Redesign Just Getting Started On Nicollet Mall

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- It seems like Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis has been under construction for a long time, but the redesign is actually just getting started.

Construction work on improving utilities has been going on along the mall for months.

"Downtown used to be just an ocean of surface parking lots, and now it's very much so a neighborhood," said Jacob Frey, a Minneapolis City Council Member during a Wednesday press conference. "North Loop is becoming a urban hub of new thinking and mentality, and the spine that connects it all is most definitely Nicollet Mall."

By fall of 2017, the street is expected to reopen for pedestrians and traffic.

The total redesign of Nicollet Mall is expected to be complete in 2018.