MINNEAPOLIS — David Fhima is keeping perspective this winter.
Early in the pandemic, his downtown restaurant Fhima's had to shut down indoor dining and revert to a take-out model. Since then, he's slowly recovered, to the point where now he considers business to be "100% better" thanks to the widespread availability of vaccines.
"When there is a Timberwolves game, our restaurant at 5 o'clock starts getting packed. Theater, we're packed at 5 p.m. immediately, every time there's a theater event," Fhima said. "Much better. Much more hopeful."
With sports, shows, concerts and other in-person entertainment options roaring back to life, it's clear the winter of 2021-2022 will look much different than last year, when many of those venues remained shuttered or at least heavily restricted. The emergence of the omicron variant in recent days has stirred some uncertainty, but it's too early to know the impact.
That's true for the downtown workforce, too.
According to the most recent data shared by the Minneapolis Downtown Council, downtown's largest buildings reached a 39% occupancy rate in early November, compared to pre-pandemic levels. For perspective, consider that the occupancy rate in March 2021 was about 15.5%. Even so, major employers like U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo had planned to come back into the office after Labor Day, but reversed course when the delta variant struck. Now, they've pushed back return dates until after the new year. Target, too, is looking at a 2022 return date for employees at the downtown Minneapolis headquarters.
"Every company is doing it a little bit differently," said Amy Wimmer, the director of property management for Hines who oversees high-profile buildings like T3 in the North Loop and the Wells Fargo Center. "A lot of the large firms here in the Twin Cities are planning a January return."
Of course, these plans can change quickly, and companies will no doubt keep an eye on omicron in the coming weeks. Many are also considering hybrid options, Wimmer said.
However, there is still strong news on the vaccine front, with children ages 5 to 11 now eligible for their shots. More than 119,000 kids in that age group have already received their first dose, according to state data, which could have a positive ripple effect for employers.
"That causes optimism. When we think about office workers, they're parents," Wimmer said. "The more people that we can get vaccinated, the more people we'll get back into the office."
Before the pandemic, about 218,000 people worked in downtown Minneapolis, according to Minneapolis Regional Chamber CEO Jonathan Weinhagen.
He sees slow progress back toward that number.
"We are in a fundamentally different place today, than we were even six to nine months ago, with the rate of vaccination," Weinhagen said.
Weinhagen also welcomes hybrid formats that many companies may continue to explore, granted they don't entirely replace in-person working.
"If we take anything from this pandemic, it's the notion that we can do two things," Weinhagen said. "We can have a vibrant work environment -- come together and be productive and co-create -- and have flexibility."
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That's why David Fhima feels optimistic about the future. So optimistic, in fact, that he's opening a new enterprise on two levels of Capella Tower, including a bakery, sandwich area, coffee, and other offerings.
"Because we believe that downtown is going to come back stronger than ever," Fhima said. "We think, mid-summer of next year, it's going to be stronger than it's ever been."