A sign of progress from NRR’s neighborhood:
BusinessWeek.com has identified Northeast Minneapolis as a great buying opportunity.
Northeast Minneapolis is a blue-collar neighborhood that has transformed during the past decade into an artist district with studios and galleries. The neighborhood is a mix of residential and commercial and has plenty of restaurants and coffeehouses, a piano bar, and a hipster tiki bar called Psycho Suzie's Motor Lounge. Three-bedroom, two-bath houses can be found here for about $200,000.
The main article talks of artists as a vanguard for increasing a neighborhood’s property values.
Over time, these neighborhoods flourished, adding art galleries, coffee shops, hip little boutiques, and cool restaurants. Property values in turn increased to the point where many of the original artists found themselves priced out. Eventually the artists moved on in search of new bohemian blocks, but for the savvy home buyer, keeping an eye on where artists live can be a great way to get in early before a market takes off.
The trend is founded on a trade-off, according to BusinessWeek. They contend that artists are willing to settle for rat-infested buildings in crime-ridden neighborhoods.
Audubon Park is part of the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District, but is neither crime-ridden nor rat-infested. Here, you get the art without the decay. And a nice 3-bedroom, 2-bath home can be yours for even less than the claimed $200k!
I can already hear brows furrowing over the threat of gentrification. The prevailing attitude among community activists, it seems, is disdain for success. Even their own.
The artists will claim it isn’t fair, that they deserve rat-infested rents even after the rats are gone. Activist will join the chorus, adding some second-hand cares about the poor. But, I ask, do poor people buy much art? Don’t modestly-successful working folks deserve the advantages of hipster Bohemia?