Minneapolis, MN
Upscale Minneapolis pizzeria Young Joni to close on Sept. 14 amid financial troubles
Young Joni will close at the end of the summer after an award-winning decade in business, restaurant owner Ann Kim announced on social media.
Its last day is set for Sept. 14.
“All things in life come to an end and this is our moment to make room for the next chapter,” Kim said in an Instagram post. “It has been a privilege to work with our dedicated teams and serve the greater community with heart, creativity and purpose. I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve created and we look forward to serving our beloved guests one last time over the next few months.”
The northeast Minneapolis eatery, known for its inventive wood-fired pizzas, opened in 2014 and won Kim Best Chef Midwest honors at the 2019 James Beard Awards.
Last year, the chef closed another of her restaurants, Kim’s, shortly after her employees voted to unionize with Unite Here! Local 17.
Kim and Conrad Leifur, her husband and business partner, also run Pizzeria Lola in Minneapolis and Hello Pizza in Edina under the banner of Vestalia Hospitality.
Landlord sues for unpaid rent
Court records indicate some financial trouble was brewing under the surface at Young Joni.
A lawsuit filed by property owner 1300 LLC alleges Young Joni owes more than $140,000 in unpaid rent.
The landlord had leased the restaurant space to Young Joni for a 10-year term that expired in August 2024. When the lease came up for renewal, the two parties discussed the new terms.
1300 LLC, citing comparable market rates, wanted to charge $30-36 per square foot. Young Joni countered with a rate of $18 per square foot.
In June 2024, when they still hadn’t agreed on a rate, the landlord proposed going through arbitration to resolve the dispute, but Kim declined because she didn’t have “the time and energy to go through such a process” due to a labor dispute at her other restaurant.
When the original lease expired and there was still no renewal agreement for Young Joni, the landlord retained the restaurant as a month-to-month tenant and imposed a higher rent.
The lawsuit claims Young Joni is now in default on its lease, owing more than $100,000 in rent underpayments dating back to Aug. 1.
“Young Joni has not paid the appropriate amount of holdover rent for August 2024 or any subsequent month,” the filing states.
Additionally, in 2020, the landlord had agreed to defer more than $42,000 in rent due to COVID-19, with the condition that it be paid back once Young Joni was operating at full capacity. That rent deferment was still unpaid as of this month.
MINNEAPOLIS (WJON News) — A popular Broadway show will be hitting a Minnesota stage this fall. Mamma Mia! will jump-start the Broadway on Hennepin series at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis from September 15th to the 20th.
Mamma Mia! has been seen in 50 productions in 16 different languages.
The 25th Anniversary production of Mamma Mia! made its return to Broadway last year for a limited run at the Winter Garden Theatre, where it got its start. The show also had a record-setting 14-year run on Broadway and toured from 2000 to 2017 with four different touring companies.
Mamma Mia! has grossed over $7 billion at the box office.
It inspired the blockbuster smash starring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, and Amanda Seyfried as well. The 2018 follow-up, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is the most successful live musical movie sequel of all time.
Mamma Mia! is written by Catherine Johnson and directed by Phyllida Lloyd with choreography by Anthony Van Laast. Tickets for the show go on sale at 10:00 a.m. on Friday.
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From a stranded alien trying to phone home to a group of kids on a treasure hunt, see how many of these iconic ’80s blockbusters you can recognize from a single freeze frame.
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A child was seriously injured after a car hit them in an alley in Minneapolis on Saturday morning.
Minneapolis police say a child was playing in an alley near 29th Avenue North and Lyndale Avenue North around 11:30 a.m. when a car hit them. The child was brought to the hospital with potentially-life-threatening injuries, police added.
The child’s age was not released by law enforcement.
The driver of the car stayed at the scene and is cooperating with law enforcement, Minneapolis police said.
There have been no arrests at this time.
A Minneapolis man is behind bars after stabbing a woman early Saturday morning.
According to the Minneapolis Police Department, officers responded to a stabbing around 12:30 a.m. near the intersection of W 24th St. and Pillsbury Avenue. Officers found an adult woman with a non-life-threatening injury consistent with an edged blade.
Authorities said a man known to the woman stabbed her after a verbal argument escalated.
Police arrested a 49-year-old man and is currently at the Hennepin County Jail, pending a second-degree domestic assault charge.
Police said no one else was hurt. The case remains under investigation.
If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse, several resources are available to offer help. For immediate help, contact:
More than 12 million people just in the U.S. are affected by domestic violence every year, according to the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
The organizations listed above can help connect victims to resources like safe shelter, advocacy, legal help and support groups.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline also offers tips for identifying abuse and supporting victims of abuse. CLICK HERE to see those.
Other organizations that can help include:
Minnesota also has a list of many other resources for victims of crimes that can be found HERE.
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