Minneapolis, Minnesota

Population: 387,970
Located in Hennepin County

Although Minneapolis was the second of the Twin Cities to develop, it is the larger of the two. Located west of St. Paul and, for the most part, west of the Mississippi River, Minneapolis covers more than 58 square miles.

Housing
There are more than 178,000 housing units in Minneapolis; single-family homes account for more than 77,000. The city's 1996 housing profile shows that nearly 90 percent of all single family homes in the city are owner occupied.

About 40 percent of all residential buildings were built before 1920, almost 50 percent before 1960. Although only 10 percent have been built since 1960, the city classifies approximately 82 percent of all housing as average or above average.

The number of single-family attached homes, including townhouses and condominiums, has increased by 50 percent during the past 10 years. These homes account for more than 5 percent of all city housing. Most of the increase has been in the Central and Calhoun-Isles communities.

Neighborhoods
Just as separate cities have distinct characteristics, so do the neighborhoods that make up the city of Minneapolis. There are 11 recognized planning districts, or communities, in Minneapolis that are divided into more than 80 neighborhoods.

Calhoun-Isles -- Composed of the neighborhoods of Bryn Mawr, CARAG, Cedar-Isles-Dean, East Isles, ECCO, Kenwood, Lowry Hill, Lowry Hill East and West Calhoun.

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Uptown: Located southwest of downtown, Calhoun-Isles is also home to Uptown, a trendy area with a variety of unique shops and restaurants. The Lake St. and Hennepin Ave. intersection forms the hub of Uptown. It has become a strong and diversified commercial area -- an urban business setting softened by nearby houses, apartment buildings and parks.

Kenwood: Kenwood, between Lake of the Isles and Cedar Lake, contains the city's largest concentration of expensive homes.

Bryn-Mawr: The neighborhood is surrounded on three sides by parkland; Wirth Park on the west, Bassett's Creek Valley on the north and Bryn Mawr Meadows on the east. There also are three lakes in the neighborhood; Brownie, Birch Pond and Cedar. Bryn Mawr has several unusual houses, including five distinct brownstone houses near Bryn Mawr Meadows and a large Victorian house divided into apartments known as "the white castle."

Camden -- Composed of the neighborhoods of Camden, Cleveland, Folwell, Lind-Bohanon, McKinley, Shingle Creek and Victory. Camden is in the far northwest corner of the city. The community includes two industrial areas.

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 Camden: In the Camden neighborhood, most of the housing units were built between 1910 and 1930. They are two and three-bedroom starter homes with limited expansion potential. The Camden Neighborhood Association works to get rid of substandard housing, stress the importance of neighborhood schools, revitalize business in the area and address the needs of the elderly, many of whom have lived in Camden all their lives.

Shingle Creek: From end to end, the Shingle Creek neighborhood in extreme northwest Minneapolis is a study in 1950's style residential architecture, the neighborhood is rife with compact, three-bedroom ramblers, 1 1/2- story houses and one-car detached garages. Shingle Creek itself is a prominent feature in the area. The neighborhood has a few small commercial areas and a large industrial corridor that runs along 49th Ave. N.

Central -- Composed of the neighborhoods of Downtown East, Downtown West, Elliot Park, Loring Park, North Loop and Stevens Square.

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Loring Park: Loring Park has changed over the years into a trendy neighborhood that has preserved its turn-of-the-century mansions and brick and brownstone walk-up apartments to become a Bohemian mix of new condominium and apartment complexes, cultural centers and restaurants. The Loring Park area is home to the Red Eye Collaboration, Music Box Theatre and Loring Cafe. Five of the city's oldest and largest churches are in the area, including the Basilica of St. Mary and Hennepin Ave. United Methodist Church.

Downtown: Eighty percent of the condominiums, townhouses and cooperatives in Minneapolis are located downtown. The heart of the downtown residential community is a 12-by-10-block area referred to as Downtown West, developed around the venerable Nicollet Mall. Downtown East has fewer than 40 residents but is home to the Metrodome and an assortment of turn-of-the-century buildings.

Longfellow -- Composed of the neighborhoods of Cooper, Hiawatha, Howe, Longfellow and Seward.

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Hiawatha: Just across the Mississippi from St. Paul's Macalester-Groveland neighborhood, Hiawatha is a quiet bedroom community in the heart of the metro area. Hiawatha is home to Lock and Dam No. 1, a popular attraction on the Mississippi River.

Seward: It's been said that Seward is really a suburb of the Mississippi River's West Bank area, home to some from the nearby University of Minnesota and Fairview Riverside Medical Center. As a result, Seward is home to educators, students, medical professionals and even government officials. A unique feature of Seward is the Milwaukee Ave. mall area, a two-block pedestrian street with many historic houses.

Near North -- Composed of the neighborhoods of Harrison, Hawthorne, Jordan, Near North, Sumner-Glenwood and Willard Hay. Near-North is directly northwest of Central and includes two industrial areas.

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Hawthorne: Just north of downtown, Hawthorne is an older, inner-city, mostly residential neighborhood whose primary issues are dealing with image problems resulting from rising crime. For every crime, however, there seems to be a corresponding amount of optimism for the neighborhood's future. Several community-action programs designed to revitalize inner-city neighborhoods are active.

Nokomis -- Composed of the neighborhoods of Diamond Lake, Ericsson, Field, Hale, Keewaydin, Minnehaha, Morris Park, Northrup, Page, Regina and Wenonah. Nokomis is a blend of lakes and tidy lawns that anchor the city's southeast corner. The suburb of Richfield is directly south of Nokomis.

Spotlight on:
Keewaydin: Keewaydin is primarily residential, but it does have several small

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