From CenHen to WeDo, neighborhood monikers attempt to redefine Minneapolis

Can you point the way to WeDo? How about SoFa? International Gateway?

The name game is ever-present these days in Minneapolis, as people seek to give their corner of the city more prominence in the local lexicon. Sometimes it works, like Nicollet Avenue's "Eat Street" makeover in the late 1990s. But other names, dreamed up by committees, consultants or sometimes a rogue resident on a mission, face longer odds of becoming household names.

The rapid replacement of parking lots with buildings in Downtown East recently spurred business leaders there to commission a list of district name ideas — with the help of a $25,000 grant from the city. The owner of Restaurant Alma on University Avenue at 6th Avenue SE. said this week he wants to revive the historical "East Minneapolis" moniker for that part of town. An architecture firm is promoting a vision for what they call "West Loop" near the city's farmers market. Arts groups launched a campaign last year to call west downtown "WeDo."

"Realistically, I think a lot of this is driven by the real estate industry and wanting to get the right pedigree for a property," said longtime developer Chuck Leer, who once pushed the intentionally playful name "NoWare" for the area north of the Warehouse District.

Or sometimes it's just about finding shorthand for a place.

City Council Member Jacob Frey has been calling his neighborhood on Hennepin Avenue east of the river "CenHen" — coined by a local blogger — referring to the intersection of Central and Hennepin avenues. That follows failed attempts years ago to call it "NeHe."

Frey said it is a hard place to describe in conversation, since the south half of Hennepin is not in Northeast and its more official "East Bank" name conjures images of the University area. "There's a difference between naming for purposes of identification and naming just to sound cool," Frey said.

Trying on a new name can be remarkably simple, with enough money.

A stretch of Lake Street near Interstate 35W was suddenly rebranded as "International Gateway" recently, replete with more than 40 streetlight banners featuring flags from around the world and accompanying trash can placards. The new informal district is the work of Basim Sabri, who owns multiple immigrant-focused malls in south Minneapolis.

"This area needs a little coloring, a little attention," said Sabri, whose company is now picking up the trash along an area near his offices. He installed the flags at his own expense, after securing city permits, in a go-it-alone approach to work commonly arranged by a group of businesses through the city.

"Flags mean a lot to many people. And they mean a lot to me, too," Sabri said. The trash can placards violated city rules and must come down, however, though Sabri intends to replace them with art prints.

But he is the exception to a process often awash with studies and consultants.

Take the effort underway to brand a district in what has been known as the Downtown East area, around the future Wells Fargo campus and Vikings stadium. Downtown East is technically an official Minneapolis neighborhood, but the development activity there straddles its border with the Elliot Park neighborhood.

The East Downtown Council, a collection of primarily business leaders, received the $25,000 city grant for the effort — most of which went to local public relations firm PadillaCRT to help with branding. The firm developed a list of 27 names to "spark community discussion," including East Downtown, E Do (a take on "WeDo" branding), Newsmaker District and SoFa (South of Fifth Avenue).

Dan Collison, executive director of the East Downtown Council, said that two years ago they viewed the wave of development in the area both as an opportunity and a threat. "It is trying to bring … all the voices to the table in a part of town that's being completely redefined," Collison said. "And it's awkward, frankly. I think cities don't develop this fast."

Former Mayor R.T. Rybak, who helped coordinate the major developments in the area, thinks it should be the Armory District. "I actually think we should name it after the most distinctive landmark in the area," Rybak wrote in an e-mail.

The difference between identifying an area and whitewashing parts of its character can depend on who participates in the process, said Neeraj Mehta, director of community-based research at the University of Minnesota's Center for Urban and Regional Affairs. Mehta lives in north Minneapolis, where several years ago a group of Realtors and residents pushed a "Get to NOMI" campaign to spark more interest in the area.

"Does [NOMI] hold the full richness of our history and diversity? And I would argue in the way in which the name was developed, it likely did not," Mehta said. "There were, I think, African-American and other community members who [felt], 'If we see mostly white people using the term, and if it is used simply to sell real estate, then it's disingenuous.' "

But rebranding a stretch of Nicollet Avenue as "Eat Street" in the late 1990s has stuck and reinforced the area's identity.

The change was part of a broader effort in the late 1990s by local businesses, including the owners of the Black Forest Inn and Rainbow Chinese restaurant, to revive the commercial corridor. The name itself grew out of a 1997 headline in the Star Tribune, heralding the multitude of ethnic restaurants and groceries on "Eats Street," according to former Black Forest owner Joanne Christ.

"I think it stuck because that's what it is," Christ said, who helped lead the effort. "It's not fanciful [and] it's not aspirational. It's the real thing."

Eric Roper • 612-673-1732

Twitter: @StribRoper