Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has announced yet another site for a future Third Precinct police station.
The site, 2633 Minnehaha Av., is actually being resurrected from three years ago, when the city was ready to lease it as a temporary station, but the plan fell apart amid threats to the building and opposition from some on the City Council.
Now, Frey says, the owner is willing to sell the building.
The development is the latest in a protracted process as the mayor and the council have struggled to agree on a permanent home for officers who patrol the southeastern portion of the city. The original station was stormed and set ablaze amid violence following the 2020 murder of George Floyd by an officer stationed there.
Calling it an "exciting development," Frey outlined the news in an email to council members Friday. The council has been preparing for meetings next week that were expected to lead to a debate, and perhaps a definitive vote, on other sites.
In all, city officials have explored at least 29 locations, although only a handful have risen to the top. At various times this year, Frey has backed three locations as apparent or stated favorites. Each has either been voted down by a divided council or been slowed by delays.
It's unclear if the fate of the newest site will be any different.
Low cost, quick turn
According to Frey's email, the property at 2633 Minnehaha, including a building and parking areas, can be acquired and developed into a police station for $14 million, with officers occupying it in a year.
That's about as cheap, and faster, than any other options offered up to the council.
It compares to the following options:
- Building from scratch on a city-owned vacant lot at 2600 Minnehaha would cost between $22 and $26 million and take about three and a half years. This was Frey's most recent preferred option — until Friday — and one the council was preparing to potentially vote on next week.
- Renovating the previous station at 3000 Minnehaha would cost an estimated $14 million and take a year and a half. The building is charred but structurally sound. While Frey supports this option, the council voted overwhelmingly in July to never allow police to return there.
"It is time to draw this Goldilocks story to a close," Frey wrote in praise of the freshly resurrected option. "Staff have now found the site that is just right."
The 2633 Minnehaha site also has the space to "accommodate the future Community Safety Center," Frey wrote. That's a reference to a vision for a facility that houses not only police but numerous other essential city services, such as mental health crisis responders, that have come into favor as the city reimagines policing and public safety. However, no one has offered specifics on how such a facility would operate.
Second chance
Since the uprising following Floyd's murder, officers have operated out of a series of makeshift quarters downtown, and the desire to return them to the areas they patrol has been persistent.
That idea was on track as far back as the summer of 2020, when city officials scouted 26 locations for at least a temporary solution. They landed on 2633 Minnehaha and were prepared to ink a lease with the owners.
However, when word got out, graffiti was scrawled on the building that called for the deaths of police officers and, according to police, a threat was made to burn it.
One community group, Seward Police Abolition, announced protests outside the site and at an address they thought was the owner's residence. Negotiations between the owner and the city then broke off.
In his Friday email, Frey said of the 2020 situation: "The deal fell through due to opposition from the previous Council and threats made against the owner and his family. I am grateful the owner has had a change of heart."
