Minneapolis, MN
ElseWarehouse apartments in Minneapolis sell for $40.25M
The ElseWarehouse, a 100-year-old converted apartment building in Minneapolis’ North Loop, traded hands between its developer and a North Dakota company, according to a press release from Colliers.
Great States Development bought the historic apartments in a deal worth $40.25 million, according to a certificate of real estate value. The purchase was a 1031 exchange for Great States.
Greco renovated the building at 730 Washington Ave. N. in the early 2010s according to the press release, utilizing adaptive reuse to turn the 1920s warehouse into a series of 116 apartments, which consist of one-, two- and three-bedroom units.
The price works out to nearly $347,000 per unit. That is about $42,000 more than the per-unit price of the North Loop’s Maverick Apartments’ $304,761, which was the most expensive per-unit sale of 2024. The Maverick sold last year in a deal also arranged by Colliers for a total of $51.2 million.
According to Great States website, the Fargo-based company has 5,000 units under its management. Scott Houle, the vice president for Great States, called the property iconic.
“This building not only represents the rich architectural heritage of the area but also aligns perfectly with our vision of creating exceptional spaces where people can live, work and thrive,” he said.
The deal was arranged by Colliers’ Mox Gunderson, Dan Linnell, Devon Dvorak and Adam Haydon.
Gunderson, an executive vice president for Colliers, said the North Loop is one of the most sought-after neighborhoods in the metro, and brings in some of the highest rents in the city. He said that the buyer had been eyeing the North Loop for a while. The property also features 16,000 square feet of retail space.
“You’ve got five retail tenants, almost 16,000 square [feet] of retail in the building that is mainstays along Washington Avenue,” he said. “It’s really a timeless asset.”
Gunderson said Greco decided to sell the property mostly because of the loan maturity on the building, opting to sell rather than refinance. Gunderson said there were eight bids on the property.
Great States is a long-term owner, according to Gunderson, and besides potential light apartment upgrades in the future he doesn’t think there will be many changes to the property.
Finance & Commerce previously reported on the listing for the property in late September. Greco had listed both ElseWarehouse and the Copham, another North Loop property with 120 units and seven stories.
North Loop’s Maverick Apartments’ sale price lower than in 2022
Three North Loop apartments up for sale
Minneapolis, MN
Minneapolis police won’t assist ICE with deportations, chief says
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Minneapolis, MN
Burch fans rejoice: The steakhouse is coming back. Sort of.
Twin Cities diners have long lamented the closing of Burch Steak, the four-star restaurant from chef Isaac Becker and Nancy St. Pierre that closed during the pandemic and never reopened. Now the couple is ready to bring it back — at least in part.
Becker and St. Pierre are reimagining their restaurant Snack Bar (800 Washington Av. N., Mpls.) into St. Pierre Steak and Seafood, which will include favorites from both Burch and Snack Bar as well as more seafood options. The couple also own nearby Bar La Grassa and 112 Eatery.
“We decided to convert Snack Bar into a restaurant with a wider menu because of its great location in the North Loop next to Bar La Grassa,” Becker said in a statement. “The conversation quickly turned to bringing back Burch’s menu with a few additions and changes to fit into today’s Minneapolis scene.”
For their new endeavor, the James Beard Award-winning chef is giving top billing to St. Pierre, his longtime spouse and business partner.
“Nancy has been my partner from the beginning and hasn’t received the same attention for her hard work and passion, mostly because she never wanted it,” Becker said. “For our latest restaurant, I wanted to give her the recognition she deserves.”
Steaks from Burch when the restaurant opened in 2013. (Tom Wallace/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
The original Burch Steak opened in 2013 and was a beacon on the corner of Franklin and Hennepin Avenues in Minneapolis’ Lowry Hill neighborhood. With a formal dining atmosphere specializing in steaks on the main floor and a first-rate pizzeria in the lower level, Burch topped many best-of lists and was the Star Tribune’s Restaurant of the Year. (The couple’s 112 Eatery and Bar La Grassa also were restaurants of the year.)
“Once again, Becker has proved himself to be the Tom Hanks of chefs, that rare combination of prodigious skill coupled with an intuitively populist touch,” then-restaurant critic Rick Nelson wrote in the recognition. He continued: “Like its sibling establishments, the Burch experience is buffed to a high gloss because St. Pierre and her front-of-the-house crew are fluent in the language of hospitality.”
Minneapolis, MN
Minneapolis man recreates local landmarks with Legos
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – About a block from Lake Nokomis, there’s a coffee shop where customers come to escape the daily grind. But inside the corner cafe sits a tiny tribute to the neighborhood hangout.
How he got his start
The backstory:
Jeff Esler has been coming to Nokomis Beach Coffee for caffeine and conversation every morning for more than two decades.
Since he’s always had a love of Legos, about a year and a half ago, Esler made a small scale replica of his favorite coffee shop, complete with miniature versions of himself and his daily coffee klatch.
“I call it the last supper. It’s a bunch of us sitting around this table and each one of them, you can kind of recognize who the minifigures are. Most of my friends are like that’s great. Some of them are like I don’t look like that,” said Esler.
Mini Monte Carlo
Local perspective:
Another Lego model of the Monte Carlo restaurant in the North Loop is also on display at the coffee shop.
With accurate reproductions of everything from the outdoor signs and patio to the signature bar that goes all the way up to the ceiling, Esler’s attention to detail is jaw dropping.
“It’s one of my favorite restaurants. It’s been in Minneapolis since 1906 so it’s got a lot of history. It’s usually just my perspective. It’s not super accurate but it will end up looking a lot like the real places,” said Esler.
Building a hobby brick-by-brick
Dig deeper:
FOX 9 first met Esler nearly eight years ago, when he immortalized Nye’s Polonaise Room with Legos about a year after the beloved piano bar and restaurant in northeast Minneapolis closed its doors.
“It was a combination of I want something to do and I want one of these little projects so why not do Nye’s or something everyone recognizes. So that’s what I did,” Esler said at the time.
It is now one of a handful of Lego models in his mancave that includes Gluek’s bar in downtown Minneapolis, the home of the Jucy Lucy Matt’s Bar, the Split Rock Lighthouse along Lake Superior and a gas station designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in Cloquet.
Esler says each project takes thousands of bricks and 40 to 50 hours to build.
“I’ll sit down here at noon and all of a sudden it will be midnight and it will feel like an hour so its kind of fun to get really into doing things like that,” said Esler.
What’s next:
Esler’s latest Lego creation is the Riverview Theater in South Minneapolis, which is filled with mini figurines, including a row of Jokers from the Lego Batman set.
As much as he wants to keep them, Esler says part of him wants to sell or give his Lego landmarks away.
But he has no plans to stop recreating some of Minnesota’s most recognizable places one brick at a time.
“They are cool enough to be maintained. They have a little Americana. A little bit of history,” said Esler.
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