Strong Local Economy : Development News

This spring, Frogtown Gardens got to work on a new community garden at a former brownfield site in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood.

It took $3,000 to set up the 30-plot community garden, called Our Village Gardens, according to Patricia Ohmans, who is a spokesperson for Frogtown Gardens.  

Frogtown Gardens is a nonprofit organization that’s in the process of establishing a demonstration farm park and sanctuary in the neighborhood.

Financial support for the water, materials, compost, and mulch at Our Village Gardens came from Terry and Margie Commerford, who own the land, she explains. The couple runs the River of Goods home decor shop and Terrybear Urns and Memorials out of a new development on the site.

A combination of neighborhood volunteers and employees of the Commerfords’ businesses cultivate the plots, she says.   

The gardeners are a diverse group, including Hmong, Somalis, Latinos, Vietnamese, African Americans, European Americans and others. “There's lots of energy and cross-pollination among them,” Ohmans says.

“We still need to do a lot of beautification around the communal spaces of the garden,” including the butterfly garden, rose border, and raspberries, “but the garden is already a great success and a truly diverse stomping ground.”  

Frogtown Gardens also sponsors Amir's Garden, a permaculture demonstration garden on a vacant, privately owned lot, along with the Pop-Up Tree Park, which is a temporary tree nursery on a city-owned lot in the neighborhood.

Amir's Garden's excess produce will go to the local food shelf, according to Ohmans.

“We are also closely tracking the production of that garden, to get a sense of how much food can actually be grown on a household lot,” she adds.


Source: Patricia Ohmans, Frogtown Farms
Writer: Anna Pratt

Creative Citymaking, which is a collaboration of the city of Minneapolis and Intermedia Arts, recently received $325,000 from the national ArtPlace consortium for a project that gets artists involved in city planning.

It’s one of four local art projects for which ArtPlace is granting $1.3 million, according to city information.

Separately, ArtPlace also backed Irrigate Arts, which is an artistic place-making project that’s underway along the coming Central Corridor light rail transit line.

As a part of Creative Citymaking, four artists will be “embedded” in the city’s planning division next year. Over the course of a yearlong timeframe, they’ll work with the city’s planners on certain transportation, economic, environmental and social issues, according to Theresa Sweetland, who leads Intermedia.

Although the project’s details are still being fleshed out, the resulting work will get exposure throughout the year at various community events, including a final exhibit and forum at Intermedia.

The project builds on Intermedia’s work on cross-sector leadership training and its co-working space for artists, organizations and community organizers, she says.  

It dovetails with the city’s Plan for Arts and Culture, which the arts commission put together a handful of years ago. The idea is for the city and artists to come together to “explore creative ideas for addressing city problems.”   

It helps that right now, “Many artists are initiating discussions with community members around key civic issues,” she says.

Thinkers like Ann Markusen, Charles Landry and public artist Candy Chang have led the way with their philosophies “centering on the impact of people-oriented planning and the role of the arts and the creative process on developing vibrant urban places.”

One of the project’s goals is to bring more diverse communities into the fold.

Gulgun Kayim, who works on the city’s side of the project, says that both artists and city planners will get training on this process. It’s not about making public art, but bringing more social capital to the planning process, she says, adding, “It needs to be done in an intentional way.”  

‘We think it brings creative assets to the table,” she says. “The process of planning and art-making is similar,” she says. “Hopefully we get that crossover intelligence, and it makes us smarter.


Source: Theresa Sweetland, Intermedia Arts, Gulgun Kayim, city of Minneapolis
Writer: Anna Pratt

The New York-based Carticulate, which two Twin Cities natives co-founded, has recently come up with a colorful map that lays out future transit lines in the Twin Cities.

Carticulate has also created a Minneapolis skyway map, which The Line covered here.

Matt Forrest, who is one of the principals of Carticulate, wanted to synthesize the light rail and bus rapid transit projects that are in the works for the Twin Cities, while also showing how they’re interconnected with existing lines.

Other maps that are out there right now "don't give a good idea of what areas are being served, where the stops would be and how it looks to get around that system," he says.

To create a new map, he and his business partner, Kate Chanba, compiled data from various project websites and Wikipedia.

Then they put together a simplified travel diagram. Done in a subway map-style, it’s “distorted, but cleaner and easier to see,” he says.  

It shows that “It’ll be a pretty robust system,” he says, adding that he hopes it opens up alternative transit opportunities for people who might want to rely less on their cars.

The map also showcases Carticulate’s design theory around transit, about which it’s also put out a white paper, he says.

Further down the road, signage for the color-coded map could appear at every bus or train stop, he says. “You could also scan your bus ID and it could tell you when the next bus is coming,” he says. “We’re thinking about how it integrates across the whole system.”   

The idea is to make it accessible and easy to scan with a smartphone, he says.

Source: Matt Forrest, Carticulate Maps
Writer: Anna Pratt

When he helped start the Experience Southwest marketing campaign to promote Southwest Minneapolis businesses, Matt Perry hoped it would lead to even more hyper-local branding efforts.

This has started happening at 50th and Bryant, says Perry, who is the president of the Nicollet East Harriet Business Association (NEHBA), which is behind the Experience Southwest initiative. Besides a website that features local businesses, Experience Southwest encouraged people to shop locally during the holidays, for example.   

This Saturday, an event called “Experience 50th and Bryant,” which goes from noon to 5 p.m., will celebrate the business node's movers and shakers. Each participating business is hosting mini-events, with special discounts, prizes, face painting, and more. (For a full list of participating businesses, check out the Facebook page).

It’s “a great example of a business district branding itself under the larger umbrella of "Experience Southwest,”” which Perry hopes will happen elsewhere.

As an example of the activity at this intersection, he says, in April, the George and the Dragon Pub opened up. Patina, which had closed temporarily after a fire, has reopened.  

Nearby, a new restaurant is coming to the intersection this fall, called The Lynn on Bryant, he says.

Zinnia Folk Arts recently took over a separate space. Kasia Organic Salon and The Malt Shop helped lead the charge on the event.  

Between the old and new businesses, “There’s a nice mix of eateries and retail, which is the perfect recipe for an attractive business node,” in which people can go from one place to another, he says.  

Through the event, “This is a chance for people to say, ‘Wow, things are happening again at 50th and Bryant,’” he says. “It’s again becoming a destination spot.”

It demonstrates “how new and long established businesses, working together, can fuel renewed interest in a business node,” he says.

 
Source: Matt Perry, president, NEHBA Business Association
Writer: Anna Pratt

The Minneapolis bakery Cupcake is making progress toward a second location in St. Paul, in the former Wonderment toy store on Grand Avenue.

The locally based Shea architecture firm, which is designing the layout for a number of local restaurants that are going into rehabbed buildings, is leading the new space’s transformation, according to Shea information.

It was a struggle to get to this point, considering the parking woes that the bakery faced earlier on, but the city wound up approving a variance that enabled the business to move forward, according to Minnesota Public Radio.

Cupcake’s sister bakery will be similar to its existing location, but in addition to coffee, cupcakes, and other foods, it’ll feature a wine bar, according to owner Kevin VanDeraa.

Because of the wine bar aspect of the bakery/restaurant, Cupcake had been required to have 10 parking spaces. It was only able to come up with eight, a situation the city is working with, the story explains.

To get the new space ready, it needs a top-to-bottom renovation, VanDeraa says.

For starters, the place had never been equipped as a restaurant, so it needs new plumbing. Although remodeling has begun, some things are on hold until other parts of the process have been wrapped up. At this point, “We’re not doing anything until we get a business license,” he says.  

Already, VanDeraa has invested $100,000 in the project, the MPR story states.

Recently, VanDeraa won the top prize of $50,000 in the Food Network’s TV show "Cupcake Champions,” a sum he plans to invest in the new restaurant, he told CBS. In the future, he may also expand the University Avenue location.

The win also helps build a buzz to keep people coming to the Minneapolis location, despite the  headaches that come with Central Corridor light rail construction.  

Source: Kevin VanDeraa, owner, Cupcake
Writer: Anna Pratt

It was a conversation about the possible closure last year of North High School in North Minneapolis that inspired Project Sweetie Pie. 

The soon-to-be-nonprofit organization is all about getting local youth into urban farming, close to home, while also developing their business know-how, according to one of its founders, Michael Chaney.   

Initially, some of his friends and colleagues had been brainstorming ways to boost the high school and its community. The city's various recent efforts to encourage local food production came up, he says.

As it happens, North High is home to a greenhouse, which, at the time, it wasn’t using, he explains.

“Project Sweetie Pie is an urban farm movement designed to promote healthy food and physical activity in urban areas and to promote economic opportunity in the food distribution system,” its website reads.

Project Sweetie Pie takes it name from the sweet potatoes it first began growing and selling for commercial pie making at the nearby Kindred Kitchen, which is a business incubator for food-related ventures.

The project helps youth and others to assume ownership over pieces of land and become stewards, Chaney says.

Chaney belongs to a group called Afro-Eco, which looks for opportunities to connect people to the land through sustainable practices. Afro-Eco is also the fiscal agent for Project Sweetie Pie, which started last year.

He’s been approaching schools, churches, and individuals to build up the project, including adding new growing plots and market locations. So far, more than 130 youth have participated in the project, growing well over 1,000 vegetables and fruits.

“We want youth to be part of the solution instead of labeled as the problem,” he says. “We’re planting the seeds of change." 

Source: Michael Chaney, founder, Project Sweetie Pie
Writer: Anna Pratt

An old industrial complex in St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood could become a hub for creative workers under a multimillion redevelopment plan from First and First principal Peter Remes.

The 5.6-acre site near the Central Corridor light rail transit line consists of nine buildings, along with a watertower, hence the project’s name, “Watertower Place," according to the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.

Amy Sparks, executive director of the nearby Saint Anthony Park Community Council, says that although the group hasn’t officially weighed in on the project, it’s generally supportive of the plan at this early stage.

In many ways, it’s in keeping with the neighborhood group’s efforts to formalize the area’s brand as a Creative Enterprise Zone. The neighborhood has long been home to artists and other creative types.

“Some of the folks involved in the Creative Enterprise Zone heard about it and are excited about the potential,” and the same goes for the group’s land use committee, she says.

The plan includes installing working elevators, exposing boarded-up windows, and bringing light into the hallways, among other upgrades, she says. Her understanding is that Remes wants to introduce nonindustrial uses, such as a theater, into the place.

Besides the usual development hurdles, the city is evaluating some of its zoning ordinances related to industry, which could have an impact on the development's direction, she says.

“The question is, do we want this to be the Creative Enterprise Zone or to be more of a traditional industrial zone? Hopefully it’ll be a melding of the two,” she says. “The two uses, art and industry, have coexisted pretty comfortably in the area for the past 30 years and we hope to see that continue.”  
 
Right now, the building has 60 tenants, and whether they’ll be able to stay is up in the air. “We want to make sure everything is done to keep some of the remaining tenants and to keep the building in the spirit of the Creative Enterprise Zone,” she says. “We want creative uses in the area.”

Source: Amy Sparks, executive director, Saint Anthony Park Community Council
Writer: Anna Pratt

The Wirth Cooperative Grocery, which has been in progress for nearly four years, is getting closer to becoming a reality.

Although a site for the coop hasn’t been finalized, the plan is to locate it in North Minneapolis’s Harrison neighborhood, according to coop board member Jenny Warner. The North Side is “an area that really needs this amenity,” she says. “It could use a business that creates that kind of communal space.”  

But instant results aren't to be expected. “For any organic process it takes time to build those relationships,” she says.

Right now, the coop is working on a business plan and trying to increase membership--efforts that a $30,000 McKnight Foundation grant helped fund, she says.

The coop has nearly 100 members, with new people signing up all the time, thanks to word-of-mouth, she adds. 

The coop is also carrying out focus groups with community members to figure out what it will offer. The products, which will include fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats, need to be affordable.

“We have a culturally and economically diverse neighborhood, so we really are trying to do our best to meet its needs for fresh, healthy food,” she says.  
 
She expects that the coop won't look like others in the community. “We hope it looks like something that nobody has seen before,” she says. “We hope it reflects the community’s needs and we want everyone to shop there, not just people who are used to going to coops.”

The board, which draws volunteers from all over the city, aims to open the coop on Earth Day in 2013.

Source: Jenny Warner, Wirth Cooperative Grocery
Writer: Anna Pratt

Close to midnight on June 9, up to 1,000 bicyclists will be outfitted with special LED lights that will create a synchronized spectacle across the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis.

This experiment/public art display, which is part of the arts-geared Northern Spark Festival that will go all night in Minneapolis and St. Paul, is called, “The Kuramoto Model (1000 Fireflies).”  

The artist/techie behind it, David Rueter, an MFA candidate in art and technology studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, explains that whenever the lights blink, they broadcast a radio signal. As the lights "hear" each other, they begin to blink in synchronized patterns. By themselves, they look like regular LED cycling safety lights,  “but in groups, they exhibit an immediately noticeable and striking phenomenon,” a statement about the project reads. Reuter explains that the lights “can adjust or form a consensus” visually. “These lights are always listening.”

The project takes its name from Yoshiki Kuramoto, who pioneered research along these lines, Rueter says. He hopes that the bike ride/public art display will reveal the connections between individuals “and what amounts to a system of urban cycling, and connections that exist, whether or not they’re intentional.” He’s interested in seeing how that “transforms the way people perceive cycling,” and how it “changes the flow of cyclists.” For starters, it “alters the social rules of proximity. Different ways that people form in groups will be unveiled. It’ll change the way people approach interacting on bikes,” he says.

Well after the festival, people may continue to use them, and have chance encounters with each other.

It’s encouraging having the support of those who contributed to his $1,000 Kickstarter campaign, he says. “Everyone seems to latch onto the idea,” he adds. “Their imaginations run wild.”   


Source: David Reuter, Kuramoto Model Project
Writer: Anna Pratt

In a unique partnership with the Starling Project, the St. Anthony Park Community Council (SAPCC) is temporarily reimagining a vacant storefront space on University Avenue in St. Paul.

The Starling Project facilitates such “meanwhile uses” of empty spaces along the avenue’s portion of the Central Corridor light rail transit line, according to project materials.

Even though the bulk of the construction here has wrapped up, shoppers are still avoiding the area, according to Amy Sparks, who heads SAPCC.

To take advantage of the space, SAPCC and Starling are on the lookout for entrepreneurs, artists, and other creative types to fill the place.

Tenants will fill the 1,200-square-foot pop-up shop for anywhere from one to four weeks.

Renters should engage the public in some way, such as through a one-time event, open studio hours, or an interesting window display, according to a prepared statement about the project.

So far, the space has a few takers, including Irrigate Arts, which is leading the charge on numerous artist-led placemaking projects along the light rail line. Irrigate will have an exhibit in the space that documents these efforts.

Sky View, which is an aerial photo workshop and gallery, will also have a presence there.

Last month, an art show called Art du Nord occupied the former frame shop.  

Ultimately, the neighborhood group sees the rotating uses as a way to bring life to the avenue, according to Sparks. “We want to see University Avenue thrive and help keep businesses going.”     

It’s also a creative way to find a permanent tenant for the space.

More broadly, the project calls attention to the neighborhood’s Creative Enterprise Zone, which is an in-progress arts district-like designation. It's all about strengthening the local creative community, she explains.

Sparks hopes these types of events will “build up awareness of the area, so people start to recognize it as a creative area and want to locate here and do business here.”

As such, the group is trying “to get the right developments in,” and keep office space affordable. “It makes the Creative Enterprise Zone more real and tangible,” she says.

Source: Amy Sparks, executive director, SAPCC
Writer: Anna Pratt

The Minnesota African American Museum and Cultural Center, which has been in the works for a handful of years, had its grand opening in Minneapolis’s Stevens Square neighborhood on June 2.

The museum, which is housed in the historic Coe Mansion, is about “celebrating and presenting African American history for all populations,” its website states. 

Roxanne Givens, one of the museum's founders, credits the local community for coming up with the idea. Many people "felt not having a record of the many contributions African Americans made to Minnesota history and beyond, was a major impediment to community engagement, self-esteem and achievement,” the website states.

The concept was there, and a place was needed to “fulfill our mission of a sustainable History and Cultural museum of Local, National and International importance.”

In answer to that, one day Givens and another founder, Harry Davis, wound up near the 1880s Queen Anne-style mansion by chance. It struck them both as the perfect venue for the museum they'd been talking about, according to its website.

To make it a reality, Givens spearheaded a $6 million capital campaign for building renovations. This included improvements that would accommodate exhibits in the space, while also allowing for accessibility. At the same time, the building's historic designation meant that its defining characteristics had to be left intact, the website explains.

Currently, exhibits in the space cover black baseball, the state's African-American pioneers, and African folktales.

The children’s space, which takes up an entire floor, includes an interactive learning and play space, reading lounge, library, high-tech touch-screen exhibits, and artifacts.  

Yet to come is an adjoining cultural and educational center that will have state-of-the-art technology, learning labs, a genealogy center, community gallery, oral history center and more, it states.

City Council member Robert Lilligren, who represents Ward 6, which includes the museum, says he's been supportive of the project since the get-go. Further, the Stevens Square community has "welcomed it with open arms as a cultural asset," he says. "They think it's a very positive addition to the neighborhood."

On a broader level, it enhances "a whole string of cultural assets along Third Avenue," which also includes several other museums.

Also, from a historical perspective, "The center swath of South Minneapolis was the first part of the city to integrate racially," so it's appropriate that the museum go there, he says.


Source: Minnesota African American Museum and Cultural Center; Robert Lilligren, Minneapolis City Council
Writer: Anna Pratt

Ice House Plaza, which opened last month in Minneapolis, brings greenspace to a newly redeveloped commercial complex in the Whittier neighborhood.

“Busk until Dawn,” which features all kinds of acoustic music, spoken word, comedians and buskers, will take over the plaza on June 9, from 9 p.m. until 6 a.m.

The event is a closing party to the six-week Artists in Storefronts Project, which put artist-created displays in vacant storefronts throughout the Whittier neighborhood, according to Joan Vorderbruggen, who lead the pilot. (See The Line story here.)

Vorderbruggen will also be giving “light saber”-lit guided walking tours of the storefronts that evening.

The event is also a part of the Northern Spark Festival, which features all kinds of overnight creative events across Minneapolis and St. Paul.

“Busk until Dawn” sponsors include the Whittier Alliance, Eat Street Social, Dunn Bros. and The Lost and Found thrift store, according to Vorderbruggen.  

A much-needed greenspace
Vorderbruggen hopes that the cultural event is the first of many in the Ice House Plaza.

Calling it “a great addition to the neighborhood,” she says that the plaza is an upgrade from the previous “tired retail space,” which had “multiple failed businesses.”

It’s ideal for concerts and picnics or just taking a lunch break, she says.

The plaza is also a benefit for the many neighborhood residents, such as her self, who live in apartments, and don’t have yards. Too often, greenspace is neglected, especially in a commercial corridor, she says.

In the plaza, there are tables and chairs, benches and other areas to congregate.  

Among its design elements are sizable stones came from the Great Metropolitan Building, which was demolished in the 1960s, according to the TC Daily Planet.

Stones are also the prominent element in a stone sculpture in the plaza titled, “White Angel,” from local artist Zoran Mojsilov, the story states.

All in all, “I think it’ll draw people out and be a place where people want to spend time,” she says, adding that it builds community and benefits local businesses.   

Source: Joan Vorderbruggen, Artists in Storefronts Project
Writer: Anna Pratt

Japanese sakura cherry blossom trees will soon be blooming in St. Paul in recognition of a longstanding relationship with the faraway country. 

St. Paul is one of 20 U.S. cities to get 20 cherry trees apiece as a gift from Japan. It marks 100 years since Japan sent 3,000 sakura trees to Washington, D.C., according to city information. The National Cherry Blossom Festival in the capital city, which happens each spring, celebrates the 1912 gift as well.

“The gift and annual celebration honor the lasting friendship between the United States and Japan and the continued close relationship between the two countries,” the festival’s website reads.   

Bill Pesek, who is a landscape architect for St. Paul, says that the number ‘20’ is significant in Japan as a coming-of-age reference. As such, it’ll play a symbolic role in the June 9 ceremony that the city is planning to celebrate the gift.

That day, volunteers will help plant the trees in Como Regional Park. The planting of the 20th tree will be ceremonious, he explains.

In the park, the cherry trees will have a prominent place near the lily pond.  

Usually cherry trees don’t appear in Japanese gardens because they’re only in bloom for a short period, he says. “Sakura refers to this blossoming period,” he adds. However, in this case it makes sense to plant in that spot because of the Japanese gardens already in place nearby. Going forward, the city is also hoping to create a “blossoming corridor,” where the cherry trees will be highlighted, he says.

St. Paul, which is one of two Minnesota cities that were chosen for the gift--Winona is the other--has long had a sister-city cultural exchange with Nagasaki, Japan, he says.

In fact, in 1955, St. Paul was the first U.S. city to join the Sister Cities International program. “There’s a rich history of sharing,” and of “people-to-people relationships,” through its longstanding ties to Japan, he says.  

At the dedication event, representatives of Japan and local politicians who were instrumental in setting up the St. Paul-Nagasaki relationship will give speeches in English and Japanese. Traditional Japanese music and dance are also part of the celebration.  

“We hope this is one of many years that we’ll continue to celebrate this event of the sakura festival,” Pesek says.

Source: Bill Pesek, St. Paul
Writer: Anna Pratt

If all goes as planned, the bygone Caribe Caribbean Bistro could come back in a new form in Northeast Minneapolis.

The former St. Paul restaurant closed last year during Central Corridor Light Rail Transit construction.

Co-owner Heidi Panelli and her husband, Tony, want to reopen the restaurant in the former Amici Bistro space.

To do so, the couple is trying to raise $50,000 in donations through Kickstarter. Their web-based campaign, which started May 14, goes through June 13.  

Funds will go to “the bare bones of getting the place turned into a big art project,” including signage, décor, furniture, equipment, and promotional materials, explains Panelli.

She’s encouraged by the fact that Kickstarter has helped get a couple of other local eateries up and running.

The new space will allow for a bigger kitchen, which means the restaurant will be able to expand its menu, she explains.  

Like the old place, the restaurant would sport bright colors. Panelli plans to paint a mural on one wall that will picture the sun over water, with mirror pieces creating a reflective effect. Another mural would include the names of backers who contribute $100 or more, she says.

The couple has been getting ideas from thrift-store finds. They want the restaurant to resemble an island food stand, but without being too gimmicky, she says.  

She hopes it becomes a “destination location nestled in a neighborhood.” This particular neighborhood alcove “fits our vision perfectly,” she says.  

The couple will be on hand at the June 2 Johnstock annual festival on Johnson St. to share their plans with the public and to give out food samples. They’ll also be showing up on June 7 at the Chowgirls Parlor as a part of the Northrup King building's "first Thursdays" open- studio event.  

Source: Heidi Panelli, Caribe
Writer: Anna Pratt

One day on a whim a couple of years ago, Jesse Jamison, who’d reluctantly joined Facebook, decided to start a group page that’s dedicated to Old Minneapolis.

Jamison, a history buff, saw it as a fun outlet “for me to go back in time in the city I love,” he says.  

At the time, he had no idea the page would take off the way it has, with thousands of “likes,” especially since he didn’t advertise it anywhere.

Right away people started sharing all kinds of anecdotes and details about the city’s past. “I don’t even know how it happened, but very quickly there were thousands of people there, and everyone was contributing great stuff,” says Jamison. “The photos are great but the stories people tell are priceless.”

Jamison, whose family is from the North Side, remembers his father's colorful tales of the city, going as far back as the 1930s.

He also has stories of his own. At the age of 13, he and a friend took a bus to downtown Minneapolis, not realizing it would end up there, he says. 

Afterward, they returned to downtown on the weekends. They liked to walk around “looking at everything,” he says, adding, “The city was so alive and exciting. I never wanted to leave.”  

Years later he got a downtown apartment, which he describes as a “cockroach-filled dump right behind the Basilica. It was horrible but it was downtown and I loved it.”

Besides reminiscences, the Old Minneapolis group has also been valuable for crowdsourcing historical information. Whenever there’s a question about the date of a photo or the address of a shuttered business, the page’s supporters “get together like a pack of history detectives, and in most cases, solve the mystery,” he says. “I’ve learned so much more about this great city from the contributors of this page.”

On the page, he tries to keep a mix of locations and time periods so that nobody gets bored, he says.  

Going forward, Jamison hopes that the page keeps growing and reaching more people, including “the older, nostalgic ones, and the younger ones who are just discovering Minneapolis' history,” he says.  

Source: Jesse Jamison, Old Minneapolis
Writer: Anna Pratt