Target Corporation is the latest company to flee downtown Minneapolis. Citing the “need for less space,” the violence that has engulfed Minneapolis after the death of George Floyd and the de-funding of the police were not mentioned in an e-mail sent to the employees about the decision on Thursday. For the 3,500 employees who work out of the City Center location along South Sixth Street, Kremer stated more information would be made available in the coming weeks.
Steve Cramer with the Minneapolis Downtown Council says it’s too early to tell what what fill the City Center space, but he’s optimistic for the future of what downtown will look like.
“There’s a slow recovery that’s happened over this last year and I believe it’s really going to pick up steam come summer and into the fall,” Cramer said.
Other businesses in the area including Haskell’s Wine and Spirits say this change could be really bad for them.
“I think it’s horrible it’s an ominous sign of things that are going to happen downtown,” said Ted Farrell, President of Haskell’s. “It’s literally the death of a downtown Metro area, it’s actually sad to see.”
Describing downtown as a “ghost town,” Haskell’s president Ted Farrell says the unrest on top of the pandemic makes it challenging to do business downtown.
The Minneapolis Downtown Council estimates office buildings are at about 15 to 16 percent occupied according to KTSP. That number, according to officials, is typically closer to 90 percent.
