Interactive link to median sales price featured in the picture above: http://northstarmls.stats.10kresearch.com/infoserv/s-v1/ZxJP-Ez9
Residents in Columbia Park brag that they get the best of city life while enjoying peace and quiet with a yard to play in. The L-shaped neighborhood hugging the city’s border with Columbia Heights and the river has little traffic, but a direct and convenient bus route downtown. Plus there’s plenty of walking and biking along the Mississippi River and the lovely St. Anthony Parkway.
The Columbia Park neighborhood in northeast Minneapolis is bound on the north by 37th Avenue, on the east by Central Avenue, on the south by 27th Avenue and St. Anthony Boulevard and on the west by University Avenue NE, 4th Street NE and the Mississippi River.
The neighborhood is named after three related items: Columbia Park itself (located within its borders), the park’s acquisition in 1892 (the so-called “Columbian” year celebrating the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the New World), and the adjacent suburb of Columbia Heights.
Columbia Park is home to the Columbia Golf Course, the city’s second oldest golf course in the Minneapolis Park System. It started as a simple 6-hole, sand green golf course in 1919, and was expanded to 18 holes in 1923. Now, after celebrating more than 90 years serving golf enthusiasts of Minneapolis, St. Paul and surrounding communities, Columbia Golf Club has evolved into one of the area’s premier golf facilities, featuring a state of the art golf learning center, full service food and beverage, and a golf shop. Columbia Golf Course features gentle rolling hills, mature tree-lined fairways, strategically placed bunkers and water hazards, multiple sets of tees to challenge players of all skill levels, and vistas offering breathtaking skyline views of downtown Minneapolis.
Plus, you can try something new: FootGolf! A golf/soccer/kickball hybrid, FootGolf growing in popularity among players of all ages. Instead of teeing off, kick off from a tee box to get a soccer ball in a 21-inch diameter cup using the fewest number of kicks.
The 183-acre Columbia Park complex within the golf course was once home to a large shallow lake named Lake Sandy. It was gradually drained and filled in as a the park was further developed, disappearing from city maps by 1914-1915 — although not from the minds of residents. Some still call for a return of the lake. The park is home to paths and trails, a playground, picnic area, dog park, archery, cross country skiing trails, sledding, rugby, horseshoe pits, tennis courts, and wading pool.
In Columbia Park, residential areas are tucked away with industrial surroundings between the city of Columbia Heights and the golf course. The north end consists of a narrow strip of streets from Main Street to Central Avenue while Columbia Parkway, which runs north of the golf course, looks much like Minnehaha Parkway with the same type of housing – stucco and brick Tudors and two-story colonials. Most of the housing is owner-occupied, single-family units, where the local pride in ownership is evident.
A quiet and stable residential neighborhood, Columbia Park is somewhat hidden away from the rest of the city by the parks, river, and railroads. That’s just how its residents like it.