City officials and some business leaders will tell you downtown Minneapolis is starting to feel livelier during the day, but the real gauge may be Zelo. The beloved Italian restaurant at the corner of 9th and Nicollet plans to reopen Oct. 11 for lunch, and will offer service Tuesday through Thursday.

In a post-pandemic work week, Tuesday and Wednesday are the busiest downtown, according to the Minneapolis Downtown Council, which spent the summer pushing Thursdays as well with special programming on Nicollet Mall.

“While I was hopeful that we could open fully for lunch, it still seems very apparent that the hybrid work schedule is here to stay—at least for now—so we decided to open for the days when the greatest amount of people are downtown,” Zelo manager Jason Gibbons said.

In recent months, the restaurant has noticed an uptick in midweek business travel dinners, Gibbons said. “We are hopeful that will translate to lunch as well.”

Every seat was occupied at the Zelo bar at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, and the dining room was buzzing.

During the Minneapolis Downtown Council’s annual fundraiser on Wednesday evening, president and CEO Steve Cramer broke the Zelo news from the stage with all the gusto of a large corporation bringing its employees back to the office. The crowd of more than 200 city supporters erupted in applause.

A Nicollet Mall fixture since 1999, Zelo’s pandemic shutdown dragged on for nearly three years. It became a sad symbol of downtown’s struggle to bounce back—on a once-vibrant corner that also lost J.B. Hudson Jewelers and McCormick & Schmick. Zelo finally reopened for dinner March 1. Owner Rick Webb told TCB at the time that he wanted to be part of downtown’s return, and he thought Zelo could help.

But Webb took a cautious approach to reopening, operating dinner only. This week, a Zelo manager told the downtown council to spread the word: lunch service will resume Oct. 11. For now, lunch hours will mirror what has become the hybrid downtown workweek:  Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

It’s not the only encouraging sign at 9th and Nicollet. Kiddie corner from Zelo, Target recently extended its hours to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday (7 p.m. Sunday), which is two hours later than it had been operating since the pandemic. Target’s half moon of glass doors, which had been partially boarded up due to safety concerns on Nicollet, are once again open with a new light sculpture in the atrium that adds vibrancy, but, perhaps more intentionally, also cuts through the center of the space to discourage loitering.