Upper Harbor Park Opened Before the Rest of Upper Harbor. Here's How to Use the Gap.

Upper Harbor Park had its grand opening on Saturday, Sept. 19. It is the first part of the Upper Harbor Terminal redevelopment that anyone can actually use, and for now it is the only finished one. Next door, the 8,000-seat amphitheater run by the Port of Minneapolis, a joint venture of First Avenue and the Minnesota Orchestra, isn't expected to open until next summer. That is two years later than first planned. The housing and industrial buildings planned around the park have no start dates.

So the park is getting a head start. Between now and the 2027 concert season, the riverfront at North Dowling Avenue will be a park with nothing yet operating beside it. That stretch includes a full winter. This fall is a good time to learn the place as it is now.

Why the park came first

For most of the past half century, there was no public access here. The Upper Harbor shipping terminal ran from 1968 until 2014. The Star Tribune notes that I-94, built starting in the 1960s, helped cut North Minneapolis off from the Mississippi River, and decades of industrial use on the riverfront closed off access even more. At the opening, MPRB President Tom Olsen called the interstate "a scar of 94 that is separating North Minneapolis and the community from this wonderful riverfront."

Public money got the park built ahead of everything else. A $15 million state bond is shared by the City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. The Mississippi Watershed Management Organization put in another $10 million for a stormwater system that serves the whole Upper Harbor site. According to Finance & Commerce, the private pieces have to assemble their own financing, and that is where the schedule has slipped.

Where the rest of the 53 acres stands

The 2021 plan approved by the Minneapolis City Council calls for 520 homes, mostly mixed-income affordable housing, on four parcels. It also includes about 180,000 square feet of industrial space, a community health and wellness hub, and 45,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial and cultural space. United Properties is the master developer for those parts. Here is the status of each piece, based on Finance & Commerce's Sept. 7 reporting:

The amphitheater is moving fastest. Crews under Kraus-Anderson and Zuri 3 broke ground in early May. By mid-August the stagehouse foundation was in, the bandshell's steel frame was up, and structural stone was shoring up the tiered seating area. Under the coordinated plan, $3 from every ticket goes to North Minneapolis community initiatives through a partnership with the African American Community Development Corporation.

Housing will take longer. Hilary Holmes, the city's senior project coordinator for Upper Harbor since 2018, told Finance & Commerce the hope is "to close the gap on the first affordable housing development … within the next couple years." Parcel 1b on the riverfront would likely come next. Senior housing on the second riverfront parcel is on a longer timeline.

That table shapes a visit. Parcels 7a and 7b, at the western edge near Washington Avenue, are set to become amphitheater parking and rideshare space. No public source lists a visitor parking lot for the park itself. Before summer 2027, getting to the park doesn't compete with a crowd of up to 8,000. After that, on show nights, it will.

What the finished part offers

MPRB lists the park at 3700 West River Road North, with the main entrance on North Dowling Avenue. The layout runs north to south in three parts. A roughly five-acre central gathering area sits in the middle, connected to the river by pedestrian and bike trails. The northern end has the more active spaces for events and recreation. The southern end is quieter, with gardens, green infrastructure, learning spaces and natural areas.

Three features are worth looking for:

• The riverfront platform and swings at the water's edge, shown in MPRB's opening photos.
• The interactive water feature. It connects to the district stormwater system, so it is the visible part of the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization's $10 million investment.
• The terminal's leftover structures. The park was built around old tanks, girders and concrete forms from the working port. The Star Tribune says they give the space a "weathered, almost cinematic quality" that has drawn comparisons to Seattle's Gas Works Park.

The park is still young. The trees are "still small enough to look slightly lost in the wide-open landscape," the Star Tribune wrote, and shade "will come eventually." On sunny days the low fall light makes that matter less than it would in July. The Star Tribune's Sept. 25 coverage showed people skating, reading on a swing chair, walking dogs and using the trails.

Getting there without a parking lot

MPRB's park page lists a bike path, walking paths, a picnic area and a community garden. It doesn't list visitor parking. The city's 2026 W River Road Phase 2 project is building the new road north from 33rd Avenue North, and its project page doesn't say whether curbside parking will be allowed. Here are the options the sources do support:

1. Transit. Metro Transit's D Line has a station at Fremont & Dowling, west of the park along Dowling. The route map doesn't give the walking distance. Route 22 is on a detour that uses Lowry, Second Street and Washington Avenue North, and Dowling. Its listed alternate stops are Lyndale & Lowry and Lyndale & Dowling.
2. Bike from the south. A 1,000-foot river trail between Ole Olson Park and the 26th Avenue North Overlook opened in May, and the off-street trail on 26th Avenue links Farview Park to the river. MinnPost reported in June that the riverfront trail runs into active industrial land at 26th Avenue. On a ride from downtown, about a mile of the route uses the on-street bike lane on Second Avenue North.
3. Park to the north and walk. North Mississippi Regional Park, home to the Carl W. Kroening Nature Center, has a free lot. MPRB doesn't present it as Upper Harbor parking, and the direct trail link between the two parks is still listed as planned.

MPRB's long-term plan connects Upper Harbor north to North Mississippi Regional Park and Victory Memorial Parkway, and south to West River Parkway. For now, expect a few on-street blocks on any route.

Winter is part of the head start

The park doesn't close for the season. KARE reports it will stay open through the winter and its bike paths will be plowed. Developed areas are open 6 a.m. to midnight and undeveloped areas 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. MPRB's fall notice says some restrooms may close before the park does.

There is no organized programming yet. MPRB's public calendars for October, November and December 2026 list no events at Upper Harbor Park. A visit this season means walking the trails, sitting on the platform, and watching the amphitheater's steel go up from the park next door.

For something warm afterward, The Lowry Cafe at 2207 Lowry Ave. N. and Tootie's On Lowry are both on the Lowry corridor south of the park. The park itself has no cafe.

Upper Harbor is a long-term project, and the park's head start is the first piece of a plan that will take years to finish. If you're a North Minneapolis homeowner wondering how the amphitheater, the riverfront housing parcels and the new parkway could affect your own plans over the next decade, Julissa Fuentes Roberts is glad to talk it through with you, with no pressure and no timeline. Schedule a Consultation when you're ready.