Philip Schwartz normally drives pedicabs in downtown Minneapolis, but on July 14, he took to Uptown, hosting an event to educate residents about the proposed Lyndale Avenue South reconstruction project.
From Lake Street up Hennepin Avenue and then crossing back to Lyndale, Schwartz cycled participants for free, chatting about the project proposal and current state of Uptown along the way.
Schwartz, who grew up in Minneapolis and has resided off of Lyndale for the past 12 years, recognizes the dangers its current setup poses for pedestrians and cyclists alike.
“A livable Lyndale to me is a street where I can comfortably walk,” he said. “My kids can maybe be running 20 feet ahead of me. I can take them on their bikes.”
Two days later, on July 16, the Minneapolis City Council approved the project with an 8-4 vote to repair and modify the 92-year-old street, awaiting final approval from Mayor Jacob Frey.
The construction project aims to repair the old infrastructure under the street from Franklin Avenue to 31st Street and add a two-way protected bikeway and bus transit stops to the surface.
The federal government allocated an estimated $9 million in project funding, but it will be lost if construction does not begin by 2028. According to a July 16 Facebook post by Council Member Soren Stevenson, who represents Ward 8, the project will protect the financing.
In the same post, Stevenson wrote that the street is in “dire need” of safety updates for those who “walk, bike, roll and drive.”
The Lyndale construction comes after extensive work on Hennepin Avenue South, which concluded in October 2025, leaving business owners like Ziad Alovaidi, co-owner and manager of Haraz Coffee House, worried that this project will produce similar problems. With Haraz only in its first month of business, Alovaidi knows the business will "take a hit.”
Although Hennepin businesses faced challenges after construction, according to Schwartz, the corridor struggled long before the project. To Schwartz, changing retail trends, social unrest after George Floyd’s murder in 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic all contributed to declining customer activity. Nevertheless, Schwartz sees Lyndale as “more resilient” and believes the businesses there will bounce back.
While the Lyndale undertaking has “similarities” to that of Hennepin, according to Schwartz, the streets are different, and, as such, the projects are as well. Where the Hennepin bus lane spanned the reconstruction’s length, the Lyndale one will only run northbound between 24th Street and Franklin, and street medians will be added solely on residential blocks.
“A lot of the businesses think that the medians on Hennepin and the bus lanes are going to be exact copies on Lyndale, and that's just not the case,” Schwartz said.
The project has ignited tensions between business owners and bike advocates, though Alovaidi recognizes the project’s necessity and potential for improving the area.
“At the end of the day, we understand that it needs to be done,” Alovaidi said.
Alovaidi wants to improve Uptown with his coffee house, and he is no stranger to the neighborhood. Before opening Haraz, Alovaidi ran nightclubs, choosing Lyndale for the business because of his familiarity with the area. But after nearly eight months of renovations and $750,000, the project took Alovaidi by surprise — he only found out about the proposal from an email his landlord sent to tenants.
“We were bummed right before we opened up that there is a big construction happening,” he said.
Old School by Steeple People also recently came to Lyndale, only for them, it was a return to the street where they first opened in 1979 — a homecoming, which according to manager Morgan Stemberger, has been “fantastic.”
“Lyndale and especially the mile or two that we’re on is such a vibrant shopping corridor,” she said. “It's one of those places in the city where you go without a real plan, and you just kind of wander and find a restaurant or a coffee shop or a thrift store.”
In choosing to reopen on Lyndale, Old School knew that weathering the construction would be a challenge.
“Change and disruption is always scary because better is always different, but different isn't always better,” Stemberger said. “Especially when the first step is pretty literally pulverizing it and taking away a resource you feel like you have.”
The 2028 start date offers Old School by Steeple People, according to Stemberger, a “buffer” period. One proposed idea to navigate the construction is to add a mural mapping out parking and other small businesses or landmarks in Lyndale.
“Instead of it being an inconvenience that you have to park two blocks away, maybe we can frame it as a whimsical adventure where you discover something else you didn't know of nearby,” she said.
While the reconstruction is a county project, Schwartz hopes the city takes “a vested interest” in the initiative.
“We just need support,” he said. “Businesses need to be supported. We need to activate the street during construction.”
The exact dates for construction have not yet been finalized. Until then, business owners and Schwartz urge customers to continue showing up to Lyndale. Schwartz’s vision of the Uptown he espoused on the pedicab ride may be a few years away, but, as he says, it will take all of us.
By Amelia Bush and Sonia Kharbanda
