Emily Dussault, an actor and city resident, welcomes the redevelopment. “When people visit, they anticipate a really exciting and fun place, and we’re like, ‘No, let’s go somewhere else,’ ” she said. Ms. Dussault said she steered out-of-town friends to the more artsy neighborhoods of Uptown and Northeast.

Many cities have tried to generate urban renewal around a big project like a new stadium with mixed success over the years. It is often hard to persuade those who left for the suburbs to return.

For Governor Dayton, reviving the downtown means making good on a childhood lesson. “My father and his brothers were retailers, and they preached the downtown,” he said. “If left to its own, development goes to greenfield sites on the outlying areas and you end up with a doughnut hole. Once you get behind the eight ball with a downtown in decay, it’s very, very difficult to turn that around.”

Mayor Betsy Hodges is promoting such a turnaround for Minneapolis. “We have an opportunity that few cities get, a big part of our downtown that’s underdeveloped,” she said. “It’s a 21st-century resurgence, as people reimagine downtown living. They rediscover the value of living in a city and what advantages that brings in terms of recreation, employment, opportunities to live without a car and be around other people.”

Mayor Hodges said Downtown East was part of a broader citywide goal to double the number of downtown residents, now 35,000.