Hits, Misses . . . and Sleepers

If you haven’t seen the splashy cover in the grocery checkout line, the May issue of Minnesota Monthly features the eye candy-ish title, “Eat, Drink, Shop & Play:  12 Best Neighborhoods to Explore Now!”

With the caveat that the list is divided into eight Winners and four Up-and-Comer’s, how good are the selections?

MN MonthlyThere’s no denying consensus, no-brainer picks such as Minneapolis’ Linden Hills (#4) and 50th & France (#8), and St. Paul’s Cathedral Hill (#3).

However, inexplicably omitted were St. Paul’s wonderful St. Anthony Park, and Minneapolis’ vibrant Uptown neighborhood, anchored by Hennepin and Lake.

Errors & Omissions

What would I have bumped to make room?

Bucolic Marine on St. Croix (#5) is charming, but there’s not much “there there” (as Gertrude Stein might put it):  a restaurant/pub, an ice cream shop, and not much else.

Nearby Stillwater has too many t-shirt shacks these days, but is still a much bigger (tourist?) destination.

Meanwhile, St. Louis Park’s West End (#6), would have been a better Up-and-Comer choice.

As the magazine’s editors acknowledge, “the addition of several hundred residential units just north of the main buildings promises to infuse the area with permanent residents later this year.”

Meanwhile, much of the commercial space at the south end of the complex, furthest removed from the restaurants, appears to (still) be vacant.

P.S.:  Kudos for including down-to-earth Downtown Robbinsdale, a genuine sleeper, in the Up-and-Comer category.

Minneapolis’ Lake & Lyndale neighborhood belongs on that list, too.

About the author

Ross Kaplan has 19+ years experience selling real estate all over the Twin Cities. He is also a 12-time consecutive "Super Real Estate Agent," as determined by Mpls. - St. Paul Magazine and Twin Cities Business Magazine. Prior to becoming a Realtor, Ross was an attorney (corporate law), CPA, and entrepreneur. He holds an economics degree from Stanford.

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