Elliot Park is one of Minneapolis’s oldest neighborhoods and was plotted starting in 1856. The neighborhood is named after Mr. Joseph Elliot, an area physician, who donated his farm land to the city in 1893 which turned into present day Elliot Park. Sitting just outside of the City’s main commercial district (Hennepin Ave) and the mills along the Mississippi River, Elliot Park became a destination for Minneapolis’ wealthiest residents in the late 19th century. Several large mansions sprang up along Park Avenue. But this was short lived.. As the city grew and encompassed the neighborhood, most of the wealthy citizens left for nearby Lowry Hill and Kenwood districts and Elliot Park densified and built more and more 3 & 4 story apartment buildings. The area began to decline in the mid-20th century as white flight and highways decimated the district. Elliot Park’s population decline and lower income families became concentrated in Elliot Park.
Thankfully this was not to last and by the turn of the 20th century Elliot Park began to gentrify and its population grew taking advantage of the general raise in popularity of Central Minneapolis. Elliot Park does a nice job of mixing historic structures and homes from the late 19th century with quality urban in-fill largely constructed since 2000. Elliot Park is generally a very walkable neighborhood with great access to many of Central Minneapolis’ amenities. It also has good park amenities, diversity housing options, and pretty good food & beverage amenities. For Elliot Park to be a top tier urban district it needs much more retail amenities. There is no supermarket and limited local retail in the district. This can be fueled by increased urban-infill filling in the decent number of surface parking lots remaining and intentional mixed-use development.
Click here to view my Elliot Park Album on Flickr
URBAN STRENGTHS:
* Excellent density.
* Great sidewalk and ADA infrastructure throughout.
* Great proximity to Dwtn as it is literally within a 5 minute walk of the neighborhood.
* Good racially and economic diversity.
* Not a ton of parks but three quality parks in Elliot Park including Elliot Park (includes a wading pool & recreation center), Franklin Steele Park, and the Commons.
* Decent tree canopy, especially the more residential/historic sections on the southern edge of Elliot Park.
* Nice mix of historic and modern urban in-fill. Some ugly infill as well but generally pretty urban.
* Lots of rental options including a good array of price points. Plenty of studios leasing anywhere btwn $500-1.5K, 1-beds btwn $900-2K, 2-beds btwn 1K-3K. Only a handful of 3-beds. Decent number of affordable housing as well.
* Some condo options with 1-beds selling in the 100Ks & 200ks. 2-bed are a mix of condos and townhouses selling btwn 200K-600K. Good amount of 3-beds selling btwn 300K-800K. A handful of 4-beds.
* Decent cultural amenities especially with its proximity to Dwtn Minneapolis. Good # of food & beverage bizs, a handful of art galleries, a couple live music venues, and US Bank Stadium. North Central University is here and hosts decent # of cultural activities.
* Urban massing and streetscaping is generally pretty good.
URBAN WEAKNESSES:
- A mix of poorly rated public schools and small private schools in Dwtn Minneapolis and nearby.
- Some safety concerns but Elliot Park seems a lot safer than it was 15 years ago.
- Ok retail amenities within Elliot Park itself including a drug store, a couple banks, a major hospital and lots of medical offices, a couple clothing stores & salons, a handful of dessert joints and gyms, and plenty of churches. Decent access to retail amenities in surrounding Downtown Districts.
- Some surface parking lots but not terrible. “
Evaluating our Urban Communities [with a focus on America] 