
| public ownership, non-park use | |
| transportation (public or privately owned) | |
| utility (publicly or privately owned) |