Longfellow : Development News

The City of Minneapolis is launching a free technical assistance program for budding co-op founders, starting with a two-hour presentation on April 20th.
 
Dubbed C-TAP (Cooperative Technical Assistance Program), the initiative is an outgrowth of the city’s successful B-TAP (Business Technical Assistance Program) for aspiring small and midsize business owners. Like B-TAP, C-TAP is an immersive program designed to support co-op founders and supporters from ideation through opening—and, in some cases, beyond.
 
According to the City of Minneapolis, C-TAP will unfold over three years, in three steps.
 
Step one, happening this year, focuses on “co-op readiness planning” for “groups that are thinking of forming a Co-op…to get a clear picture of the legal, operational and organizational requirements.” It’s basically a crash course in what it means to start a co-op.
 
Step two, set for next year, will focus on “board member and organizational design.” That means training prospective board members in the basics (and nuances) of co-op governance, as well as “one-on-one technical assistance” for select co-ops that require guidance designing their organizational structures. Step two is available to not-yet-open co-ops and existing co-ops that want or need outside assistance.
 
Step three, set for 2018, will revolve around “sustainability [and] profitability.” In other words, setting and keeping newly opened co-ops on the path to stable, long-term profitability and prosperity.
 
C-TAP’s kickoff event, a two-hour presentation dubbed “The State of Co-ops in Minneapolis,” is scheduled for April 20, 5:30-7:30 p.m., at Open Book in Downtown East. The presentation will discuss the city’s current “co-op inventory” and the industries supported by Minneapolis co-ops, introduce and explain C-TAP, and discuss next steps for co-op founders and principals interested in participating.
 
On May 11, Step one officially gets underway with an eight-week “co-op feasibility” course. Held at the City of Minneapolis Innovation Center in the Crown Roller Mill Building near City Hall, the course’s eight sessions will cover the basics of the co-op development process, co-op business plans, finances, cooperative governance, legalities and other topics. Registration is free and open to the public, but prospective co-op groups need to have at least two participants and have selected a product or service to offer prior to signing up.
 
The City of Minneapolis is no stranger to co-op support. According to city government, Minneapolis has plowed some $3.5 million into local co-ops through existing development and support initiatives, and has an additional $850,000 outstanding in loans to three in-development co-ops—including Wirth Cooperative Grocery, a first-of-its-kind grocery co-op in the city’s underserved Northside, slated to open later this year.
 

They’re known as granny flats, mother-in-law apartments, even Fonzie suites for those who remember the Fonz’s digs above the Cunninghams' garage in the tv show “Happy Days.” For years, accessory dwelling units (ADUs) have been popular throughout the U.S. for homeowners needing an additional, separate living space for a relative (or family friend) adjacent to main house—and as a flexible housing option in developed urban neighborhoods.
 
Now ADUs are legal in Minneapolis. On December 5, 2014, the Minneapolis City Council passed a zoning code text amendment allowing ADUs on lots with single or two-family homes. Shortly thereafter, architect Christopher Strom, who spent countless hours working with zoning administrators during discussions about the code change, launched his new initiative, Second Suite.
 
“I wanted to be the first to market my expertise with the zoning related to these small residential dwellings,” says Strom, who has a thriving business as a residential architect in Minneapolis, and has designed ADU-type cottages for clients in the suburbs and northern Minnesota.
 
He learned during informational meetings that “a lot of people didn’t want ADUs because they fear too many people would be added to the neighborhood, resulting in extra noise and traffic,” Strom says. “But the new law limits ADUs to a total of 1,000 square feet, including parking; they’re only feasible on certain lots, depending on the positioning of the primary house; and the primary house must be owner occupied. Only one accessory building is allowed per property, so most people will combine an ADU with a detached garage.”
 
As a result, Strom continues, “The majority of the new ADUs to be built in Minneapolis will be Fonzie suites. Remember how he lived above the Cunninhgams' garage? He had a cool bachelor pad totally separate from the main house, but was always at the Cunninghams'.”
 
ADUs are a viable option for creating more space, whether for additional storage, an art studio, home office or apartment for aging parents. With the new zoning, the units can also include a small kitchen and/or bath. “They’re wonderful for seniors, and a nice way to establish multi-generational living next to the primary house while giving the occupant an integral level of independence,” Strom explains.
 
St. Paul, particularly the neighborhood of St. Anthony Park, is currently looking at its building codes, as well, by studying the feasibility of allowing ADUs on single-family lots.  
 
Strom adds that ADUs are “a great entry point for people to start working with an architect.” A well-considered design might result in an ADU that blends in with the architectural style of the existing residence, or be entirely different.
 
Moreover, Strom adds, “Second Suite represents a lifestyle that I want to be able to deliver to my clients. This lifestyle is about families pooling resources and enjoying more quality time together through care-giving that enables grandparents to help with childcare and adult children to help with aging parents.”
 
 

On Friday at 4:00 p.m., the Twin Cities’ newest micro-distillery will open MSP’s first cocktail “tap” room. Entrepreneurs Christopher and Shanelle Montana, owners of Du Nord Craft Spirits, have created a bar with windows looking into their distillery inside a former Motoprimo store in the Longfellow neighborhood of Minneapolis.
 
Bartenders will serve craft (and classic) cocktails made with the Montanas’ own L’Etoile Du Nord Vodka (named for Minnesota’s state motto, L’etoile du Nord or “The Star of the North”) and Fitzgerald Gin (named for author F. Scott Fitzgerald). Enthusiasts will also have a chance to join Du Nord’s cocktail club, a short-term promotion ending January 12, with three levels of patronage.
 
Du Nord doesn’t have a kitchen. But a food truck will be on hand. And visitors are welcome to bring in takeout. “We’re surrounded by a lot of good food here in Longfellow,” says Christopher Montana, from Parkway Pizza to Le Town Talk Diner to Midori’s Floating World.
 
In addition to brewing the booze, says Montana, he also built out the cocktail room with help from his father-in-law Mike, a Minnesota farmer who grows non-GMO corn for Du Nord. The two men constructed the tables and the bar, and crafted window moldings from barn wood gathered from a tumbled-down structure on Mike’s farm. With polished concrete floors, exposed ductwork, and several couches in addition to tables and chairs, the Du Nord lounge has a casual feel.
 
“We want people to feel comfortable having a drink and socializing,” Montana says. “We didn’t want the cocktail room to be too rough-edged, like a beer tap room, but not snooty either. The whole point is the room should be comfortable, not intimidating.” The lounge is also about sampling the goods. “We’re a distillery first, but we want people to taste our booze,” Montana adds.
 
Du Nord has been bottling since May, producing “several hundred cases of booze a month,” Montana says. By February, he hopes to be distilling whiskey, as well.
 
Distributed by Phillips Wine and Spirits, Du Nord has “a heavy presence” in the Twin Cities, Montana says, and can be found throughout Minnesota—particularly in the western part of the state, home to sugar-beet producers. “Sugar beets and corn are the backbone of what Northland farmers do well, and both go into our booze,” Montana explains.
 
When he begins making whiskey, the rye will come from a central Minnesota farmer “who was at our wedding,” Montana says. “We like to work directly with farmers, without a middleman.” Pictures of the farmers the Montanas source from will adorn the walls of the cocktail room because “we want people to know who grew the products we use.”
 
Prior to starting Du Nord, Christopher had meticulously home-brewed beer for about 10 years. He worked for Wellstone Action, Democracy for America and now-Congressman Keith Ellison. “I was [Ellison’s] field director during his first campaign and helped set up his office in Washington D.C.,” Montana says. After graduating from law school—where he picked apart the Surly Bill as part of an agricultural law class—he worked at Fredrickson & Byron, taking a leave of absence to open the distillery.
 
His wife Shanelle Montana has a graduate degree from American University in D.C., and is an associate in regulatory and legislative affairs for EDF Renewable Energy. The couple has a 13-month-old son. “We both have demanding jobs,” Christopher says, “but we’ve always thought it would be fun to own our own business. Du Nord is one of the best things we’ve ever done.”
 
In December 2014 the Minneapolis City Council approved Du Nord’s cocktail room, following passage of a new state law allowing distilleries to sell and serve their product onsite. Du Nord’s vodka has “a vanilla flavor to it, it’s a little heavier, smooth,” Montana says. “We don’t add anything to it, we just don’t strip out the flavor. I like vodka that tastes like something.”
 
Du Nord’s gin, he continues, has a louche quality, meaning it gets cloudy when cooled or added to water because of the higher ratio of juniper oils. “We want flavor in our gin, so it’s louche,” Montana says.
 
Whiskey is Montana’s drink of choice, however. Forget the old adage that only the best whisky comes from Kentucky, he says. “They take our corn, turn it into booze, ship it back to us and we pay a premium. Whatever they do there we can do better here. So let’s do it here!”
 
By the end of 2015, Montana is hoping to triple production. “What we can make in a year is what the big guys spill in day,” he says. “We are still just a drop in the bucket. But for this area, we’ll be able to meet demand.”
 
 
 

Wise Acre Eatery, Victory 44, and soon Peppers & Fries. The creative conversion of old gas stations into hip neighborhood eateries gets another jump start when Peppers & Fries opens in a former SuperAmerica later this month at 39^th and Lake Street in the Longfellow neighborhood of Minneapolis.
 
Steve Frias and his daughter Marie Frias are the proprietors. They got their start working with their parents and grandparents (respectively), who are the owners of Boca Chica—the Twin Cities’ longest-lived Mexican restaurant and an institution on the West Side of St. Paul. Steve ran his own restaurant in Burnsville for a while. Marie has been a server, scheduler and manager in a variety of establishments.
 
So it was time, says Steve Frias, to open their own restaurant back in the city. They chose the old SA, which had been empty and for sale for six years, for its size and location. “That part of Lake Street is really growing, with lots of small businesses,” he says, including Forage Modern Workshop, Longfellow Market, Craftsman restaurant and Corazon gift shop. “I want to be part of that growth, with a neighborhood spot seating about 80 people.”
 
Peppers & Fries will be a family-oriented burger and burrito grill with 11 tv screens for viewing sports. Three garage doors will open onto a spacious patio (for dining in warmer weather). Ben Awes of the Minneapolis architecture firm CityDeskStudio, and Denise Fierst of Denise Fierst Design, have been working with Frias on the conversion.
 
“The building is pretty simple, but with surprisingly elegant existing brick and exposed steel columns,” Awes says. “All we did was try and stay out of the way, and highlight the best existing features!”
 
The interior includes polished concrete floors, exposed trusses and a simple gray color palette. “Steve has a scoreboard from an old field where he coached Little League baseball, which will be lit up on one wall,” Awes says.
 
The team also made sure the new restaurant compliments the existing neighborhood. “We’re not trying to be flashy,” Awes says. “Peppers & Fries is meant to be a good neighbor and serve local residents.” To keep costs down, Awes cut some of the components for the restaurant’s signage in his church basement.
 
The grill will have 16 beers on tap, 11 of them from local microbreweries. The Frias’ will make their own malt cups, source baked goods and tortillas from local establishments, and meats from Longfellow Market and South St. Paul. “My dad has dealt with those small business owners for years and I have those same connections,” Steve says.  

 

Karen Linner, principal at Shenandoah Consulting, and Harvey McLain, of the Turtle Bread Company, teamed up to renovate Longfellow Offices at 36^th and Lake in South Minneapolis. The new Longfellow Offices had its grand opening earlier this month. 

The vintage building previously housed an art gallery. The building's focus now is wellness, which Linner says is a “burgeoning market.” Longfellow Offices houses tenants that work in massage therapy, acupuncture, and Rolfing. A holistic diabetes group is also in the works.

Throughout the construction process, Linner and McLain sought to bring out the building’s best features.

“It’s a great building with great bones,” Linner says. 

The structure was gutted, then divided into 10 suites for practitioners. Tenants share a common hallway that’s equipped with a sink, plus a kitchenette and an accessible restroom.  

Linner and McLain added windows to allow for plenty of natural light, and they installed dimmable light fixtures, “which are convenient for practitioners,” she says.

They also paid attention to design details that preserve the building’s character. For example, hand-painted ceilings resemble old-fashioned pressed tin. Hardwood floors, high ceilings, subway tile, and wood trim add to the effect.  

Soundproofing in each suite was a priority. In wellness offices, Linner says, the “biggest complaints are about sound transmission. You don’t want to hear someone’s emotional release coming through the walls.”

Linner's  pleased with the way Longfellow Offices turned out. “People walk in and say, ‘This is such a nice building,' or 'It feels so calm in here,’” she says. 

On a broader level, “I hope we’ve created a community in the building,” she says, adding that the like-minded tenants “are part of a renaissance on East Lake Street.” 

Source: Karen Linner, principal, Shenandoah Consulting 
Writer: Anna Pratt 

The Minnesota Beer Activists group is planning a community garden centered exclusively on hops, which are used to flavor beer.  

Andrew Schmitt, the group’s executive director, saw a need for fresh, locally sourced hops. “I thought, ‘why not have a garden dedicated to just hops, which the community can use?’” he says. “We have a great community of home brewers in Minnesota and this is one way we can help with that.”  

He knows of no other community hops gardens in the country. The Minnesota Beer Activists worked with Hennepin County to find a spot for the garden. They setled on a lot at the corner of East 38th Street and Dight Avenue in Minneapolis’s Longfellow neighborhood.  

Besides turning a vacant space into a productive one, the garden dovetails with several local breweries. “It brings neighbors together and they can share something they have in common,” he says.   

The Minnesota Beer Activists plans to run the hops garden cooperatively. People can sign up to take part in much the same way that they would in any other community garden, collectively maintaining it, he says.

To help get it up and running, Hippity Hop Farms in Forest Lake is donating hop plants and trellises, which cuts down on the group’s overhead costs, he says. Schmitt hopes to track down some rain barrels as well.

The garden will start out by planting Cascade hops, which are “great all around for making beer, in terms of taste and aroma,” he says, adding, “As things progress, we may look at some other styles.”

Schmitt plans to edge the garden with wheat and barley. He also wants to set up a bench to create a park-like feel, he says.  
By October, the garden should have its first harvest. The hops will be good for home brewers and cooking enthusiasts alike.

He hopes to make the garden the “leading edge of what could be a movement,” inspiring other community hops gardens in the area, and beyond.

Source: Andrew Schmitt, executive director, Minnesota Beer Activists
Writer: Anna Pratt

Joel Ahlstrom is planning an old-timey grocery store at 38th and East Lake Street in Minneapolis. It's something the longtime grocer has been working on for four years.

Ahlstrom presented his plan for the $4.5 million Longfellow Market to the Longfellow Community Council’s development committee last month, the Longfellow/Nokomis Messenger reports.

Spencer Agnew, a staffer with the Longfellow Community Council, says the neighborhood, as big as it is, has limited options when it comes to grocery stores. Many people end up going outside of the neighborhood to shop for groceries, he says.

With plans for the new market underway, “Neighbors are excited to have a grocery option that is close, walkable, and bikable,” he says, adding that a market study confirms a strong demand for the store.

Besides meeting a practical need, “We are also excited about the potential for the new store to attract additional retail businesses to vacant spaces on East Lake Street,” he says. Ahlstrom “has a great story to tell with his family history,” he adds.

In some ways, Longfellow Market will hearken back to the grocery store that Ahlstrom’s grandparents ran many years ago in the area (see photo). Ahlstrom, who’s been a grocer for a half-century, only recently learned that they’d been in the same business. Ahlstrom also owns the Riverside Market in Isanti and formerly had a grocery store by the same name in Seward.

To make way for the store, the old Peterson Machinery building will undergo renovations and several other structures on the site will be torn down, the Longfellow/Nokomis Messenger story explains. The Peterson Machinery building’s high-beam ceilings and original windows will stay intact, but the 14,500-square-foot space will be modernized to save energy.

Hand-crank awnings, tin ceilings, wood floors and cases, shelves that reach the ceiling and vintage packing will give the store an Old World atmosphere. To take the old-timey theme a step further, the store will feature demonstrations of butter churning and candle-making by hand and feature a barbershop quartet on occasion, while employees will don vintage-style clothing.  

The store also includes a bakery and a deli, plus a butcher who will prepare specialty ham, bacon and smoked meats.

The Longfellow Market aims to open in mid-November.

“We are always excited to see entrepreneurs bring their own passion and vision to East Lake Street," says Agnew, adding that some of the most successful businesses in the area “offer a great atmosphere and a unique experience." It seems to him that Ahlstrom is doing just that.

Source: Spencer Agnew, Longfellow Community Council
Writer: Anna Pratt

The Beez Kneez, which delivers local, raw honey by bicycle, has a $30,000 Kickstarter campaign going to fund a new local Honey House.

The company wants to develop a headquarters in Minneapolis’s Longfellow neighborhood, according to Beez Kneez founder Kristy Allen. The reason is, “Beez Kneez needs a space to harvest and extract honey and bottle it,” she says.

As it is now, the company has to go to other beekeepers’ places to do those things. This can get expensive and it’s time-consuming, she says. Also, the company needs “a place to store things and operate,” along with retail space. A regular office space can serve an educational purpose, as well. “It can be a place where we can meet with people and talk about bees,” she says.

The community-minded company plans to rent out space for people to use the facility for a small fee.

Longfellow is an ideal area because it’s an up-and-coming area of the city, she says, adding, “It’s focused on urban agriculture, too. A lot of people have gardens where they plant flowers or vegetables. We want to add to that.” The neighborhood even has a number of beekeepers, she says.

Beez Kneez are catering to people "who want to harvest honey, but who don’t want to do it in their kitchen or to buy the equipment,” she says.  

The Honey House would also make creative use of the bicycle element--as an energy source. “We keep bees in hives with frames, and extracting is the process of taking honey from these frames--by spinning,” its Kickstarter page reads.

So far she’s found that “People are very positive and are very interested in having [this] resource.”

Source: Kristy Allen, Beez Kneez
Writer: Anna Pratt

Parka, a new café that opened on January 23 on East Lake Street and 40th Avenue South in Minneapolis, has already generated a buzz.

Victory 44 chef Erick Harcey joined forces with Dogwood Coffee and Rustica Bakery to open the restaurant, which shares space with Forage Modern Workshop, a furniture and home goods store.

Spencer Agnew, who works for the Longfellow Community Council, says the neighborhood welcomes the new business. "People are very excited about Forage Modern Workshop and Parka because of the creative energy they are bringing to East Lake Street," he says, adding, "We are thrilled to see entrepreneurs renovate and bring new life to retail spaces" in this area of Longfellow.

The place carries on the design aesthetic of Forage, which features local designers, with clean, spare lines, big wooden booths, and funky artwork.

The result is "a loving tribute to Minnesota and the far North, with its wooden deer-head wall hangings, the ceramic white squirrel perched on the countertop, and the elaborate Bear Fox Chalk rendition of a 1928 portrait of a bundled-up Inuit family," a story in the Longfellow Nokomis Messenger reads.

“The challenge, but also the most exciting part of this project was to create a space that both Forage Modern Workshop and Parka felt was seamless but was very functional,” the restaurant’s Facebook page states.  

Turning around the old carpenter’s union hall involved getting rid of cubicles, partition walls and a dropped ceiling, “to expose the beautiful mid-century industrial architecture,” it adds.

Parka also features some items that the next-door shop sells.

The café, which serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, has a casual yet upscale feel, the Heavy Table blog notes.

It’s part of a new foodie trend in the neighborhood, emphasizing artisan-quality, locally-sourced fare that Heavy Table says started with Peace Coffee shop in 2010 and has continued since then with Harriet Brewing, Mosaic Café, the Minneapolis location of The Blue Door Pub, and Parka.   


Source: Spencer Agnew, Longfellow Community Council
Writer: Anna Pratt

A novel called, “Moon Palace,” by Paul Auster, made quite an impression on Angela Schwesnedl as a young reader.  

So much so that when she and her husband, Jamie, recently decided to open a bookshop within walking distance of their South Minneapolis house, they christened it Moon Palace Books. “It’s the book that turned me into a reader,” she says.  

The 840-square-foot new and used bookshop opened on Oct. 25 in a former storage space on 33rd and Minnehaha, alongside Trylon Microcinema and Peace Coffee Shop.       

It’s titles like “Moon Palace” that the couple have hand-selected for the store--items that “My husband and I are excited about reading,” she says.  

The bookstore has special sections devoted to local authors, cookbooks, gardening, urban homesteading, film, fiction, graphic novels, poetry, children’s books, and more. It also sells ereaders and ebooks.   

To get the space bookstore-ready, the couple replaced the garage door with a glass door, painted the interior lavender, and lined the walls with wooden bookshelves. “Everyone says it smells like real wood and books,” she says.

The storefront is highly visible on the street, too, with bold bands of color wrapping around the building's exterior.

The neighborhood has been supportive of the shop, which she says fills a void. “There’s not a lot of bookstores in the neighborhood but there are a lot readers here,” she says. “I think we’ll be a good fit.”

Already, the bookstore has been getting foot traffic from the neighboring businesses, and vice versa.

Although things are still coming together in the bookshop, “If you like to dig around find stuff, it’s a great place,” she says, adding, “I think we’re just a fun and interesting place to shop for books.”


Source: Angela Schwesnedl
Writer: Anna Pratt

A former carpenters' union office on East Lake Street in Minneapolis is being re-imagined as the Forage Modern Workshop.

Brownsmith Restoration is redeveloping the building, which will house its offices along with a furniture store and a brand/idea workshop, according to Brownsmith partner James Brown.

It’ll take nearly $200,000 to turn it around, he says. (Check out its progress here.)

Forage will feature local furniture makers who specialize in modern and vintage designs, he says, adding, “It’ll be kind of like Design Within Reach but on more of a local scale.”

Small manufacturers and designers will sell new and existing lines in the store. Certain home goods, such as specialty wallpaper, will also be available. “It’ll be a curated store, with stuff that we think is really cool,” he says.

Inside, there will also be a café, which will be furnished with tables and chairs from the shop.

The redesign of the 1951 building will reflect its roots with a mid-century modern aesthetic. Reclaimed oak paneling is just one way that Brownsmith will create that, he says.

Forage’s store will launch online first, within the coming weeks, while the café will be ready within six months, according to Brown.

Already, Brown is thinking about ways to make the place, which sat vacant for a year, a destination.

In the future, the building could also be a drop-off location for community-supported agriculture (CSA). It's already hosted various performance art activities. “We’re trying to make ourselves culturally significant,” he says.

East Lake Street is “an important commercial part of the city,” he says. “We want to help redevelop it,” and that, he adds, will “help the surrounding properties a ton.”

Source: James Brown, Brownsmith Restoration
Writer: Anna Pratt

The Longfellow Community Council (LCC) is taking a creative approach to improving blighted areas of East Lake Street in Minneapolis.

Although much of a $25,645 city grant that the group recently received will go toward studying business opportunities on East Lake Street, about $7,000 will help fill vacant storefront windows along the corridor with artwork, according to LCC staffer Spencer Agnew.  

“A lot of people are concerned with the revitalization of East Lake Street,” says Agnew. “This is geared towards that interest.”

Depending on how much participation from building owners the group can get, images will go on 6 to 15 windows on East Lake Street between 27th Avenue South and the Mississippi River.  

The League of Longfellow Artists (Lola) is providing the posters. 

Although the artwork will vary from storefront to storefront, it’ll have a cohesive quality so that people can recognize it as a part of one project.

There’ll also be a tour associated with the initiative. “The goal is to add aesthetic appeal to the vacant spots and publicize those opportunities in a positive way,” Agnew says. “It’s also a way to promote the local artwork that we have.”  

Although the timing for the display is still up in the air, it could happen as soon as next spring, according to Agnew.

Meanwhile, a research consultant will conduct a market study and corridor assessment for East Lake Street. “It’ll provide information about what viable businesses opportunities there are and what kinds of market sectors and challenges there are implementing that,” he explains.  

Source: Spencer Agnew, Longfellow Community Council
Writer: Anna Pratt

The four elements--earth, wind, fire and water--will soon be represented in a colorful street mural in Minneapolis’s Near North neighborhood.

It’s the second street mural to come to the city as a part of a program called Paint the Pavement, which "promotes community building and 'placemaking' through creating neighborhood art," according to its website.

Recently, a Corcoran neighborhood mural was unveiled to help calm traffic at the intersection of East 34th Street and 19th Avenue South.  

Since the volunteer-run Paint the Pavement started in St. Paul, about 15 street murals have been done through the program, according to Jun-Li Wang, a program volunteer.

“Not only does a mural give visual impact, it’s really the process that goes into making it that has the most value,” she says, adding, “Neighbors work together and meet one another in a way that they wouldn’t at a potluck."

Naturally, the cost depends on a mural’s size, but “a few gallons of paint can have a wonderful impact.”

And it makes the neighborhood more attractive, something that real estate agents have even noted in some home listings, she says.

Last summer, community members in Near North, inspired by similar Portland public art projects, started planning a mural for the intersection of 17th and Girard with a block club grant, according to Ariah Fine, a neighborhood activist.

Following the project's emphasis on youth, neighbors, creativity, color, and environment, people submitted illustrations through a design contest at a block party. A neighborhood youth’s portrayal of the four elements won, and a local artist helped adapt it for the street.  

The mural will start small and then gradually grow into four main swirling shapes, Fine explains.

The group chose this intersection because it’s close to the North High School football field, which gets lots of traffic. Also, neighbors close to the intersection were open to it, he says.

On Sept. 24, neighbors will come together to paint the mural. “It’ll be a community event, with more people than just from the block club,” he says. “I hope it’s the first of many opportunities to bring the community together.”


Source: Jun-Li Wang, Paint the Pavement; Ariah Fine, Near North neighborhood activist
Writer: Anna Pratt

A storefront space in the Longfellow neighborhood that had been vacant for some time is being re-imagined as a hub for social justice organizing, community gathering, and do-it-yourself projects.

A 12-member collective called MARS (Minneapolis Autonomous Radical Space) runs the Minnehaha Free Space, which had its grand opening on July 17.

It's open for meetings, classes, workshops, and art-making on everything from bike maintenance to knitting, according to collective member Jaime Hokanson.

The name for the space references its address on 3458 Minnehaha Avenue and an historic event called the Minnehaha Free State, which was a 16-month protest that started in 1998 against the rerouting of Highway 55. It led to the state's largest-ever police action, according to the TC Daily Planet. 

The "free space" aims to fill the void that was left when Arise bookstore closed in May 2010. "There were a number of people who were involved [with the bookstore] who wanted to keep the momentum going," though some people were leaning towards doing something other than a bookstore, Hokanson says.

After various fundraising activities for a space that would run off of donations and financial support from MARS, the group began scoping out possible locations last spring. 

The storefront was attractive for its proximity to a mix of commercial and residential developments. "It allows us to get to know the neighborhood, to make connections in the community," he says.

Although the space, which is characterized by bright orange, purple, and green walls, is still coming together, a main lounge, a lending library with over 1,000 books, and a clothing exchange are already set up. Computers that will provide free Internet access will soon be installed, while a kid-friendly area and a kitchen are also still in progress.

Hokanson hopes that the "free space" will help "respond to the needs of social justice in community." 


Source: Jaime Hokanson, a member of the collective for the Minnehaha Free Space
Writer: Anna Pratt

A plan for a 48-unit market-rate apartment building will replace the condo project that was supposed to go in at 46th and 46th in South Minneapolis.

The condos had been put on pause in 2007 due to tough market conditions, according to Don Gerberding, a principal of Master Properties, which is part of the development team.

Following discussions with the Longfellow neighborhood group about how to proceed, "the message I got was to wait and do something of quality rather than something that's not but that happens quickly," he says, adding, "We've been able to achieve that."

Master Properties has teamed up with the Lander Group of Minneapolis and the St. Paul-based At Home Apartments, which were successful with the nearby West River Commons mixed-use project.

At Home will take on the 46th and 46th development as a "portfolio project," meaning that it will own and manage the site, which will help ensure quality, he says.  

The four-story apartment building will use the same footprint as the previous condo project, for which the footings and foundation are already in place on the half-acre lot. "It'll be a box of the same volume," says Gerberding, while the fourth floor will be recessed. "It reduces the perceived size of the building from the street." 

On the side that faces 46th Avenue, the building will have the look of row houses, with individual entrances and yards. Raised patios will characterize the side that fronts 46th Street. "There will be two different feels to this building, depending on which side you're facing." 

At this prominent corner, which is on a major transit corridor, the developers are trying to be as progressive as possible, with sustainable, transit-oriented features such as free transit passes and a rentable Hourcar for tenants. "It could impact the decision [for a tenant] on whether to have a car," he says.  

"We're using all of the sustainable products that we can to be energy- and environmentally-efficient," he says.

The group hopes to begin construction in the fall. 

Source: Don Gerberding, principal, Master Properties 
Writer: Anna Pratt