My husband dreamed of city living — I didn't. To compromise, we tried living in a high-rise condo downtown for one year.

Aug 04, 2026 12:08 AM - 1 hour ago 3

Woman successful gown smiling successful leather chair successful beforehand of ample windows pinch position of city

I thought I would dislike living successful a high-rise apartment. I grew up successful the woods of bluish Minnesota, watching cervid and the occasional carnivore rotation done the backyard.

I've spent my big life successful suburban townhomes adjacent ample parkland reserves, a discuss betwixt agrarian landscapes and the occupation opportunities of the Minneapolis metro area.

However, my hubby of 15-plus years has agelong fantasized astir municipality surviving and skyline views.

Whenever we drove by downtown flat buildings, he gazed wistfully astatine the units connected the precocious floors. When we were readying a trip to Tokyo, he pored done online reviews to find a room pinch the champion panoramic skyline view. At home, he watched YouTube videos of cityscapes and scrolled done existent property listings for municipality condos.

A successful matrimony is each astir compromise, truthful by the clip we deed our precocious 30s, I offered to give municipality surviving a try for 1 year, connected a part-time basis.

Since we don't person kids, it was feasible to divided our clip betwixt our suburban townhome successful the northwest metro and a 19th-floor condo we rented successful downtown Minneapolis.

As we lugged our furnishings up the freight elevator connected move-in day, my hubby was thrilled astir this breathtaking adventure. I was skeptical.

For the first clip successful my life, I was surrounded by asphalt and multi-story buildings. Instead of a shady patio and a lawn, we had a mini pavilion perched supra a engaged street.

The postulation sound was constant, punctuated by sirens from emergency vehicles going to and from the adjacent occurrence position and hospital.

Our downtown life is much pedestrian-focused

View of metropolis skyline successful Minneapolis from window

But arsenic we settled in, I started to spot the perks of urban high-rise life.

When my hubby and I travel, we gravitate to walkable metropolis centers and compact towns, utilizing stepping arsenic our superior mode of transit. Now I tin return that aforesaid attack to my regular life.

Three different market stores are wrong a 10-minute walk, and connected Saturday mornings, the year-round farmers marketplace is simply a five-minute locomotion away.

Evenings retired became centered connected stepping alternatively than driving, pinch the orchestra hall, ballpark, and aggregate theaters wrong a mile of our condo.

Minneapolis has a divers eating scene, and now overmuch of it is wrong stepping distance, from an Eastern European deli and Latina-owned java shop to an Indigenous edifice and chic Italian spot.

Living successful a high-rise flat building makes it easier to socialize

Living room successful condo pinch floor-to-ceiling windows, leather couch

We besides lucked retired pinch the societal segment successful our peculiar building.

In the suburbs, we ne'er really connected pinch our neighbors. Social events were geared to families, and arsenic a childless couple, we didn't person overmuch successful communal pinch our neighbors.

However, the mostly of units successful our building are one- aliases two-bedrooms, and astir inhabitants are quiet nesters aliases chap childfree couples.

Not having kids is little of a obstruction to socializing, and there's an awesome lineup of events, from book groups to an yearly building-wide vacation party.

During the Super Bowl and World Cup, group gathered successful the communal room to watch the games connected the large screen. Last spring, I rocked a thrifted dress astatine the building's first "prom for grownups."

We've made friends pinch a fewer different couples successful the building, and it's convenient to get together erstwhile we tin locomotion to a edifice a mates of blocks away.

Beyond our building, I for illustration emotion for illustration a portion of a vibrant municipality area. In the suburbs, I mostly saw cars driving backmost and forth. When I'm downtown, I tin measurement extracurricular and spot group of each different backgrounds sharing the aforesaid nationalist spaces.

I admit the views from our condo of the Mississippi River and the Minneapolis skyline, but my favourite portion is watching the group down below, playing section chess, stepping their dogs, aliases lining up astatine the vicinity crystal pick truck.

We're fresh to make downtown life permanent

View of Minneapolis metropolis skyline from supra astatine sunset

A fewer months into our lease, my hubby and I realized that 1 twelvemonth wouldn't beryllium enough. We some wanted to unrecorded downtown connected a semipermanent basis.

When we reached retired to our landlord, we discovered that she was readying to waste the portion arsenic soon arsenic our lease was up. So, we put successful an connection and are now negotiating the last acquisition agreement.

Once we've closed connected the condo, we're readying to database our townhome and unrecorded downtown full-time.

Although I'll miss my agelong runs successful the parkland reserve, I'm fresh for the adjacent chapter. It's clip to switch suburbia for the convenience and relationship of municipality life.