Top business stories from week 5/4- 5/10
Minneapolis
- If you hadn’t noticed, Barnes&Noble on Nicollet Mall is now officially closed. It will be missed. Especially by Nicollet Mall, as the loss of Macy’s across the street (closed in March) as well leaves more than a few gaps that need to be filled along Minnesota’s largest pedestrian mall.
However, a plan for RSM Plaza (the modernist building Barnes&Noble called home) sees the space turned into a pocket park with a remodel of the two-level atrium to let in more natural light.
- In other closing news, the still brand-new Hennepin Steam Room, located in the former Tangiers space in Minneapolis’ North Loop, is already over and done with. The “adult music venue” and cocktail lounge lasted only 2 months in the seemingly cursed space.
- Seven Sushi and Steakhouse, long a beacon of nightlife on Hennepin Avenue, is getting a makeover under new ownership. No worries for fans of Seven’s late-night food and drink, dance space, and all-important rooftop lounge, as these will all remain at the end of renovations.
- The $1 billion U.S. Bank Stadium is in already need of renovations as well, as the elements have been wreaking havoc on roof and siding.
- Field Nation, a fast-growing software company, will be one of the first new tenants in the renovated Baker Center in downtown Minneapolis when it is completed in June.
St. Paul
- Speaking of closed Macy’s buildings, construction on downtown St. Paul’s hulking Macy’s shell is humming along. Treasure Island Center, as it will be called upon completion, should be open to the public by November.
- Tanpopo, beloved noodle shop in St. Paul’s Lowertown, will close after 17 years.
- Hunt Associates is planning 800 apartments at the corner of Robert Street and Plato Boulevard. The site, across the river and in the shadow of downtown St. Paul, was formerly the home of two now-closed restaurants.
Sherman Associates, Hunt’s partner in the project, is no stranger to the area: Their West Side Flats sit half a mile west, and they proposed a second stage of the development in the empty lot next door. The latter project, however, has stalled.
- It may not be the end of Gander Mountain after all: The St. Paul-based chain, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, has a savior in Marcus Lemonis, the same NBC host of “The Profit” who purchased the Len clothing chain from Len Druskin.
Lemonis says he would like to keep the company’s headquarters at the 180 East 5th Building, in St. Paul’s Lowertown, but said in a tweet last week,
“I want St. Paul headquarter to remain but costs have to come down.”
More to come. To follow Marcus Lemonis and the Gander Mountain saga (and to ask any questions of your own), head to his Twitter feed here.
Metro
- Design Within Reach is opening store in Edina’s Galleria. The modern furniture and design store hasn’t had a Twin Cities presence since an Uptown location closed in 2013.
- Mendota Heights-based Sun Country Airlines, the third-largest carrier at MSP airport begin start offering Jimmy John’s sandwiches during flights.
- MyPillow, led by the self-proclaimed “Donald Trump of Minnesota,” is laying off 140 workers. This hasn’t prevented them from moving forward to anchor Duke Realty’s new Shakopee warehouse.
- Capriotti’s, the popular Las Vegas-based sandwich chain, which originally started in Delaware in 1976, will move into the Twin Cities market with its first location in Edina this year.
