Target Field, Minneapolis, home to Minnesota Twins.
Since the untimely death of Minnesota’s native son Prince, business at First Avenue, the Minneapolis venue frequented by the icon and made famous as both a recording and a filming site for the album and movie Purple Rain, has been experiencing a big uptick.
Its location a block from Target Field doesn’t hurt either.
“What’s been great about Target Field and TCF Bank Stadium is we’re seeing more outdoor concerts come through that didn’t have available sites previously,” said Nathan Kranz, First Avenue’s general manager. “And the vibe around the new Vikings Stadium, which has spurred recent development and housing in the city, is huge. It’s a great time to be a concert promoter and venue operator in Minneapolis.”
Among the city’s many projects and revamps is First Avenue’s renovation of
the Palace Theater, a 1916 vaudeville theater/movie house that has been dormant for four decades. It will hold about 2,800 people for general admission shows, compared with First Avenue’s capacity of 1,650.
Growth in the city is evident. The Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area had 31.6 million total visitors in 2015, a two percent increase over 2014’s 30.9 million convention and leisure travel visitors. According to the Meet Minneapolis Convention & Visitors Association it is a new record for the area.
A study conducted by D.K. Shifflet & Associates, Ltd. shows that both the number of visitors and visitor spending increased in 2015, with visitors spending $7.5 billion in the area, an increase of 1 percent over 2014, when spending was $7.4 billion. The number of leisure visitors alone also increased 1 percent to 22.5 million in 2015 from 22.3 million in 2014, with spending increasing to $5.2 billion, or 2 percent over $5.1 billion spent in 2014. This growth is expected to continue, with a total of 2,100 hotel rooms added in the next three years.
“We are in our fourth record year as far as convention center and hotel occupancy,” said Brent Foerster, senior vice president of destination sales at the Meet Minneapolis Convention & Visitors Association. “As one of the few upper Midwest cities with a growing population, in the next six to seven years, Minneapolis is expected to expand from 40,000 to 65,000 residents.”
The convention center has undergone $10 million a year in renovations over the last three years that has included the addition of solar panels and other energy-saving features, a hallmark of this green city.
But Minneapolis’ most recent crowning jewel is the $1 billion-plus U.S. Bank Stadium, new home of the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings and site of the 2018 Super Bowl, which opened in July. With a capacity of 66,200, the 1.75 million-square-foot facility includes 430 food and beverage points of sale, 8,200 club seats, 131 premium suites and a video board 13 times larger than the Metrodome’s, the Vikings’ former stadium.
“This 60 percent glass stadium is a multiuse facility,” said Foerster. “Minneapolis has more than 80 blocks of skyway, so we are well-equipped to handle big events here during winter.”
The opening of the new stadium comes right at the heels of the city’s Target Field, built in 2010 and home to Major League Baseball’s Minnesota Twins. The venue also has undergone changes since its creation, and was created to center around the preferences of Millennials.
“Since this demographic prefers to wander around, rather than stay seated, we built out a bar/restaurant area by right field with local eatery Barrio and took out two sections of center field seating to add outlets from restaurants Pizza Luce and Red Cow,” said Matt Hoy, senior vice president of operations for Target Field and the Twins.
In addition to ball games, Target Field plays host to between 200 and 240 events a year, including recent concerts by Paul McCartney, Kenny Chesney and Zach Brown.
The ongoing renovations and new construction of the city’s largest venues also have positively impacted its performing arts theaters.
Hennepin Theatre Trust owns three historic theaters in Minneapolis. The 1,114-seat Pantages was built in 1916. The 2,579-seat Orpheum and 2,181-seat State were both built in 1921. It opened New Century Theatre, which holds 300, in 2011.
“Along with a wide variety of arts and culture that we present on our stages, from Broadway shows to comedies, to musicals, to local entertainment, we look at our cultural district as a collective space where our patrons and others who support the arts and culture experience the power of it together,” said Naomi Pesky, Hennepin Theatre Trust’s vice president of external relations. “In effect, Hennepin Avenue serves as the lobby for our theaters.”
With Hennepin Avenue at its center, Minneapolis’ WeDo cultural district spans 1.7 miles and includes 192 window displays converted into urban art galleries, murals, street performers, restaurants, bars and historical sites. More than a half million people visited the area and its theaters in 2015, with the four Hennepin Theatre Trust facilities hosting 407 performances last year.
“The new stadium has sparked incredible development around the city that is beneficial to the entire region,” said Pesky. “The major road construction project on Nicollette Avenue, a block away from Hennepin Avenue, has consolidated the bus routes to our street, [which has driven more traffic than usual to the area].”
Also on Hennepin Avenue, The Cowles Center includes the newly refurbished 500-seat Goodale Theater; the former Hennepin Center for the Arts, home to 20 dance and performing arts organizations; Target Education Studio, housing The Cowles Center’s distance learning program; and the new U.S. Bank Atrium.
“The Cowles Center is the flagship for dance and a destination for other dance companies from other cities looking for a model to emulate,” said Dana Munson, The Cowles Center’s marketing and sales director. “The Goodale Theater, which was relocated in 1999, is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the heaviest building ever moved on tires.”
In addition to its regular season, The Cowles Center is consistently rented for shows and events, including “In My Life,” a Beatles Review from San Diego and Detroit-based “Crossdresser for Christ-The Musical” with Ginger Minj of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
Another historic theater, this one located at the University of Minnesota, is the 87-year-old Northrop Auditorium. The venue completed an $88-million renovation in April 2014 that was financed by the Higher Education Asset Relief Fund and private donations that secured a number of naming rights. The transformation included paring down the 4,800 seats to 2,692, creating a three-story atrium lobby, adding a loading dock and updating the lighting and electronics.
“Undergoing this incredible renovation was like building a ship in a bottle,” said Northrup Director Christine Tschida. “We’re experiencing a very strong concert business, with 25 shows a year, including John Mellencamp, Idina Menzel and The Steve Miller Band.” The auditorium also is home to the university’s honors program and Institute for Advanced Studies.
The biggest renters at 1,126-seat Tedd Mann Concert Hall at the University of Minnesota’s School of Music is the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus and the Liquid Music series.
“We also have dance companies come through that we don’t present, and are looking to expand music programming and partner with others to co-sponsor events,” said Lisa Marshall, PR coordinator. “Although we’re not out to target the stadium crowd, our new production manager, Kevin Ramach, may seek to work with the Vikings to build out events in our space in the future.”
Although the 65,000-square-foot Theatre at the Woman’s Club, which includes a 628-seat theater, ballrooms, dining rooms and meeting rooms, hosts 40 to 70 private parties a week, it seeks to expand its theater offerings to attract more children and retirees.
“Withour events, we’re seeing less sit-down dinners and silent auctions and more cocktail parties and big asks, like private theater performances,” said Tim Welsh, catering director. “It’s just an example of how the city’s venues are being used in different ways than in the past.”
Interviewed for this story: Brent Foerster, (612) 767-8130; Matt Hoy, (612) 659-3400; Nathan Kranz, (612) 338-8388; Lisa Marshall, (612) 626-1094; Dana Munson, (612) 206-3630; Christine Tschida, (612) 626-8711; Tim Welsh, (612) 813-5304