Historic Main Street
Credit: Ed Kohler via CC BY 2.0 image ⋅ Image resolution reduced and gradient and graphic elements overlaid.
The riverfront is an increasingly important source of local tax revenue.
Riverfront property tax revenue is an increasingly important component of the city’s total property tax revenue. The Central Riverfront is driving most of this growth.
The Upper River’s share of tax revenue has decreased over this same period. There are likely many reasons for this, but the expansion of riverfront parkland may be a contributing factor. However, the city begins to reap the financial rewards of this parkland expansion, and as the new parkland helps attract new investment and more intensive redevelopment, we expect this trend to reverse substantially. And in fact, you can see the benefit of parkland clearly in the map at right. Properties in much of the Central Riverfront and Lower Gorge near existing riverfront parkland produce more revenue per square foot than do properties farther away.
Riverfront property tax revenue
as a percent of citywide total property tax revenue
Source: calculated from Hennepin County parcel datasets 2004-2014
Portion of citywide property tax
revenue from riverfront
1%
8%
1 year
10 years
Portion of citywide property tax
revenue from Upper River
1%
20%
1 year
10 years
Both business and residential property are top tax contributors.
The list of top overall tax generators represents a healthy mix of property types along the river corridor. Once again, the current Federal Reserve Bank complex at the downtown edge of the Hennepin Avenue Bridge topped out the list. That may be surprising because government institutions generally do not pay property taxes – but the Federal Reserve is a rare exception.
rank |
property name |
type |
area |
annual tax revenue |
1 |
the Federal Reserve Bank | government offices | Central Riverfront |
$3.4 million |
2 |
Xcel Energy Riverside Plant | utility generation plant | Upper River |
$3.3 million |
3 |
the Carlyle | residential condominiums | Central Riverfront |
$2.5 million |
4 |
the Bridgewater | residential condominiums | Central Riverfront |
$2.2 million |
5 |
Marquette Plaza | leased offices | Central Riverfront |
$1.9 million |
6 |
the Depot Minneapolis | hotel & accomodations | Central Riverfront |
$1.4 million |
7 |
100 Washington Square | leased offices | Central Riverfront |
$1.4 million |
8 |
River West condos | residential condominiums | Central Riverfront |
$1.4 million |
9 |
Phoenix on the River condos | residential condominiums | Central Riverfront |
$1.3 million |
10 |
Becketwood Cooperative | residential senior cooperative | Lower Gorge |
$1.1 million |
Source: calculated from Hennepin County parcel dataset 2014
Though owned by an arm of the United States Government, the Federal Reserve Bank building pays more in property taxes than any other property in the river corridor study area.
Map of property tax revenue per square foot of land
Source: calculated from Hennepin County parcel dataset 2014
| $0.01 up to $0.50 per sq ft | |
| $0.50 up to $1.00 per sq ft | |
| $1.00 up to $1.50 per sq ft | |
| $1.50 up to $2.00 per sq ft | |
| $2.00 up to $2.50 per sq ft | |
| $2.50 up to $5.00 per sq ft | |
| $5.00 up to $10.00 per sq ft | |
| $10.00 up to $50.00 per sq ft | |
| over $50.00 per sq ft | |
| non-taxed |