[Mpls] This Week in The Minneapolis Observer

[Craig Cox]

T H E M I N N E A P O L I S O B S E R V E R
A Weekly Digest of All Things Minneapolitan
www.mplsobserver.com
Vol. 2, No. 1
August 12, 2002

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THIS WEEK IN THE OBSERVER:
* The Suddenly Popular Sears Building
* Fired Indian Health Board Doctors to Start Clinic
* Local Artists Will Visit Iraq
* MPCA Targets Local Gas Stations
* Park Board Will Build New Headquarters
Plus: A quicker AIDS test, bombing Southwest, a picture of prostitution, gardening between the lines, and notes from a cop-basher.

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SEARS BUILDING SUDDENLY POPULAR
After years of waiting for a developer to come in and transform the abandoned Sears complex on Lake St., the South Minneapolis landmark suddenly has prospective tenants lining up.

As Scott Smith reports in The Business Journal (www.bizjournals.com), the suitors now include Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Hennepin County, and an unidentified grocery store. These prospective tenants could absorb as much as 200,000 of the 1.1 million square feet of space in the building.

Abbott Northwestern is coveting the warehouse space and another patch of parking lot on 28th St. for a new parking ramp, a parcel valued by the city at $5.2 million. Hennepin County is reportedly prepared to pay $3 million for the tower's top three floors. The mystery grocer wants 50,000 square feet on the first floor. So, with no developer in sight (Bloomington-based United Properties held the rights to develop the property for six months earlier this year without submitting a plan), city officials must weigh a piecemeal development approach that includes tenants and ready cash against an overall developer's vision for the complex.

Some are concerned that such a piecemeal approach will make it more difficult to attract a developer for the overall project, but Abbott Northwestern spokesman Eric Eoloff argues that the public interest could be better served by the city taking the offers on the table. "I think the community is saying that, if you have active tenants that want to move in, then do it."

City officials are expected to make a decision on the matter this fall.

FIRED INDIAN HEALTH BOARD DOCTORS TO OPEN CLINIC
Three doctors at the Indian Health Board who were fired last winter after an internal political battle will open their own clinic just a few blocks away.

LOCAL ARTISTS WILL TRAVEL TO MIDDLE EAST
A Minneapolis artist is organizing an art exchange with Iraqi and Palestinian artists later this summer in an attempt to create a peaceful intercultural dialogue.

ABANDONED GAS STATIONS WILL BE TESTED FOR TOXINS
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is testing seven abandoned gas stations in the city for potential contamination of soil and groundwater.

PARK BOARD WILL BUILD NEW HEADQUARTERS DESPITE COUNCIL SNUB
Park Board officials say they will go ahead with their plan to buy a new headquarters building despite the City Council's refusal last month to back the project.

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The Minneapolis Observer is published 48 times/year by Independent Media, L.L.C. �2002 Independent Media, 4152 Snelling Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55406; www.mplsobserver.com. No part of this publication may be reprinted without the permission of Independent Media. Subscriptions: $12/yr. To unsubscribe, send us an e-mail ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) and we'll get you off the list and refund the unused portion of your subscription.

Editor: Craig Cox
Associate Editor: Sharon Parker
Contributing writers: Chris Dodge, Leo Mezzrow
Occasional research assistance: Martin and Nora Cox
Online technical assistance: Christopher Pollard
Thanks to: Stephanie Hollmichel, David Motzenbecker, and Michael Ryan

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