Powderhorn : Development News

City Food Studio, a new shared-use commercial kitchen geared for culinary entrepreneurs and cooking enthusiasts, is under construction at 38th and Chicago in Minneapolis.

Owner Journey Gosselin says he's busy lining up contractors to install modern utilities, add glass block windows, and build new walls.

The space will have a special dairy room for making cheese and ice cream, and a storefront retail area. Besides the commercial food prep, a part of the kitchen will be used for a variety of cooking classes, as well.

In terms of its look, “I’m trying to blend a clean and classic 1930s look with a modern, urban art aesthetic,” he says. He'll accomplish that with a big curving metal pot rack that will be a centerpiece for the kitchen; clean white walls; and green and gray tiles, along with other accent elements.

The metalwork inside is a theme that will be echoed in a wire mesh bound for the building’s exterior.
Additionally, the exterior is getting a full makeover. It'll be repainted to a browner shade, while most of the front will be covered by a rust-colored metal façade.

The custom metal façade, which a local artist through the Arts on Chicago project will fabricate, will be shaped like a cityscape, reflecting nearby architecture. “The building will probably recede more. I’m playing down the cinderblocks,” he says.

Separately, the place will soon get a bike rack, and Gosselin hopes that the building might get some sort of bike-delivery system going, he says. The location works well for that, he explains, adding, “I’m excited about how vibrant it is,” and the potential for collaboration with people from all different backgrounds, he says.

“I’m sure it’ll go places I’m not envisioning right now,” he says.

Gosselin hopes to open in the space in mid-May.

Source: Journey Gosselin, City Food Studio
Writer: Anna Pratt

The Central Area Neighborhood Development Organization (CANDO) will soon settle in to a new home at 38th and Chicago.

The organization was previously located in the nearby Sabathani Community Center, according to Eric Weiss, the president of CANDO’s board.
 
“We wanted a street presence where passersby could find us and we could be more accessible,” to do more community outreach, he says. In scoping out other possible locations, “We wanted to stay within the boundaries of the neighborhood, within our budget, into a place that was move-in ready,” he says.

That’s when the group started looking at a space in the vintage brick complex that includes Blue Ox Coffee Company, The Third Place Gallery, Covet Consign and Design and Fox Egg Gallery. Mike Stebnitz, who owns the complex, is a CANDO board member, though he stayed out of the group’s decision-making on this matter, Weiss says.

In recent years, the neighborhood group has invested a lot of money and energy in the 38th and Chicago intersection. That made the space especially appealing. “We’re excited about the improvements and the new businesses there and we thought we could be a part of it,” he says. “We want to build on the momentum.”  

It’s the first time the space has had a tenant since the 1980s. “It’s great to have that space filled. It completes the strip,” Weiss says.  

White walls, original hardwood floors, exposed beams, and spacious windows that can open up characterize the place. “We hope to have it free-flowing and open,” he says. The space has plenty of room for rearranging tables and chairs for various community events, a commercial kitchenette, a reception area, plus room for administrative functions. In the future, another small nonprofit organization could join CANDO in the space, he says.

The group is billing the place as more of a community hub than an office, with free wifi access, a computer station, a resource library, art gallery and more.

Right now, construction in the space is wrapping up, while CANDO plans to hold an open house at its new location on May 18.

Source: Eric Weiss, president, Central Area Neighborhood Development Organization board
Writer: Anna Pratt

In its latest show, a long-running theater troupe at Pillsbury House + Theatre in South Minneapolis called Breaking Ice is tackling big questions about community development in the area.

The show, which runs through February 26, responds to comments that come up in all types of community forums, online and in person, according to Alan Berks, a spokesperson for the theater company.     

Through its performance and a facilitated conversation that follows, Breaking Ice explores questions relating to a major question: “How can neighborhoods evolve in economically stable and sustainable ways?” according to event materials.

This show is part of the Arts on Chicago placemaking initiative, which includes 20 art happenings. Pillsbury House + Theatre is leading the charge with the help of a number of community partners. (See The Line story about the project here.) 

Often, the improvisational-style troupe performs for companies that are having difficulties in the workplace with communication--difficulties that frequently are rooted in cultural conflicts.

“What we get from it is a multifaceted perspective on the issue, with lots of people’s points of view,” Berks says, adding, “It starts to create a more direct conversation about the issues.”

Basically, it breaks the ice on these tough topics, hence the group’s name, he says.

The show delves into thorny questions related to community development, gentrification, and the displacement of longtime residents, questions that touch on race, economics, and culture. “There’s some tension among different sectors of the neighborhood," he says.

The company addresses these issues in a personal way, “from the perspective of people in the neighborhood,” he says, adding, “It’s about showing the human effects, what people are experiencing.”
The idea is to “create more conversations among communities in the neighborhood.”  

At different times in history, the neighborhood has seen a large concentration of Scandinavians, African Americans, and Latinos. Historically, a lot of people have moved through, Berks says, adding, “It’s one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the state.”

Despite the culture shock that often entails, the neighborhood seems to “have a lot of ability to embrace differences,” he says, adding, “I think a high concentration of artists helps.” Artists are social connectors who help bridge the gap, he says.

Source: Alan Berks, spokesperson, Pillsbury House Theatre
Writer: Anna Pratt

Smoke in the Pit, a smoked barbecue restaurant, is coming to a building on 38th and Chicago in South Minneapolis that long ago housed the House of Breakfast.

Smoke in the Pit owner Dwight Alexander says he has already built up a clientele for the food at the restaurant’s former location on East Lake Street.

For a couple of years, it offered his specially prepared smoked meats. “No flame hits the meat. It’s pure smoke,” making it healthier than straight-up barbecue, he explains.

To make way for the family-owned business, Alexander is revamping the place, which had to be completely gutted. Right now, construction is still underway, with everything from sheetrock to kitchen equipment being installed. However, the place is shaping up on schedule, even if the space looks a bit raw right now, he says.   

Alexander, who lives nearby, aims to open the restaurant by the end of the month or in early February.
He’s done some street vending outside of the restaurant, to let people know that Smoke in the Pit is on the way.  

The restaurateur sees the place as a positive addition to an area of the neighborhood that’s undergoing revitalization in many ways. Smoke in the Pit is across the street from a redevelopment that includes the Blue Ox Coffee Company, Covet Consign and Design, photographer Wing Young Huie’s The Third Place Gallery, and the Fox Egg Gallery.   

Plus, it offers a place to eat in area that has been known as a food desert. “I already know this will be a big improvement to the area,” he says.

Alexander expects the restaurant to draw people from outside of the neighborhood, as well, especially those who are already familiar with Smoke in the Pit.

Source: Dwight Alexander, owner, Smoke in the Pit
Writer: Anna Pratt

“Constellation,” an art crawl that first took place last year, will once again wind around various off-the-beaten-path places throughtout South Minneapolis on Sept. 8 and 9.  

This year the art crawl features mobile karaoke, film screenings, theater, a cakewalk, quilt making, fermentation skill-shares, music, and other types of visual and interactive art, according to its website.  

The eclectic show builds on an experiment that took place last year around the same time.

Lacey Prpic Hedtke, an organizer of the event who lives in the Powderhorn neighborhood, explains that it was triggered in part by a visit to Minneapolis by the New York artist group Non Solo. At the time, the group was on a coast-to-coast art tour, and they collaborated with Hedtke and local artist Kevin Loecke in setting up the event.

“We wanted to see what we could do here,” Hedtke says.   

In thinking about alternative exhibition spaces, they ended up pulling together a bunch of local artists who creatively turned their porches, backyards, garages, bedrooms and other personal spaces into public venues.
 
It was such a success that “We thought it was worth doing it again,” she says.

Once more, “People will be able to bike around and see some things that people are doing in different neighborhoods,” Hedtke says.

It’s about building community. “We hope that people come out and talk to people in the neighborhood, not just those who are into art, and that maybe they venture into neighborhoods they've never been to before,” she says. “A lot of projects welcome that."

All in all, the two-day event “highlights the integral role that art and cultural production play in our daily lives, neighborhoods and communities,” by opening up domestic spaces for public cultural events, the Constellation  website reads.

Source: Lacey Prpic Hedtke, “Constellation” organizer
?Writer: Anna Pratt

Many neighborhoods throughout the Twin Cities have become increasingly diverse in recent years, yet the back-stories of different groups’ arrival so often are unknown.

The current show at the Third Place Gallery in Minneapolis, which is the studio and exhibit space of photographer Wing Young Houie, focuses on representatives of various immigrant communities, including some political refugees, whose stories vary greatly.  

Called (re)locate: A Place to Call Home, the show brings together images from Houie and another local photographer, Selma Fernandez. It'll be on view through Aug. 16.

The 22 images from both photographers are intermingled on the walls, as opposed to being separated, visually, Houie says. It includes a mix of color and black-and-white shots.

Adults and children are shown in their natural habits, such as home, school and work, in and around the Twin Cities.

One young boy is pictured up close wearing a bright red superhero outfit. Alongside that is a black-and-white print of a young boy holding a sign that states, “I want to be a doctor.”

In another picture, a couple wearing traditional dress stands out amid a festive-looking crowd at the 2002 Hmong new year celebration in St. Paul in 2002.  

In some ways, each of the subjects is in costume, he says.

Together, the poignant images pose questions such as “What is home? Do you ever leave home? What does relocate mean?” The answers are especially complicated for immigrants, Houie says.

It’s a familiar topic for Houie, who is the only child in his Chinese family to be born in U.S. Often he gets asked where he’s from, even though he’s a native Minnesotan.

Throughout his work, he tries to “normalize iconography,” showing everyday examples of the reality, which is a lot more colorful than is shown in the mainstream media, he says.

 
Source: Wing Young Houie
Writer: Anna Pratt

As a part of the “Arts on Chicago” initiative, 20 creative placemaking projects will happen in the coming year along the Chicago Avenue corridor in South Minneapolis, to help brand the arts district.

Pillsbury House + Theatre, where professional theater and social services have been integrated in recent years, received $250,000 for the project from ArtPlace, a national funding group. Pillsbury is working with a handful of local partners on the project. 

Nearly $1 million in ArtPlace grants is going to a handful of projects along these lines in Minneapolis, according to project information.

Alan Berks, a spokesperson for Pillsbury, says, “For us, it’s very much what we’ve been doing for years, using creativity and the artists within the neighborhoods to inspire and instigate connections and change."

At the same time, the area has seen a lot of momentum around the arts in recent years. "Chicago Avenue runs through one of the poorest neighborhoods in the Minneapolis metro area, and has seen new investment in the past year by a handful of arts groups," a prepared statement about the project reads. 

Soon, Pillsbury will be sending out its first call for artists to take on these placemaking projects, which ultimately will unfold over the course of a year.

Individual projects will likely take many forms. “We’re asking artists to be creative. We’re not saying we want 20 murals,” he says.  

For example, it could mean wrapping area utility boxes with decorative coverings, projecting images onto exterior walls of local buildings, or hosting a performances at nontraditional yet “natural amphitheaters,” or other outdoor gathering places.

Projects should be sustainable, high-quality, and continue branding the area as an arts district, Berks says.

“It’s an opportunity to ask artists to contribute their knowledge and skills to improve the neighborhood they live in,” he says, adding that artists are good at bringing people together.

They have “so much knowledge about communities and social networks,” he says.  

In a diverse area, “This is a great way of strengthening connections between people,” he adds. 

Pillsbury is also working on a similar project, called Curb Culture, which will place artistic sandwich boards curbside in front of businesses throughout the neighborhood.

Although the Powderhorn area has long been an arts hub, “It’s not always reflected in our corridor,” he says, adding that this project is an effort to “to knit together these creative aspects” in a more intentional way.


Source: Alan Berks, spokesperson, Pillsbury House + Theatre
Writer: Anna Pratt

When Melanie Logan was scoping out places for her Blue Ox Coffee Company concept, she was immediately drawn to a storefront space at 38th and Chicago in Minneapolis.

The area reminds her of the small Pennsylvania town where she grew up. She was also attracted to it because she wanted to try to fill a void in "a neighborhood that's lacking," at least as far as coffee shops go.  

Mike Stebnitz, the principal of Stillwater Companies, recently renovated the complex, which is close to another recent rehab, the Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center, a hub for sculptural welding, blacksmithing, glasswork, and jewelry making.

It's a key intersection that ties together the Powderhorn, Central, Bancroft, and Bryant neighborhoods. Previously, some of the storefronts had been vacant and boarded up for up to 40 years. "This was a notorious intersection in the neighborhood," she says, adding that in recent times, "my friends have seen a huge improvement."

The Blue Ox shares a 1925-vintage two-story building with an empty restaurant space and handful of apartments, while an adjacent one-story structure is home to Covet Consign & Design, The Third Place (the photography studio and gallery of artist Wing Young Huie), and the Fox Egg Gallery,

Inside the space, a counter is still being built, but most of the rest of the construction is wrapping up. Original plaster and hardwood floors are intact, while several shades of blue on the walls and metal accents give the place an industrial feel. The build-out for the coffee shop totals about $80,000.  

A minimalist style defines the space, which is furnished with used white Formica tables, black chairs (new), and rescued church pews. "We want it to be an inviting environment," Logan says.

The cafe will feature many certified organic and "direct trade" coffee beans. Baked goods come from Patisserie 46 while sandwiches will be made in-house.

Logan plans to open the place by the end of the month. Already she's been getting plenty of positive feedback. "Most people can't wait for it to open. I'm looking forward to it."  

Source: Melanie Logan, owner, Blue Ox Coffee Company
Writer: Anna Pratt

When a couple living in Powderhorn Park moved out of the neighborhood this month, they hung wooden signs with stenciled blackbirds along the way to their new home, many blocks north. And a photographer from the Powderhorn 365 project was there to document the endearing demarcations of their departure.

Every day since Jan. 1, 2009, someone in Powderhorn has posted a photo from the neighborhood on the Powderhorn 365 website. It's a fascinating catalog of life in this diverse south Minneapolis enclave of artists, activists and everyday people.

"I wanted to show people our neighborhood," says resident Amy Wurdock, who dreamed up the project in late 2008 when she got a digital SLR camera. Her motivation: to replace the occasionally heard refrain of "God, this place sucks" with "How cool is this?" Wurdock calls Minneapolis-based photographer Wing Young Huie--known for his epic documentation of urban streets and neighborhoods--"my main inspiration."

But the prospect of posting a photo a day was too daunting for a mother of two young children, so Wurdock looked for six others who, with her, could each take a day of the week, all year long. The result is not only online but in an impressive coffee table book collecting the team's photos from 2009, made possible through the efforts of Leonie Thomas, an intern from the Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs (HECUA). One resident sent the book to friends in Germany and Australia to persuade them to visit him, Wurdock says. (A 2010 book is possible--if another organization or foundation shows interest in contributing.)

Now the project is continuing with a new crop of seven photographers, augmented by occasional guests filling in. One of the only rules is that photos must come from within the neighborhood's boundaries--although the 2009 book includes a couple that violate that rule. No one has guessed which, says Wurdock.

Source: Amy Wurdock, Powderhorn 365
Writer: Chris Steller

This will be remembered as the year the City of Minneapolis got serious about community gardening.
 
In previous years, City Hall had an ad hoc system for entertaining occasional requests from groups who wanted to start gardens on city-owned property. Now an initiative called Homegrown Minneapolis is taking that to the streets, with a pilot program soliciting groups to lease space at 20 sites around the city.
 
These aren't just any 20 pieces of unused urban property. In a kind of "American Idol" for local vacant lots, city staff winnowed down a list of about 60 potential garden spots, ranking each on factors such as sun, safety, and access to water. An initial list of 22 properties included two that soil tests showed weren't safe for growing food. Of the remaining 20, two are spoken for: 1213 Spring St. NE, in the Beltrami neighborhood, and 3427 15th Ave. S. in Powderhorn.
 
One of the most critical criteria was whether the properties would tempt developers as the economy turns around. It wouldn't be fair to seek groups committed to gardening for sites likely to sell soon, says Karin Berkholtz, community planning manager. The city will take applications through the summer, with one-year leases for those new to gardening and multi-year leases for experienced groups.
 
Community gardens have gone in and out of fashion over the decades, appearing in city plans as far back as 1917. But this time, Berkholtz asks, "Is it a fashion or is it a paradigm shift?"
 
Source: Karin Berkholtz, City of Minneapolis
Writer: Chris Steller