A renovation of the Lake Street/Midtown Station is coming soon!
Located at East Lake Street and Hiawatha Avenue, the METRO Blue Line's Lake Street/Midtown Station is one of the region's busiest boarding locations, with around 1,800 light rail boardings each weekday. Bus stops served by the METRO B Line, are located immediately adjacent to the station.
After 20 years of use, a full renovation of the station is being pursued to ensure it remains in a state of good repair and continues to be a space that invites people to use transit.
Station renovations will complement improvements to the Hiawatha-Lake intersection that are being led by Hennepin County.
View a project fact sheet (English) (Spanish) (Somali) (Hmong)
Station renovation goals
- Providing more consistent and reliable access for all users by adding a pedestrian ramp from the street level to the station on the south side of Lake Street, along with new, larger elevators that will be closer to Lake Street bus stops, and wider stairways (escalators will be removed).
- Making the station easier to maintain over time by providing facilities staff more functional spaces to work out of and limiting the use of glass (for instance, existing glass platform shelters will be replaced by a larger overhead canopy).
- Reorienting station entrances to more directly face Lake Street.
Recent engagement
Metro Transit recently engaged more than 280 station users and community members to gather feedback on station amenities, potential ramp usage and importance, staircase layout, and more! This feedback is crucial as we continue through the design phase of this renovation project. Make sure to check out our Survey report.
We held our second Open House on Feb. 11, 2025, at The Coliseum Building. Roughly 50 members of the community attended with great feedback and well thought-out questions. Make sure to read through our Open House report to find out more.
There will be more opportunities for community, stakeholders, and station users to provide feedback through the design phase.
We recently held an open house tabling event on August 2, 2025 from 9am - 2pm at the Midtown Farmers Market near the Hi-Lake Station! We received a lot of interest in the project's designs and what impact the project will have on the Farmer's Market. As expected, we received mixed feedback on the project. Many were very excited about the improvements and felt it would encourage others to ride from this station more often. Others felt that we should focus more on the station's safety instead of an entire station redesign. There were several concerns around the impact the design will have on riders with limited mobility, elderly, and those with disabilities accessing the station. Stay tuned for more outreach events!
Buses Replacing METRO Blue Line trains September 22 through October 4
https://www.metrotransit.org/TransitArticles/Story.aspx?pageid=247&mid=395&articleid=27145
Update to the Lake Street/Midtown Station Renovation
The Lake St/Midtown LRT Station is anticipated to close beginning in April 2027 to allow for major improvements. This work includes a full station renovation and significant track and light rail system upgrades along the Blue Line. Construction activities will be carefully coordinated to minimize overall impacts to Blue Line service. Station construction is expected to continue through the end of 2028!
Timeline (updated)
2022-2023: Planning
2024-2025: Design and Engineering
2027-2028: Station Construction
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