Steve Cramer vividly remembers, Monday March 29th, 2022, days after Governor Walz stay-at-home order went into effect. Cramer’s job as the president and CEO of the Minneapolis Downtown Council was deemed essential.
Cramer headed into work that morning as usual.
“You know, getting on the freeway, hardly any other cars, driving into downtown, the normal hustle and bustle was totally missing,” Cramer says. “It really did feel like kind of a light switch on the downtown economy.”
For months that switch remained off. Companies big and small went remote as did schools. Restaurants closed, sports were canceled, there were no in person concerts or live events and all of that had a squeezing effect on downtown.
What was once a bustling business hub had just had its power cut off.
“Lights out basically,” Cramer tells WCCO’s Paul Hodowanic. “And again, that lasted for a longer period of time than people thought. I mean, if we think back to those days, almost two years ago now, it just wasn't clear how long this was going to last.”
The recovery of downtown, much like the world's initial fight with COVID, was slow. The stay-at-home order was lifted, but downtown remained a ghost town for much of 2020.
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The city's civil unrest following the killing of George Floyd, only compounded the issue.
“Both those things together really were kind of a one, two punch,” explains Cramer. “We were just in a different position than most other American cities. Every American city had to deal with COVID and to some extent, every American city had to deal with some degree of civil unrest. But that's because what happened on Memorial Day 2020 happened here.”
Come the start of 2021 Kramer estimates just 10% of office workers were coming into the city. It took a few more months before there were signs of progress. The first, he says, came when some of the major downtown corporations like Target, Xcel Energy and RBC helped distribute funds to small businesses to keep its ecosystem running.
A month later, the Twins returned with fans, albeit at a limited capacity.
By the end of 2021, Kramer estimates 40% of office workers returned for at least a day or two per week. The downtown area also grew its residential population by 3000 people in 2021, a sign that some returned back to the city.
All of these are indicators of progress, but progress towards what? The return of a pre-pandemic downtown is not realistic according to Cramer.
“Our post-COVID economy is going to be different downtown even as we kind of settled into, you know, whatever this this new normal is. This new reality is not going to be what it was before.”
While January saw some regression due to the rise of the Omicron variant and frigid temperatures, cramer is optimistic about the 2022 outlook. Many major corporations like Target, Wells Fargo and the city of Minneapolis plan to bring workers back in person this spring.
Major attractions like the NCAA Women's Final Four are coming to the city too, all of which could reestablish a bustling downtown.
“I believe very strongly, by the end of 2022, people who come downtown, whether it's to come to work or come to an event or a concert or whatever, are going to feel this is a lot more like the downtown I remember than anything they experienced, certainly in 2020 or 2021.”