The North Loop — the warehouse district immediately north and west of downtown — has undergone the most dramatic transformation of any Minneapolis neighbourhood in the past two decades. What was a collection of vacant industrial buildings in the 1990s is now the city's premier shopping, dining, and residential district, with a density of high-end restaurants, design boutiques, and craft breweries that rivals any comparable American neighbourhood.
The conversion has been tasteful: most buildings retain their brick facades and timber-beam interiors, and the streetscape, though substantially gentrified, still reads as an industrial district. Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins, anchors the western edge. The neighbourhood is at its liveliest on summer evenings, when the restaurants spill onto terraces and the ballpark draws the after-work crowd.