North Loop Dog Park Site Is Becoming a Bathhouse as Nearby Projects Take Shape

The corner of North Third Street and Eighth Avenue has been an off-leash dog park for close to fifteen years, and it never cost anyone a dime. Property owner Schafer Richardson let the neighborhood use the vacant lot for free. Volunteers from the North Loop Neighborhood Association mowed it, fenced it, and collected donations from local business owners to keep it in shape. The arrangement was temporary.

This year, the lot's future became clear: Schafer Richardson sold the parcel to Swervo Development, and a neighborhood association post said construction would begin in early 2026, with dogs able to keep using the lot through January 30, "possibly longer, depending on the weather and the new owner's construction schedule." The Minneapolis Planning Commission signed off on the site plan that February, and the developer told the commission it expected to break ground that spring and finish within twelve to fourteen months. Run that timeline forward and the fenced lot at Third and Eighth has almost certainly been an active construction site for months by now, not a place anyone is walking a dog.

What's replacing it is not another storefront. It's a 45,000-square-foot wellness building, the biggest single project this stretch of the North Loop has seen in years, and its opening is targeted for the first half of 2027.

What's Rising Where the Dog Park Used to Be

The new building at 760 North Third Street belongs to Bathhouse, a New York-based social wellness company opening its seventh location nationally and its first in Minnesota. The plans call for hot and cold pools, a salt pool, infrared sauna, Banya and Aufguss saunas, steam rooms, Turkish steam baths, a full massage program, and a heated rooftop pool on top. Day passes at Bathhouse's existing New York clubs start at $39. The company has said it wants the North Loop location to hold to that same price point, which is a notable promise for a facility built to fit more than one hundred people in a single sauna.

As for timing, Bathhouse and Swervo Development have targeted an opening in the first half of 2027. The lot will have been behind a construction fence for months before Bathhouse opens, and the new facility will charge admission.

Another wellness project is underway a few blocks away.

A Second Spa Is Also Coming, and Its Summer Target Has Passed

A few blocks over, Watershed Spa, the communal bathhouse that made its name in a converted Soap Factory building near St. Anthony Main, has been building a second North Loop location at 250 Third Avenue North, in a building now called the Wheelhouse. The space, a former Traffic Zone gallery and later Bev's Wine Bar, is being redeveloped by St. Louis Park-based Crowe Cos. and is meant to include four massage rooms, a communal bathing space, private soaking tubs, a tatami-style room, and a meditation area facing a garden.

When Watershed first announced the project in late 2025, the plan was to open in January. By this summer, the company's own FAQ had revised that to "summer 2026," with a caveat baked right into the wording: "the construction process may take longer," because the Wheelhouse carries historic building protections that complicate the build-out. Summer has passed with no confirmed opening. Bathhouse, by contrast, is targeting the first half of 2027.

Here's the corner in one view.

PopUp Bagels Is Targeting an Opening This Fall

At 107 Third Avenue North, in the Saxon Building between Solidcore and Bellecour, PopUp Bagels, the Connecticut-born chain known for selling whole bagels by the bag rather than slicing them, is building its first Minnesota location. Franchisee Dan D'Aquisto told the North Loop Neighborhood Association's Planning and Zoning Committee the roughly 1,700-square-foot shop could open by late September or early October. Strack Construction, the contractor on the build-out, said in a recent update it is targeting completion this October.

That's a matter of weeks from now, not a matter of years. One neighborhood detail worth knowing if you haven't heard it: chef Gavin Kaysen, whose restaurants Bellecour, Demi, and Spoon and Stable all sit within a few blocks of the new shop, is reportedly one of D'Aquisto's biggest local supporters. It's a small, specific signal of how tightly wound this stretch of the North Loop already is, restaurant owners rooting for the bagel shop opening next door.

Smaller Moves Worth Knowing About

A few other changes are happening on a quieter scale along the same blocks:

• The NOW, a new massage boutique, is under construction on North Second Street in the same building as the Ten Spot and Red Cow, in the former Queen Anna space.
• Clinic Ellena, an aesthetics and wellness practice, is relocating to Third Avenue from its longtime home in St. Anthony Main.
• Flower Bar is opening a second Twin Cities location on the ground floor of the Sable building on Third Street.

None of these are large enough to shift the character of the neighborhood on their own, but stacked next to Bathhouse and Watershed, they point in the same direction: this stretch of the North Loop is adding paid wellness and personal-care square footage.

So Where Do You Actually Walk the Dog

This is the question the neighborhood association is still working on. NLNA vice president David Crary has said the group is looking at land currently controlled by several public agencies as a possible replacement site, but nothing has been finalized in any public update so far. In the meantime, the closest thing to new public space on these blocks is a different project entirely: the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board's plan for a half-acre park on Third Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, funded through a roughly $2 million capital concept that includes a small plaza sized for four food trucks, a modest stage, and open lawn. Residents specifically asked the park board to keep the design simple and quiet, and the concept reflects that. It was never intended as a dog run, and nothing in the public planning documents suggests it will become one.

The former free off-leash dog park is closed. Bathhouse and Watershed are paid wellness businesses, while the planned park was not intended as an off-leash dog run. The bagel shop is targeting an opening this fall. Bathhouse is targeting the first half of 2027, while Watershed has no confirmed opening date.

If you're watching this corner change from a rental a few blocks away, or thinking about how a fast-moving stretch like this factors into a longer view of owning in the North Loop, that's exactly the kind of on-the-ground detail worth talking through before you commit to a decision. SAVIA Group Real Estate works with buyers and owners across the Twin Cities who want to understand a block, not just a listing. Schedule a consultation when you're ready to think it through.