In 2023, the population in downtown Minneapolis inched up 2.9% to 58,409, according to the latest data from the Minneapolis Downtown Council.

That marked an increase over the rate of population growth in 2022 – 1.2% – but it’s nowhere near the 14.5% jump seen back in 2018.

For downtown advocates, though, any growth is good growth. At the downtown council’s annual meeting at The Armory on Wednesday, Anna Coskran, principal with Minneapolis-based real estate firm NTH, noted that the city’s urban core has welcomed 7,100 new residents since 2020.

At the same time, new construction continued apace. Coskran said that developers pulled $1.5 billion worth of new construction permits throughout the city of Minneapolis last year. Much of the activity was downtown, with $441 million worth of permits pulled in wards 3 and 7, which both cover parts of downtown.

Still, last year’s total value of permitting was down in 2023 over the prior year, when the city reported $1.9 billion in permits.

Meanwhile, the council maintains that more people have been returning downtown to work. According to council data, 65% of downtown employees come to the office “in some capacity each week,” with Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays being the most popular in-office days. Hennepin Healthcare also overtook Target as the top employer in downtown Minneapolis. According to the council, Hennepin Healthcare employs 7,208 people downtown, while Target has 7,100 downtown workers. Hennepin County, which has not yet called its workers back to the office and remains largely hybrid, came in third with 5,654 employers.

Mayor Jacob Frey, who’s long been banging the drum for a mass return-to-office, admonished workers and employers who aren’t prioritizing time in downtown offices.

“You all are here because you love Minneapolis. You all are here because you’re committed to downtown. And you’ve stuck with it. You’re bringing your employees back, right?” Frey said before repeating in the affirmative: “You’re bringing your employees back.”

The mayor went on to joke that people who have the option to return to the office but instead choose to work at home are “losers.”

“I don’t know if you saw this study the other day,” Frey said in jest, “but what this study clearly showed is that when people who have the ability to come downtown to an office don’t – when they stay home, sitting on their couch with their nasty cat blanket, diddling on their laptop – if they do that for a few months, you become a loser. It’s a study. We’re not losers, are we?”

Whether a mass return-to-office would revitalize downtown Minneapolis is still up for debate, as even other speakers at the council’s meeting noted. In December, a report by the Minneapolis Foundation acknowledged that downtown’s pre-pandemic weekday workforce is unlikely to ever return in full and recommended prioritizing residential population growth instead.

“I want to recognize the CEOs, executive teams, and other leaders who are prioritizing return-to-office,” said Adam Duininck, the council’s new president and CEO. “But to be clear, the vibrancy of downtown derives from the people who spend all their time here, not just at work.”

Similar to his predecessor Steve Cramer, Duininck advocated for a shift in thinking about downtown – focusing less on bringing back the old glory days and more on imaging a new future. Cramer described it as moving into downtown’s “next season.”

Duininck said his vision for downtown ultimately hinges on public safety, inclusion, and reimagination.

“There’s nothing more certain in life than change,” Duininck told attendees. “So instead of talking about how we’re going to revitalize downtown – going back to the way it used to be – we’re going to talk about how we’re going to reimagine downtown.”