Minneapolis To Spend $750K Bringing 'Warehouse District Live' Back To Downtown In 2024

Minneapolis officials plan to spend $750,000 to bring back the "Warehouse District Live" series to downtown Minneapolis this summer.

A proposal making its way through the city council would see the city contract the nonprofit Mpls Downtown Improvement District (DID) for $750,000 to put on this summer's event series, which will see food trucks, seating areas, restrooms, and various activities staged on the block of First Avenue between 5th and 6th Streets.

The event will run on Friday and Saturday evenings into the early morning hours of Saturday and Sunday, with the block closed to vehicle traffic.

Warehouse District Live was tested in 2022 before being rolled out regularly in summer 2023 with the intention to "support a safe and vibrant neighborhood, manage busy weekend evenings and to support growth of the nighttime economy in the hospitality sector."

It drew comparisons to the popular street festival series Open Streets Minneapolis, generally unfavorable ones due to the lower attendance downtown.

The $750,000 price tag attached to this year's event is also not far off the $841,000 that was sought by Our Streets Minneapolis to organize and host the 2024 Open Streets series, only to receive the sudden news in August that the city was ending its contract and would look for new providers.

Minneapolis ultimately announced it would proceed with five Open Streets events in the city this year providing new organizers are found, announcing a budget of $50,000 for each event.

A spokesperson with DID tells Bring Me The News the 2023 Warehouse District Live series contributed to a 24% increase in visitors to the Warehouse District neighborhood in comparison to 2022.

The city did not have the raw numbers showing this increase when requested by Bring Me The News, saying the percentage increase "was determined through Placer AI data."

"The rise in visitors is a trend throughout downtown. Warehouse District Live is an added experience for those who are participating in night life or events/concerts/games downtown, so many WDL patrons participate in the festivities as part of their broader experience downtown," the spokesperson said.

SOURCE: Bring Me The News