Mpls Downtown Improvement District Announces 2023 Greening & Public Realm Award Winners

The Mpls Downtown Improvement District (DID) has announced its 2023 Greening & Public Realm Award winners, a group decided by an interactive public vote that includes three first-time winners among the eight categories.

The Greening & Public Realms Awards aim to amplify the greening efforts by local organizations and companies that help beautify downtown and its surrounding areas through enhancing our urban landscape.

The is year’s four first-time award winners include Mpls College Landing (Best Small Green Space), Hennepin Avenue (Best Streetscape), Rising by Richard Hunt (Best Public Art) and The Alley Project (Best Public Realm Improvement)

Loring Greenway won a Greening & Public Realm Awards for a record 12th straight year – including winning Best Large Green Space for the seventh year in a row. The Loring Park Neighborhood also took home the prize for Best Neighborhood Greening for the seventh year in a row as well. Peavey Plaza won its third straight Greening & Public Realm Award for Best Activated Space.

“We had a tremendous summer downtown, and our community added to the vibrancy felt by residents, employees and visitors through incredible greening in their respective spaces,” said Steve Cramer, President & CEO of the Mpls Downtown Improvement District. “We congratulate our winners of this year’s DID Greening Awards and commend all finalists and nominees on positively contributing to our city’s core.”

Greening & Public Realm Award winners will receive a commemorative plaque created by Wood from the Hood, a Minneapolis-based company that reclaims discarded trees from urban neighborhoods and creates high-quality wood products. Each award will display the year the award was issued and the category that was won. Winning locations will also receive a Greening & Public Realm Awards winner sign to designate their award-winning greenery.

The finalists, nominated by the public, were selected and categorized by members of the Mpls DID staff based on criteria including overall year-over-year enhancements as well as continued excellence in adding vibrancy to the public realm.