A representative from a group of Downtown businesses presented a plan to the Minneapolis Park Board Wednesday night to develop a park in the center of Downtown that would bring a green stretch of land all the way to the Mississippi River near the Hennepin Avenue Bridge.
David Wilson, Accenture’s managing director in Minneapolis, presented on behalf of a “Blue Ribbon Committee” made up of executives from big businesses including Target, Piper Jaffray, Accenture and many others. He was also joined by a representative from The Trust for Public Land, a national organization that helps secure land for the public good.
“Unfortunately, when you look at the Downtown core, except for along the riverbanks of the Mississippi, there really is a shortage of parkland in the Downtown Core that is now home to almost 33,000 residents as well as hundreds of thousands of workers who come to work Downtown every day.”
That committee has developed a four-phase plan for acquiring and developing several parcels of land that are owned both privately and publicly.
The ultimate goal is for the park to start near the light rail stop at the corner of Fifth Street and Marquette Avenue, and narrowly work its way toward the area just north of the Minneapolis Central Library, where it would widen into two lots on either side of Nicollet Mall. The park would then follow along the east side of Hennepin Avenue to the river.This has been a long time coming.
