Hong Kong International Building Sold to Kemps, Rumored to Be Slated for Demolition and a Parking Lot

Photo from the "Old North Minneapolis" Facebook page.

The storefront and office or living space at 404 West Broadway, the Vietnam Hong Kong International building, has been in limbo and a source of speculation in north Minneapolis.  Today on a thread in the Old North Minneapolis Facebook group, some answers came forward, and they do not bode well for the building.

Reportedly the property has been acquired by Kemps, and that part can be verified as the Minneapolis property information website lists Kemps as the owner.  The speculation that follows, however, is not yet confirmed.  But there seems to be only one potential use that Kemps would have for the parcel...

Photo Tour of Tax Forfeitures, Continued

 

The first round of tax forfeiture photos were just the properties in Jordan, but I set out to chronicle all of the houses that the County will have in their possession if they aren't redeemed.  Neighborhood groups are typically asked to make one of three recommendations on such properties; either that we support the city's acquisition, that we recommend allowing the houses to go to an auction, or that we recommend the properties be withheld from auction for six months while an alternate use is determined.

Where that limited set of recommendations falls short is that we may not support what the city does with a property post-acquisition (not to mention that neither we nor the city may even know such things at this moment).  We certainly don't have reason to trust that the County will avoid selling to slumlords at auction.  And there's no way to know whether we'll find a good investor in six months or if that investor will even find the County to be a willing seller.

So in general, those three choices almost ought to be scrapped for a different system entirely--at least for distressed communities where the tax auction process invites a worse breed of buyers than other parts of Hennepin County.  What that process might look like is a topic for another post.  For now, we march on with the photo tour.  The above property is 3301 Oliver Avenue North, and then we have...

Fall Round of Hennepin County Tax Forfeitures

It's that time of year again, where seasons may change but the risk of tax-forfeited properties being sold to slumlords does not.  A nineteen-page list of Minneapolis tax forfeitures was recently sent to neighborhood groups from the city of Minneapolis.  Credit where credit is due:  I've been critical of the city's policies surrounding vacant houses, but they've been a good partner on tax forfeitures.  Specifically, we used to get lists with only a few days to respond with neighborhood organizational positions on what to do with these houses and vacant lots.  The city really went to bat for our communities with the argument that this simply wasn't enough turnaround time.  Now we have until November 26th to submit comments.

The Jordan neighborhood has roughly two dozen such tax forfeitures, although for the purpose of this and subsequent blog posts, I will focus only on houses and not vacant land.  As I took a look at each Jordan property, like 2122 Ilion Ave N pictured above, I came to two conclusions.  There wasn't a single one I'd tear down (except the one that was already demolished by the time I got there), and there wasn't a single one I'd consider an acceptable slumlord acquisition.  So it's time to put our city and county government on notice:  We are watching how this process plays out, and it better result in a better north Minneapolis.

Jordan has a baker's dozen tax-forfeited properties with structures on them.  Twelve, technically, but the thirteenth was an arson-damaged home that was torn down after the list was generated.  Aside from the Ilion house, we have...

Blong Yang - First Choice for the Fifth Ward

Photo from www.blongyang.org.
 
I first got to know Blong Yang when we worked together on a campaign to get a Hmong-speaking police officer on the day shift in north Minneapolis.  When he ran for Hennepin County Commissioner, I was looking for a candidate to support who was smart, level-headed, honest, and hadn't been responsible for foisting publicly-funded stadiums upon us.  Blong fit the bill.

While Blong didn't win that race, he ran a solid, respectable campaign that surprised a lot of folks.  He did very well especially in engaging new voters in north Minneapolis.  I was proud of him and proud of the work we did in that election.  So there should be no surprise that from day one I supported Blong Yang as my first choice for the open Fifth Ward City Council seat. 

On policy issues...

Stephanie Woodruff Gets My 1st Vote

When I first heard of this previously unknown candidate throwing her hat in the ring, I was still wallowing in my disappointment that my preferred candidate was no longer in the running.  Why, I thought, didn't someone running as a Democrat avoid the DFL endorsement process entirely?  My initial reaction was to lump Stephanie Woodruff in with the two dozen or so other non-serious candidates.  But as I listened to more mayoral debates, as I read more about the candidates who piqued my interest, and as I spoke to more and more people across our city, Woodruff continued to impress.  The word of mouth from trusted friends and colleagues started to put her over the top.

What really changed my mind was after the north Minneapolis mayoral debate, where I wound up disagreeing with Stephanie over how to approach the Upper Harbor Terminal.  Yes, a disagreement over policy led to her getting my first vote...

The Sheltering Arms House Has a Buyer!

Top photo from CPED staff report, bottom photo by Jeff Skrenes.

At today's Community Development committee meeting the Minneapolis City Council took an initial step towards approving the sale of 2648 Emerson Avenue North, aka "The Sheltering Arms House" to a Charlie Browning.  Charlie rehabs homes as his profession, and does excellent work.  This is his first venture into north Minneapolis, and I can't welcome him enthusiastically enough.  The proposed rehab work would be to convert the four-unit structure into a spacious duplex, and then resell the property, hopefully to an owner-occupant.  But even as a rental, the quality of work that Mr. Browning does will almost certainly attract good owners and tenants.

A quick primer on The Sheltering Arms House and why it's so important both to the community and to me...

Surface Parking at Penn and 26th? Bad Idea.

The last time the Jordan neighborhood had a presentation at one of our committees regarding the Broadway Flats proposal, we had one area of concern.  There seemed to be an implied quid-pro-quo between the developer and St. Anne's church.  In exchange for the purchase and/or use of properties along Queen north of Broadway, the church would then get to formally convert the land they own on Penn and 26th into surface parking.  (It's been informally used as a parking lot even though it has no pavement or gravel.)

While the opinion wasn't formalized into an organizational position (yet), the general consensus at that housing committee was that we support the Broadway Flats development, but we were much more skeptical about converting the corner of 26th and Penn into permanent surface parking.  Furthermore, from a community standpoint, these were regarded as two completely separate issues.  Broadway Flats doesn't need St. Anne's to have parking in order for their development to proceed, and the St. Anne's parking situation at Penn and 26th would not be impacted by the Broadway Flats proposal.

Earlier this week a letter arrived that demonstrated that the arrangement was no longer implied, but completely formalized.  Lupe Development Partners, the same firm working on Broadway Flats, has submitted a land use application for...