REAL ESTATE GUIDE
THE COST OF SPRING FLOODING Airbnb a plus for homebuyers
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Home values slow their growth near lakes PAGE B10
April 18–May 1, 2019 Vol. 30, No. 8 southwestjournal.com
Lake Street hotel is taller, slimmer in revised plan By Zac Farber zfarber@southwestjournal.com
Prodigal are welcome at pastor’s new pub
A revised plan for the hotel coming to Lake & Excelsior plan calls for a smaller building footprint and an additional ninth story. Image courtesy of Elevage Development Group
Elevage Development Group’s revised plan for a hotel-and-condo building at Lake & Excelsior calls for a taller, slimmer structure and wider sidewalks. A public walkway would run through the building, connecting Lake Street to Excelsior Boulevard. “Before we were short and more squatty,” Elevage principal Corey Burstad said. “We pulled it in and got it a little thinner.” In early July, Hennepin County will start tearing down the BP gas station standing on the triangular site. After a 90-day remediation period, construction is scheduled to start in the fall. The hotel is expected to open by summer 2021.
By Michelle Bruch / mbruch@southwestjournal.com
“I’m not your typical pastor’s wife. I wouldn’t be opening a pub if I were,” said Randi Cowmeadow, who is launching the Prodigal Public House with her daughters and her husband Jeff, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church. SEE PRODIGAL PUB / PAGE A14
SEE LAKE STREET HOTEL / PAGE A18
Credit union is Armatage activist’s ‘tool’ against injustice Me’Lea Connelly’s North Minneapolis startup has $5 million in pledged deposits
By Nate Gotlieb / ngotlieb@southwestjournal.com
After Philando Castile was shot and killed by a St. Anthony police officer in July 2016, Armatage resident Me’Lea Connelly said she looked for a way to inspire the average person to take action against injustice. Connelly, already a full-time community activist, had seen the wear and tear that a more “confrontational” approach to protesting had taken on young leaders. She decided to organize a community meeting in North Minneapolis to
discuss ways black people could resist structural racism through economic means. “We needed more tools,” Connelly said. At the meeting, held a week after the shooting, attendees brainstormed ways to become more independent of white-led financial institutions. The most popular idea was to start a financial institution, such as a bank or credit union, that would serve the North Side and be led and run by black people.
Nearly three years later, Connelly is one of the leaders of a new financial institution, called Village Financial Cooperative, which will open this year in North Minneapolis. While the opening date hasn’t yet been set, Connelly said the credit union will hold some sort of celebration on Juneteeth, a holiday commemorating the Emancipation Proclamation. Village Financial already has 1,900 pledged SEE CONNELLY / PAGE A12
Me’Lea Connelly