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A Place With A Point Of View

The Twin Cities 1st Innovation District

Towerside is a collaboration of public and private partners working to transform an overlooked, asset-rich district at the heart of the Twin Cities into an equitable and restorative demonstration of 21st century urban redevelopment.

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From Here to There

Building a Better Tomorrow

Much of our future depends on how we shape cities today. The form and function of our urban centers not only have major environmental impacts but significantly influence our social well-being, economic prosperity, connectedness, and sense of community. Getting this right is one of the greatest challenges of our time.

The Minneapolis Saint Paul metro is expected to grow by nearly 900,000 residents over the next three decades, bringing the region’s population to 3,738,000 people. At the same time nearly 500,000 new jobs are forecasted, with rapid employment growth occurring within the next decade. Together, this growth will increase the strain on affordability and economic opportunity, climate protection efforts, and aging infrastructure systems.

Neighborhoods sit at the heart of these issues, and Towerside is a neighborhood-based response to address these many complex challenges. The process for discovering and implementing solutions to our regional problems reach beyond any one sector. By working at a district-scale, Towerside is able to deliver the projects, programs, and infrastructure that can support a thriving community. This also serves to grow the Innovation District as a regional hub for environmental resilience, social vibrancy, and equitable economic opportunity. Towerside’s public-private partnership structure aligns leadership, improves cross-sector collaboration, and builds new models of inclusive governance to drive effective planning and project delivery.


What is an innovation district?

Innovation Districts are community and economic development frameworks within which partnerships of higher education institutions, businesses and government fuel job growth and redevelopment in physically compact, transit-accessible and technologically advanced targeted locations. Towerside Innovation District sets the bar higher because innovation is baked into everything we say, do and build; it’s part of our DNA. From our geography and district systems to our developments and connective public realm, Towerside intentionally builds its community on the foundation of innovative thinking.

Built By The Community

Towerside is the advancement of a community-born vision where collaboration, planning and investment yield successes well beyond what typical scatter-shot market development could achieve. The vision has come to life as a result of the partnership of developers, businesses, community residents, higher education institutions, non-profit organizations and government agencies working to build a new community.

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