Development News

As its name suggests, HiFi Hair, a salon in Minneapolis's Loring Park, has a musical bent.

The salon is approaching its one-year anniversary in the space that was once the lobby of the old Loring Playhouse. Olson advertising company, which moved to the Ford Center downtown, previously occupied the 600-square-foot storefront space along with other parts of the historic Loring Corners building.

Salon owner Jonny Clifford (a.k.a. Jonny Zygomatic) says the theme was inspired by the fact that “The biggest influence fashion has always had is music,” adding, “Why not meld the two?”

A vintage jukebox, from which customers can choose songs, helps set the tone, while artwork in the salon is music-related. One wall is even dedicated to local music memorabilia. “Local music is a rich thing in this city and we would like to pay homage to it,” he says.  

Additionally, the salon, which sponsors The Current radio station, hosted a honky-tonk party last Saturday, which brought in around 125 people.

“The jukebox was filled with music that you would expect to hear in an old-school West Texas honky-tonk joint,” he says, adding that the salon “threw peanut shells on the floor and served pulled pork and keg beer.”

It wasn’t what one would expect from a traditional salon, he says.  

This speaks to HiFi’s mission. A hair salon like this is a gathering place, he says. “It has a relaxed vibe. It’s a place where people can hang out.”  

He stresses “good service and not a lot of attitude,” he says, adding, “Everyone should feel welcome.”

To create that kind of laid-back atmosphere, the place is furnished with salvaged antiques and comfortable chairs. Old dressers, doors, mirrors, and bookcases have been repurposed, resulting in unique hairdresser stations, he says.  

The eclectic look fits in with the Loring Park neighborhood, “a wonderful bohemia in the middle of Minneapolis.”

For Clifford, a veteran in the industry, “This is one of the most fun projects I’ve ever had in my career.” He also hopes that the salon helps to breathe new life into Loring Park.

In a space that has long been used for offices, not retail, “I thought it would be nice to bring more traffic to the area here during the day,” he says.

Source: Jonny Clifford, owner, HiFi Hair
Writer: Anna Pratt

Gastrotruck, a food truck that specializes in “artisanal street cuisine,” is expanding with a straight-up restaurant in Northeast Minneapolis. Its brick-and-mortar counterpart will go by another name, though that hasn’t been publicized yet, according to City Pages.  
 
The food truck will continue to circulate between Minneapolis and St. Paul in the warmer months.

Catherine Eckert, who owns the food truck, describes the changes that are underway at the building it purchased at 2400 University Avenue N.E. as a “complete property renovation.” In general, sustainability is a guiding principal for the restaurant, both in terms of construction and its offerings.   

For starters, the restaurant is going for LEED certification, which has benchmarks for green building, the City Pages story reads.

Also, Gastrotruck intends to grow as much as half of its food on the restaurant’s grounds. This will happen in part through vertical grow walls, a green roof and a greenhouse, the story adds. Recycled water runoff will play into that system.

In terms of the restaurant’s interior look, “I am striving for a farmhouse chic feel,” Eckert says.This dovetails with the food truck’s emphasis on products from local farms and companies and handcrafted ingredients.  

Gastrotruck, which plans to open the restaurant in the fall, is “all about respecting food and the environment in which it comes from,” its website states. Eckert has high hopes that the restaurant will fill a unique niche in the neighborhood: “We are super excited to offer our neighbors a restaurant that serves sustainable modern Midwestern cuisine that is approachable and affordable,” she says.  

Source: Catherine Eckert, owner, Gastrotruck
Writer: Anna Pratt

As its name suggests, The Community Meal, a public art project from St. Paul artist Seitu Jones, centers on a huge feast.

In this case, the meal, for which Jones is working with Public Art Saint Paul, will span up to three-quarters of a mile along the Central Corridor light rail transit line. It will happen in September of 2014. Jones wants to see the project's table make it into the Guinness World Records as the world’s longest.

The project recently received a Joyce Award for $50,000. “It has a lot of different layers to it,” he says. “It’s more than just a meal, though the meal will be the high point.” The meal will follow a yearlong “listening project that explores traditions, attitudes, and the presentation of food, with a specific focus on the Central Corridor,” he says.

This year, he’ll visit homes, restaurants, urban farms, and various gathering places along the line to hear people’s food stories.  

“What started me thinking about this was just being blown away by the urban agriculture initiatives happening along the Central Corridor,” including urban farms and community gardens, he says. He wants to celebrate these green ventures. “I thought of a meal that could be prepared from the bounty from the city,” to get people thinking about making healthy food choices.

The idea is also an outgrowth of a food assessment that Afro-Eco, an environmental group he belongs to, helped produce. It found that many people feel intimidated by the topic of healthy eating.  

To help show people how to cook and eat better, he came up with mobile kitchens that could be pulled by bike or pushed on a cart, which could be set up in parking lots, parks, and other community sites.
This naturally led to the idea of providing one big meal, using mobile kitchens. “One legacy that will be left behind are these mobile kitchens,” Jones says.

The table and its place settings will also be works of art, while spoken word artists will perform during the meal, he adds.

Jones hopes the project gives people “the tools to begin to place themselves in the food system and do interventions in their food." On top of that, “This is an awesome opportunity for 2,000 to 3,000 people to sit down and break bread together at a common table and talk about issues that generally drive dinnertime conversations,” he says.

Source: Seitu Jones, artist
Writer: Anna Pratt

FROG  (For Recycling on Grand) recently hashed out a plan for continuing its mission this year: to boost recycling and cut down on waste along Grand Avenue in St. Paul.  

A pilot program that originated in 2009, FROG brings together representatives from the Grand Avenue Business Association, Summit Hill Association, Macalester Groveland Community Council, the city of St. Paul, and Ramsey County, according to Jenna Bowman, a member of the group who works for the Business Association.

Last year, FROG placed 13 blue recycling containers along Grand Avenue to make it easy for passersby to recycle. “We monitored that and used that information,” for planning next steps, she says.

The group has also worked to connect area businesses with Minnesota Waste Wise, an environmentally minded St. Paul nonprofit organization; it's a connection FROG hopes to build on. “We’ve seen a lot of success stories with that,” she says.

One way that FROG will continue these efforts is by focusing on recycling at Grand Old Day, the annual summertime festival on Grand Avenue.   

More broadly, the group is also working on putting together some sort of recognition program to showcase what local businesses are doing recycling-wise, she says. This could involve visuals, like decals on storefront windows, which tell those stories.

For example, maybe a business has found a way to save on packaging or cut down on how many plastic bottles are out there, she says. To take the efforts a step further, “We may have an awards program that acknowledges businesses that go above and beyond, who are leaders in the industry in what they recycle,” she says.  

Additionally, the group will continue to work with partners that provide valuable insight and feedback on its initiatives. It helps that “The city and the county are working to increase their green efforts,” she says.

Source: Jenna Bowman, staffer, Grand Avenue Business Association
Writer: Anna Pratt

 Groundswell Coffee in St. Paul is looking to create a groundswell of ideas.

Its co-owners, Seth McCoy and Tim Gilbert, want to get the community involved in the coffee shop’s expansion.

McCoy and Gilbert, who bought the neighborhood cafe in 2009, have been able to make the business break even, but in the economic downturn, “It’s been limping along,” McCoy says.  

To turn it around, they've tried to restore “the feeling of a neighborhood place," which it had when it first opened. But their efforts thus far "have not been enough,” he says.

After giving it some serious thought, “We agreed that being on that corner was important and we needed to find ways to accentuate that,” he says. That, they knew, would take some creative problem solving.

That’s when they learned that the next-door Borealis Yarn shop was closing. They got the idea to take over the space to create a full-service kitchen, beer and wine bar, along with an art consignment shop. Today they’re trying to secure financing for the $150,000 project.

To raise up to half of that, they’re looking at crowdfunding or community-based capital.

Crowdfunding allows community members to purchase a small stake in the company, he explains. At Northbound Smokehouse in Minneapolis, for example, “At a certain investment level, people could get free beer for life,” he says.

Similarly, Groundswell wants to offer a founders’ club membership for $1,000 apiece. A founding member could then get a free drink every day, he says.  

In line with the owners' community values, the place will serve locally sourced food and drink and highlight artists and musicians from the area. “The Twin Cities has a vibrant local economy and we want to tap into that wherever we can,” McCoy says.

With the coming Central Corridor Light Rail Transit line, and in the absence of many commercial buildings of this sort in the neighborhood, “We hope to be a place where neighbors can get together,” one that’s also family-friendly, he says.

Groundswell plans to have a grand opening in May.


Source: Seth McCoy, co-owner, Groundswell Coffee  
Writer: Anna Pratt

Handsome Cycles, a Minneapolis-based bicycle manufacturer founded in 2008, has long had a national presence, with merchandise in 53 retail stores throughout the country.

The online business found its first dealers in the city, with One on One Bicycle Studio and Go Coffee and The Alt bicycle shop, according to Handsome co-owner, Jesse Erickson.

At the same time, “We always wanted a retail space” close to home, so when the storefront space beside One on One opened up, Erickson and his partner, Ben Morrison, jumped at it.

“We saw the opportunity to partner with someone who knows cycling culture and what’s needed on the clothing side,” Erickson says.  

Previously, a music store occupied the space.

Erickson and Morrison tore down a wall between the two spaces, both of which are roughly 2,500 square feet, so that customers can go back and forth freely between the shops. “Our side will be more of a lifestyle store in the front half,” while the back area will serve as a showroom and build studio for Handsome’s custom-built bikes.

Beyond that, the Handsome space required little buildout, he says.

In terms of aesthetics, the space boasts exposed brick, hardwood floors, and wide open spaces.

He and Morrison are creating a modular setup that can be rearranged for different purposes. All in all, the place will have an industrial look “that’s raw and clean.” To achieve that, “We’re using a lot of reclaimed stuff,” especially wood from demolished barns and abandoned buildings, while metal piping runs throughout, he says.

Handsome will collaborate with One on One in hosting art shows, film festivals, and other events. “One on One has done a good job,” on this front, he says, adding, “It’s not just a bike retail store. It’s also a destination for the cycling culture.”

The store plans to open in March.

Source: Jesse Erickson, co-owner, Handsome Cycles
Writer: Anna Pratt 

In recent years, Minneapolis has earned a solid reputation as a bike-friendly city.  

The city’s 12-member Bicycle Advisory Committee is just one of many groups that are working to ensure that the city is attuned to the needs of bicyclists.

Recently, the body made a recommendation that city officials broaden an ordinance that requires large downtown developments to provide certain amenities for bicyclists, according to City Council member Gary Schiff, who represents the ninth ward.

Under the ordinance, which dates back to 2001, new projects of 500,000 square feet or more need to have a number of bicycle parking stalls, showers, and lockers.

The problem is that buildings with the same height and scale outside of the business district are left out of the equation, he says.  

This has put off some potential bike commuters. “The number-one deterrent, when people are asked, is a lack of facilities at work to shower and change,” Schiff says, citing various surveys of residents.

One place where he has seen that happen is Coloplast, a medical device company that received city funding to build its headquarters in North Minneapolis.

Even though a bike path is visible from the building, Coloplast employees “still don’t find it convenient without an available facility to use,” he says. This is because the building, which lies outside of the business district, wasn’t required to have bike facilities, he says.

To address that, the Bicycle Advisory Committee would like to see big buildings across the city adhere to the same guidelines as downtown developments. The possibility will be introduced to the full City Council at its next meeting on February 8.

Schiff is an advocate for the recommendation. “This is all about making bike commuting easier,” he says.

Source: Gary Schiff, Minneapolis City Council member  
Writer: Anna Pratt

The St. Paul site where the Margaret Recreation Center once stood is now a pile of rubble. But many community members who live or work close to the center are optimistic about the site’s future.

Brad Meyer, a spokesperson for the city’s parks and recreation department, says, “Margaret is one of those unique sites that has a very active immediate neighborhood surrounding it.” That being said, the center “hasn’t received a lot of use beyond its tot-lot for many years.”

It probably didn't help that the building was in bad shape. A system-wide parks planning process, which the department undertook last fall, found that if the building’s partner left, it would need to be torn down. In this case, a partnership with the Hmong Youth Education Services didn’t work out.

Because resources are limited, a timeline for redevelopment at the site is yet to be determined. “At the very least, the site will receive new grass immediately this spring and access to the popular play area/tot lot will continue,” he says.

Part of the site could stay open for athletics while renovations are underway. “We are very optimistic we can find a solution that the neighborhood will be happy with, and are looking forward to working with them as part of the next steps for the site,” he says.

A group called the Stewards of Margaret Park (STOMP) is getting organized to help guide the site’s redevelopment. The preliminary plan calls for a walking path, ice skating rink, grading of the park’s hill for sledding, bathrooms, picnic pavilions, and a basketball court, according to a story from Lillie News.  

Also, a sort of “truck stop” might be set up to park and host mobile programs like the Artmobile or Bookmobile, the story states.

Source: Brad Meyer, spokesperson, St. Paul Parks and Recreation
Writer: Anna Pratt

Honeyshine, a gift and home décor store that also offers interior design services, is growing. 

As such, the shop, which opened in Minneapolis's Bryn Mawr neighborhood in 2011, plans to move to 2720 W. 43rd Street. Honeyshine will take the spot of a longtime yarn shop, next-door to the Wild Rumpus bookstore in Linden Hills, according to Adam Braun, who co-owns the shop with Daisy Mitchell.  

The store, which sells decorative accessories, tabletop entertaining items, jewelry, furniture, art, vintage items, and more, aims to open on May 8. 

Fortunately, the space won’t require too much of a makeover, according to Braun. Mainly, Braun and Mitchell will be redoing the floors and the lighting. “We’re going for something warmer,” he says.  

Besides offering more room for the business, this is a “proven retail space,” close to a number of restaurants and shops. That’s a boon for the growing Honeyshine. “Linden Hills will do a tremendous amount for our business, being an area with so many great restaurants and stores,” he says. “Having that much foot traffic will be great.”

The aesthetic of the new space, however, will stay the same. Braun describes the place as having a “modern scrappy feel, with clean lines and a lot of different cool objects,” he says. “It’s a mixture of new or modern with vintage things that we find.”

In terms of the design services, the space “is a good example of what we offer and the creativity behind our store.”
 
With so much to look at, “A lot of people come back to soak in everything,” he says.  

That relates to the whole idea behind the shop. “We’re always trying to offer things that you can’t find anywhere else in Minneapolis,” he says.


Source: Adam Braun, co-owner, Honeyshine
Writer: Anna Pratt

Al’s Bar, a half-century-old bar in St. Louis Park that was demolished in 2009 to make way for a housing development, inspired ProjectAl.

The charitable T-shirt business, which is run out of the basement of co-owner Charley Holden’s home, launched in November 2012.   

Holden and his business partner, Derek Hood, who had been regulars at the bar, saw how Al’s gave money to local sports teams, National Night Out, and many other community-oriented events and initiatives. “It had a strong sense of community,” he says.

On a more informal level, many of its regulars knew one another. “They liked the history the place had,” he says. It was frustrating for people “to see their favorite neighborhood establishment, which had been around longer than they had, go.” Its demolishing was a community event. “A lot of regulars loved going there,” Holden says.

When the Uptown Bar in Minneapolis closed, it was the same story, he adds.  

Holden and Hood wanted to create a project that would speak to those sentiments. “We want to give back to the community,” Holden says. “We thought that going through charities and local artists would be a great way to do it as well.” Proceeds of shirt sales go to the businesses represented on the shirts, to the artists who design them, and to a charity of the buyer's choice.

Holden rescued the old sign that once hung above Al’s, and employed it as a motif for the company. Whenever friends see it, the expressions on their faces are priceless, he says, adding, “Many remember it and still talk about it.”

“We want to draw attention to and celebrate local landmarks and businesses and recognize the importance those places have to our neighborhoods,” he says. “We want to keep them in our neighborhoods.”

Already, the business has gotten plenty of positive feedback. The company has even received random orders from people outside of Minnesota. “I’m assuming these are from people who have emotional ties to those places. It’s their way of representing them,” he says. “That’s what we get excited about.”

Source: Charley Holden
Writer: Anna Pratt

A vacant space alongside the Black Forest Inn will soon be home to the retro-style Glam Doll Donuts shop.

Arwyn Birch, who co-owns the place with Teresa Fox, says, “It’ll be like stepping through a local time warp,” into the 1940s and 50s, adding, “It’ll have a unique atmosphere.”

An old chemical photo booth, vintage art pieces, and works from a local artist will lend atmosphere to the place. Helping to create that feel will be hand-painted stencil tile and tables, which Birch describes as “glamorous and glitzy.”

Many of the shop’s furnishings have been repurposed, like a stainless steel piece of equipment that’s now a baker’s table, topped by a butcher’s block. Leftover tables and chairs have gotten a makeover as well.

Birch and Fox adapted the concept from “kitschy, focused donut shops” that are open late nights out west. “[These] would often be more than an average bakery-donut experience,” she says.

Birch, who has a fashion background, plans to design and make the workers’ attire herself; it will also be vintage-inspired.

Birch and Fox, both of whom have worked in the restaurant industry over the years, “have always been inspired by music and vintage,” she says, adding, “This is the culmination of our strongest passions,” including food.

The shop will offer a variety of classic donuts, but with the Glam Doll stamp on them.

“We hope to establish the place as a neighborhood landmark. The idea that 'you’ve got to go to Eat Street.' We hope to contribute to that distinctive feel,” she says. “There’s a great variety of culture happening here.”

The owners plan to open the shop by Feb. 15.

Source: Arwyn Birch, co-owner, Glam Doll Donuts
Writer: Anna Pratt

This month, local muralist Jimmy Longoria will see a couple of his pieces in the permanent collection at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago.

Longoria, along with his wife, Connie Fulmer, is behind a nonprofit organization called Mentoring Peace Through Art, which puts youth to work on murals and other art projects.

The two museum-bound pieces come from his collection, and are titled, in Spanish, “My Grandfather’s Shovels.”

“The shovels are very unique in that they’re not decoration,” he says. “It’s not just an artist playing with form.” Rather, the work pays homage to his grandfather, a farmer who lived in Texas. In the 1960s, his grandfather “painted red stripes on [his shovels] so as not to lose them,” Longoria says, The shovels were needed for digging irrigation ditches.

Other farmers ended up following suit, embellishing their shovels with unique designs, to make sure they stayed put.  

“It’s about leadership, the kind of leadership that’s tied to what one does naturally, but also ties you to others in the community,” he says.

Longoria also has work hanging in such community centers as the Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center (UROC), in North Minneapolis. Soon he’ll be working with students at Richard R. Green Central Park Community School in Minneapolis.  

“My art has to be understood almost entirely on a different base than what most were doing in the 20th century,” he says. That is, it’s not about the individual, but it “manifests values of the entire village and its function.”  

Whether he’s working with schoolchildren or painting shovels, the work is “interwoven into the fabric of society,” he says. “We use the artist’s toolkit to build community.” 

Source: Jimmy Longoria, Mentoring Peace Through Art
Writer: Anna Pratt

180 Degrees, Inc., in St. Paul, which has a mission to turn lives around, has big plans to establish a youth development campus on East Seventh Street.    

To pull it off, the organization is trying to raise $2.8 million. It invested $1 million into acquiring the W.B. Martin Lumber Company site in 2011, developing a parking lot and converting one building into space for offices and programming, according to Richard Gardell, the president and CEO of 180 Degrees.

The 1.5-acre lumberyard, which dates back to the early 1900s, had been pretty rundown, and it was vacant for several years, he says.  

Where there were “quite a bit of old buildings and dilapidation, we saw a vision for a youth development campus,” he says. The organization had outgrown its former site on the East Side at that point.

To carry out the plan, the organization needs to remove a building, once a barbershop, on Seventh to make way for a youth crisis center. The new building will be in keeping with the area’s architectural style, Gardell says.

A pole barn on the site will stay intact for recreational purposes while another building will provide for various entrepreneurial activities for youth, including several related to construction trades.  

180 Degrees also plans to turn the old English Street, a dirt road, into green space, with community gardens, to connect the properties on the site.  

The organization is working with neighbors to “make sure to address concerns related to access on Seventh Street,” he says. “We hope it’s a win-win,” especially as that relates to improving the lot’s appearance.

The green space will help reduce dust and traffic and improve the quality of life in the area. “We’re planning on the community garden being a space to gather and grow together,” Gardell says, adding, “We hope the rest of campus provides services to neighbors” and the larger community.

The organization hopes to break ground in the spring, he says.

Source: Richard Gardell, 180 Degrees
Writer: Anna Pratt

Soon, the local Dogwood Coffee Company will be able to see the results of its $10,000 fundraising campaign for a water well in the impoverished Tigray region of Northern Ethiopia.

Dogwood, which began raising money for the water well in November, met its goal on Dec. 31, with the help of customers and employees.

The coffee company, which has a coffee bar in Southwest Minneapolis, took on the project through Charity Water, a New York nonprofit organization that funds clean water projects in developing countries.

The well will deliver clean water to 500 people for 20 years, according to Greg Hoyt, a co-owner of the coffee company. “It’s a significant project,” he says, adding, “It takes a year to build and train people how to use the well.”

Although the company typically gives 1 percent of its annual gross revenue to charity, “This was the biggest push,” he says. “It was the first time we decided to get other people involved, so we could do even more than what Dogwood generates.”

That dollar figure is also well above its typical goal of $6,000, he explains.

“It had such a great response we want to do it again this year,” he says. “It was word-of-mouth that helped.”

Originally, Dogwood asked to support a project in the region where it sources its beans. This turned out to be a humbling experience in that the charity involved turned them down, saying funds go to areas with the greatest need. “It was a good gut-check for us,” he says. “However well-intended our giving might be, it wasn’t up to us to decide where the need is.”

Still, the coffee company was able to make an impact in a country where many of its beans come from.  
Dogwood chose to hone in on this issue in part because coffee is 98 percent water. “We obsess about so many aspects of the coffee roast and preparation,” he says. “We need to be that geeky about water. It’s a key element and it’s so elusive in the countries that we buy coffee from.”

This is also a social justice issue. “It’s incredibly tragic that for many, clean water is a luxury,” he says.

With GPS technology, Dogwood will soon be able to see footage of the well in action.

“We didn’t know what would happen. We figured we would do the best we could,” he says. “We were really thrilled people joined us in this.”

Source: Greg Hoyt, co-owner, Dogwood Coffee
Writer: Anna Pratt

The District 12 Community Council in St. Paul is looking to join the international Transition Town movement to “rebuild resilience and reduce CO2 emissions.”

As a starting point, the council is hosting a community meeting on Jan. 17 at the St. Anthony Park United Methodist Church, to discuss ways the community is already responding to this challenge.

Tim Wulling, a member of the council’s Environment Committee, which is heading this effort, says, “We want to pull people together to share what’s happening, to be inspired by each other.”

For those who want to learn more about the topic beforehand, the group’s energy resilience subcommittee will also be screening a movie titled “In Transition 2.0” on Jan. 9 at the Joy of the People Center and on Jan. 12 at the St. Anthony Park Branch Library.

The movie tells about what other Transition Towns around the world are doing to make a difference in this area.

It comes down to the fact that “The human species lives too large on earth, creating climate and environment disruption,” Wulling says, adding, “It’s a real concern for our children and grandchildren.”

That’s what motivated the District 12 Community Council's Environment Committee and its energy resilience subcommittee to tackle the problem.

The Transition Town movement, which originated in the U.K. a handful of years ago, emphasizes that problem solving should happen at the local level, he says. Today, the movement is at work in at least 400 communities around the world.

To help build awareness around the issues in St. Anthony Park, related movie screenings, speakers, and meetings will be planned throughout the year, he says. Later on, if the neighborhood group formally joins the Transition network, it will need to come up with a plan for reducing energy use and CO2 emissions, to be vetted by the network.

The initiative also poses big questions such as “Is there another way of living that would be better?” and “Where will we be in 20 or 30 years from now? What life do we want?”

In St. Anthony Park, “We’re fortunate here to have a community feeling,” Wulling says. “It’s a well-knit area. That’s the key. We want to build on that.”

Source: Tim Wulling, St. Anthony Park Community Council committee member
Writer: Anna Pratt