Creative Economy : Development News

Mona, a new small-plate restaurant on South Seventh Street in downtown Minneapolis, takes its name from the famous Mona Lisa painting, which depicts a “woman with a mysterious smile.”  

Restaurant owner Lisa Hanson, who is also its head chef, says that like the painting, she thought the place might pique people’s curiosity: “Since I haven’t been cooking long in this town, I thought there might be a sense of mystery about how I became the 100-percent owner of this restaurant and built it from scratch,” she says.  

Hanson revamped the place earlier this year. Previously it had housed an Asian restaurant called Black Bamboo. “There was a lot of work to do,” she says, adding, that only the floor stayed intact. “We gutted the whole thing.”  

Today, the 3,000-square-foot space includes an open kitchen, counter seating, and booths, which can accommodate up to 102 people, along with a 75-seat patio.

A 20-foot island-style bar, chandeliers, tiled kitchen, dark wood, gilded mirrors and plenty of white and stainless steel define the space. “The media has said it looks like surgery,” she says. “The dining room is much softer and snazzy-looking.” 

Further, the patio is recessed from the street, so it has a more private feel.

Even though the restaurant has only been open for a few months, already it has seen an uptick in foot traffic. “A lot of people have said this is an area that’s underserved,” in terms of the cuisine, she says.  “We bring an opportunity for a lovely dining experience” as opposed to the more casual service at a bar.  
The restaurant also supports a number of local purveyors and farms and has a seasonal menu--something that she says is also lacking in this part of town. “We bring a lot of those factors to the area,” she says.

In a neighborhood that has many condos and apartment buildings, Mona seems to meet a need. “People come in and are so excited to have a real restaurant in their neighborhood,” she says. “We already have regulars.”  


Source: Lisa Hanson, owner and head chef, Mona
Writer: Anna Pratt

To make the area more amenable to bicyclists, the Metropolitan Council has started gathering information about individual rides with the help of a smartphone app called CycleTracks.

The San Francisco County Transportation Authority originally developed the app to improve its transit system. Recently the California agency licensed the Met Council, for a fee, to use the same program locally, according to council information. 

Using GPS technology, the free app, which is available to both iPhone and Android users, captures data about cyclists’ routes, distance, and travel times. The app also collects demographic information such as age, gender, ride frequency, and so forth.  

Jonathan Ehrlich, a senior planner with the council, explains: “We’re using it for transportation planning. We can get data about cyclists, what facilities they’re using, and for what purpose.”

“The app tells us everywhere a bicyclist has been,” he says.

It also distinguishes recreational bicyclists from commuters and others who bike as a primary mode of transportation.

This information will tell the council “what roads and paths are being used and what ones are being avoided,” he says.  

People can also add notes about their ride.  

Right now the app has a couple hundred users and the council hopes to get several thousand. “We’re very pleased with the response so far,” Ehrlich says.

The council is trying to get as much data as possible this summer and fall, to aid in a private study.  
 
Another senior transportation planner, David Vessel, adds that this is “a great way for regional cyclists to contribute to a more accurate model of cycling activity and improve the plan for future cycling facilities.”  

At the same time, “The app stores the ride map and stats for the cyclist on their phone too,” he says, adding, “It is a handy free cycle computer.”

Source: David Vessel, Jonathan Ehrlich, senior transit planners, Met Council
Writer: Anna Pratt

After several years of traveling exhibits, the Minnesota Museum of American Art will have a regular gallery in St. Paul this fall.  

The museum is moving into a ground-level space in the vintage Pioneer-Endicott building, which developer Rich Pakonen plans to turn into a high-end housing complex. (See The Line story here.)  

In 2009, the museum moved out of the space it rented at the Ramsey County Government Center. It hasn't had a home base since then.

The 3,700-square-foot space at the Pioneer will enable the museum to do local programming, according to its director, Kristin Makholm.  

“We haven’t had any kind of regular space in St. Paul to do any kind of on-the-ground programming for over two years, so this will allow us to intersect and create a vibrant space,” and to reconnect with local artists and community members. “It’ll be populated with events and conversations.”  

At the same time, “We don’t consider this the final museum,” she says.

But the MMAA will be investigating the building as a permanent home. “That’s one of the reasons we chose this space for the gallery. It’s a testing ground,” she says.  

The museum will continue to do shows in other locations in the short term, she says.

If the museum does decide to expand in Pioneer, it’ll bring in additional exhibits, classrooms, offices, and storage areas and fill up to 45,000 square feet, according to the Star Tribune.

Besides the visibility that the space will give the museum, the building will be close to the coming Central Corridor light rail line.

“It’s really going to help invigorate that part of St. Paul that traditionally lies between Lowertown and the Rice Park districts and connect the city,” she says.

Source: Kristin Makholm, director, Minnesota Museum of American Art
Writer: Anna Pratt

Last month, Cycles for Change, a nonprofit bike shop, celebrated its expansion along University Avenue in St. Paul.

The shop, which has been around since 2001, strives to increase bike access for low-income and underserved populations in the surrounding neighborhoods, according to its website.

It has grown a lot over the past few years, and it needed more space to accommodate that, according to development and outreach director Jason Tanzman.

To carry that out, recently the shop, which was formerly known as the Sibley Bike Depot, received a $30,000 grant from the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative. 

As a part of the project, the shop added 600 square feet to its existing 3,000 square feet, he says.

Through the project, the administrative area and workshop (where customers can work on their bikes), got more space, he says. The retail section moved to the storefront area while the walls got a fresh coat of paint and the floors were refinished.   

The shop has also been able to get improved signage for better street-level visibility, which is especially important considering the challenges of Central Corridor light rail transit line construction, he says.

Prior to the expansion, the bike shop was a bit out of the way in the building, he says.

Besides the phsyical changes, the place was able to increase its retail hours.   

All in all, the changes “enhance our ability to be a community organization and promote biking as a way to get around in combination with public transit," he says. 

Despite the momentum around biking right now, it can still be cost-prohibitive, especially for minorities and low-income people. “We need a level of intentionality about it so it’s not an upper-middle-class white thing, and that we’re able to expand the circle of who has access,” he says.   


Source: Jason Tanzman, development and outreach director, Cycles for Change
Writer: Anna Pratt

The recognizable blue tubes that once graced Orchestra Hall in downtown Minneapolis, along the building’s exterior, are getting a new life.

The 16 tubes, which are 10 and 20 feet tall, had epitomized the building's style, which dates back to 1974, according to orchestra information. The tubes also helped with the lobby's ventilation system.  

Right now, Orchestra Hall, which is home to the Minnesota Orchestra, is undergoing a $40 million expansion project for which construction will wrap up next summer. Its new look didn’t include the retro blue tubes, according to orchestra spokesperson Gwen Pappas.

This got orchestra staffers thinking about what to do with them. Since the tubes are so well known, “We thought it would be neat to find life for them outside of Orchestra Hall,” she says.

So the orchestra turned to fans on Facebook, asking for their suggestions for how to go about repurposing them. “It was a whimsical thing,” she says. “There were lots of clever answers and it started to gather steam.”

Based on that feedback, the orchestra sent out a request for proposals on possible new uses for the tubes. The orchestra planned to donate the tubes. “We were hoping to find people with creative ideas, possibly musically related,” but that wasn’t a requirement, she says. “We also wanted to see a public component and have them be spread out geographically.”  

Out of a dozen submissions, the orchestra went with five that met the criteria and had practical implementation plans, she says.

The tubes, for which Mortenson Construction covered delivery costs, landed at the Anderson Center at Tower View, a sculpture park in Red Wing; a private home in St. Paul, where they’ll be used for a sound installation and bat house (yes, a house for bats), and Big Stone Mini Golf and Sculpture Garden in Minnetrista.

Separately, sculptor Peter Morales, who is affiliated with Franconia Sculpture Park in Shafer, plans to fashion a three- or four-legged blue beast with some of the tubes. Franconia received another 10 of the tubes.   

“It was a real connection that people felt for the tubes,” she says. “We feel really good about it.”  

 Source: Gwen Pappas, spokesperson, Minnesota Orchestra
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

Soon, the well-known Fitger’s Brewhouse in Duluth may have a sister location in Minneapolis.

The nearly 20-year-old brewhouse’s co-owners, Rod Raymond and Tim Nelson, plan to bring the business to the space that the Trocaderos night club previously occupied in the downtown North Loop neighborhood, according to the Star Tribune.

The partners hope to make it a neighborhood hangout, according to the story.

“Raymond said to expect to see a 'warehouse/industrial' look replace the blandly suburban remnants of Trocaderos,” including outdoor and rooftop seating, the story states.

However, the place will take advantage of at least one prominent Trocaderos leftover: The brewery will be built around the stage, which is still intact, and live music will be scheduled at the venue, which will be re-imagined as a beer hall, the story explains.  

Also, the 1892 building’s historic ties to macaroni and the Creamette company name will be factored into the menu.  

Joanne Kaufman, who leads the Warehouse District Business Association, says that the reaction from the area’s business community to the brewhouse’s plans has been largely positive.

For one thing, “The Trocaderos space has been empty for quite some time,” she says. “We’re thrilled to see something go in there.”  

It helps that “We all know Fitger’s,” she says. “It’ll be fun to have a local outpost in the area.”

The brewhouse is a destination in Duluth, a traditon she says that she expects to carry on in the Warehouse District.

It’ll bring more foot traffic to the area, which helps other businesses, too. “I think it’ll be a great addition to the neighborhood.”

Source: Joanne Kaufman, Warehouse District Business Association
Writer: Anna Pratt

While scoping out possible sites for a new French-style café and bistro, co-owners Peter Ireland and Jay Peterson sought a place with a strong neighborhood feel.  

They settled on a space in the complex shared by the Patina gift shop and the George and the Dragon neighborhood pub at 50th and Bryant in Southwest Minneapolis.

Construction for The Lynn on Bryant, whose name references its home in the Lynnhurst neighborhood, starts this week, according to Peterson.  

The restaurateurs are drawing from the fact that “Lynnhurst is beginning to identify itself strongly,” says Peterson.

To take it a step further, he hopes that businesses here, including the restaurant, can turn the corner “into a nexus of sorts for residents.”

Already, the pair’s concept has been well received by neighbors, he says. “There’s support for independent restaurants and businesses in the neighborhood.”  

He knows, he says, that making it work is about “lots of community-building and being out in public.”

The 1,600-square-foot restaurant will be divided into two rooms, each with 28 seats. The front room will have a casual feel, with a large communal table, while the back room will be a more formal dining room.

Since the building is new, The Lynn has the flexibility to build it out with the help of an architect. “We can lay out the kitchen and service area exactly as we like.” 

As a nod to his and Ireland’s farm backgrounds, reclaimed barn wood will figure into the place. Other reclaimed materials will also be used throughout.  

He describes the aesthetic as "warm Scandinavian modern," with plenty of natural light coming in. “Overall it’s going to be a light space, with a lot of white, soft grays, and a little red,” he says. “It’ll be elegant but playful.”

The restaurant is set to open by early October.


Source: Jay Peterson, manager, The Lynn on Bryant
Writer: Anna Pratt

It's hard to imagine a bookstore not being in the basement space of the historic Blair Arcade building in St. Paul--at least that's how building owner June Berkowitz feels.

So, when Common Good Books, which writer and radio personality Garrison Keillor owns, relocated to the Macalester College campus, she got to work finding a new bookstore tenant. (See The Line story here.)
 
Today, Berkowitz is a partner in the venture; Sue Zumberge owns the shop. Berkowitz, who also owns Nina’s Coffee Café, which is above the basement-level bookstore, is helping by offsetting the cost of rent and utilities. She went that route because “I decided it was important to do what I could do," she says. 
 
Although the place’s redesign is still in progress, it has already taken on a different atmosphere from the former Keillor bookstore, with plenty of soft seating and a red-tufted bar that dates back to the 1940s. They're going for sort of a parlor feel, Berkowitz says. The bar had once been in a building on Summit Avenue, she adds. “It’s very cozy. It’s supposed to be an extension of Nina’s as a community gathering place.” 
 
The built-in bookshelves, which will be a design centerpiece, are getting a facelift, too. 
 
Already, the space is starting to live up to the community vision that she and Zumberge share, she says.
 
Besides author readings and other kinds of art-related events, including a teen program, the space is a good spot for meetings or quiet readings. The idea is to “fill it up with people. It’s not just [for] browsing for books, but people are able to hang out,” she says.  
 
The bookstore plans to have its grand opening in September. 
 
Source: June Berkowitz, Nina’s Coffee Café and building landlord for Subtext
Writer: Anna Pratt

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