I will be spending the a week in SLP... Is that considered downtown ??  

Last time I was in Minneapolis was 12 years ago, I assume lots has changed since then.

St. Louis Park is an inner ring suburb. Take I394 out of downtown to the west and two minutes later you are running along the border between St. Louis Park and Golden Valley.

St. Louis Park is NOT considered downtown. Most of it is residential with small shopping centers. There is a selection of hotels along the I394 corridor and with the on-going development of the West End shopping center in the southwest quadrant of the 394-100 intersection you have a cluster of good, or at least trendy, restaurants and a very fancy movie theater complex.