Star Tribune
Former Sears store at Burnsville Center declared hazardous building
Burnsville city officials have declared the vacant former Sears store at Burnsville Center a hazardous building, citing nonfunctional sprinkler and fire alarm systems and only a metal gate separating the empty store from the rest of the mall.
Sears was one of the south metro mall’s anchors until it closed in 2017. The company has dramatically downsized in recent years, closing hundreds of stores over the last two decades and declaring bankruptcy in 2018.
Should a fire start at the old Sears building, “Smoke would propagate to the mall in a heartbeat. That’s a huge problem,” said said BJ Jungmann, Burnsville’s fire chief.
Typically, water from the sprinkler system would trip the fire alarm, but the city hasn’t seen documentation that those systems are working. That means the fire department wouldn’t be notified if a fire started.
As a result of the city’s declaration, officials from Seritage — the real estate arm of Sears — have 30 days from the day they receive the resolution to fix the building’s issues. If they don’t, city officials can enter the building and make repairs, Jungmann said.
“We don’t know what the corrective solution is just because we haven’t been in there,” Jungmann said.
Seritage should have someone actively patrolling the building — on “fire watch” — if those systems aren’t working, he said.
Seritage officials haven’t been communicating with the city lately, Jungmann said. Several months ago, company officials said the problems would be fixed in three weeks but the city hasn’t heard from them since.
“It’s left us with really no option but to go to this point,” Jungmann said.
The building’s foundation may no longer be safe, he said, in which case the city could eventually get permission to demolish it.
“We’re basically babysitting their problem,” said City Council member Dan Kealey. “They’ve let it go.”
The problem’s root
The building’s current woes began in late December 2022 when its sprinkler system’s main pipe froze and cracked, sending thousands of gallons of water gushing into the store. The leak was under control by that evening, Jungmann said.
Sears had only intermittent heat during the winter months, city officials said.
Burnsville Center manager Kevin Eisenhut said a frozen pipe in the vacant Gordman’s store also broke that same week.
“Between the two [stores], we lost 300,000 gallons of water,” he said.
Eisenhut said he believes the building is structurally fine, but he doesn’t know what maintenance has been completed there. The store tested negative for mold, he said.
He hopes a new buyer will come in and revitalize the old Sears space. Last fall, it was temporarily home to a textbook distributor, he said.
Kealey, however, said he believes there may be mold and mildew lingering inside the property. The city would like to see it demolished, he said, which would create enough space to extend Aldrich Avenue, a local road.
“That would be the ideal scenario,” he said.
Seritage did not respond to a call seeking comment.
Other tenants respond
Burnsville Center was nearly empty Wednesday, except for a trickle of customers visiting open stores like J.C. Penney’s, Macy’s, a Victoria’s Secret and two vision centers.
The mall, owned by Kohan Retail Investment Group and 4th Dimension Properties, is under contract for sale.
That’s according to Felix Reznick, a principal with 4th Dimension Properties. Anchor stores aren’t included in the purchase.
Kohan bought the mall in 2020 for about $17 million at auction, a massive decline for a property once valued at $135 million. In 2022, Kohan sold part of Burnsville Center, including the Dick’s Sporting Goods and Kirkland’s Home spaces, to Pacific Square Burnsville, a developer. They plan to remodel the old Gordman’s store into an Asian grocery store and food hall and add a new two-story structure that would become two restaurants.
Pacific Square Burnsville officials said they’re “genuinely concerned” that Sears was declared hazardous.
“We strongly urge them to promptly collaborate with the Burnsville Fire Department to address the potential risks,” said Marshall Nguyen, a Pacific Square Burnsville partner.
Yuval Atias, who opened his Customize It store selling custom-printed items eight years ago, said the mall has “a lot of issues.” He makes most of his sales online.
At Escapology, an escape room franchise next door to Sears, general manager Sara Beck said she finds it “concerning” that Sears may have no working fire alarm.
The hazardous declaration might make their customers wonder if the mall is actually open, she said. Regardless, the long-empty store is problematic, she said.
“Having a dilapidated building next door, it’s not a good image for our business.”
After months of maintenance problems and safety concerns in downtown St. Paul’s Lowry Apartments, city officials condemned the building, forcing dozens of tenants to abruptly relocate to hotels this week.
On Monday afternoon, city staff responded to a plumbing leak in the 11-story building at 345 Wabasha St. N. Officials reported significant damage and signs of vandalism, including copper wire theft that left electrical systems exposed. The leak also raised concerns about mold.
To make repairs, the building’s water must be shut off — a move that would leave tenants without boiler heat and fire sprinklers, Deputy Mayor Jaime Tincher said in a Tuesday email to state Rep. Maria Isa Pérez-Vega and City Council Member Rebecca Noecker, who represent the area.
After determining heat and water could not be restored quickly, Tincher wrote: “There was no other option than to conclude the building was not safe for residents to stay.”
Property manager Halverson and Blaiser Group (HBG) agreed to provide alternative housing for tenants for up to 30 days, Tincher said. City staff worked with Ramsey County’s Housing Stability team and Metro Transit to help 71 residents pack and move.
Before then, the building belonged to downtown St. Paul’s largest property owner, Madison Equities. After the January death of the company’s founder and longtime principal, Jim Crockarell, the dire state of the group’s real estate portfolio became apparent.
The Lowry Apartments, the sole property with a high concentration of low-income housing, quickly became the most troubled. Residents reported frequent break-ins, pest infestations, inoperable elevators and more, to no avail.
Star Tribune
Metro Transit allocated $12 million to boost security, cleanliness on Twin Cities light rail and buses
They will be soon. With more money to spend, Metro Transit plans to bring on 40 more this year. With their ranks growing, TRIP agents, clad in blue, have recently started covering the Metro C and D rapid transit lines between Brooklyn Center and downtown Minneapolis.
The big investment in public safety initiatives comes as Metro Transit is seeing an uptick in ridership that plunged dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic and has been slow to recover. This year ridership has been a bright spot, the agency said.
Through October, the agency has provided 40.1 million rides, up 7% compared with the first 10 months of 2023. In September, the agency saw its highest monthly ridership in four years, averaging nearly 157,000 rides on weekdays, agency data shows.
At the same time, crime is down 8.4% during the first three quarters of 2024 compared to the same time period last year, according to Metro Transit Interim Police Chief Joe Dotseth. However, problems still persist.
On Nov. 29, Sharif Darryl Walker-El, Jr., 33, was fatally shot on a Green Line train in St. Paul. Just a week earlier, a woman was shot in the leg while on the train and taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Earlier this year, a robbery attempt on the Green Line in St. Paul left a passenger shot and wounded.
“Our officers are spending time on the system and sending a clear message to everyone: Crime will not be tolerated on transit,” Dotseth said. “And we will work to ensure those commit those crimes are held accountable.”
The ACLU of Minnesota has sued Otter Tail County, its sheriff and correctional officers at its jail, alleging unlawful punishment of a man known to them who has serious mental health issues.
Ramsey Kettle, 33, a member of White Earth Nation and lifelong Otter Tail County resident, was jailed in February on charges that were dropped two months later. The ACLU says that the sheriff’s office attempted to cover up the mistreatment, but a whistleblower working at the jail reported the abuse to the state. A 46-page lawsuit was filed this week in U.S. District Court of Minnesota.
“Mr. Kettle was subjected to extreme, punitive treatment in violation of his constitutional rights and standards for basic human dignity,” the ACLU said in a statement. “Otter Tail County officers, with approval of the acting jail administrator, kept Mr. Kettle locked up in solitary confinement for days without food, water, or appropriate medical and mental health care.”
Otter Tail County spokesperson Shannon Terry said in an email to the Minnesota Star Tribune that “Due to the impending litigation, Otter Tail County has no comment or statement at this time.” Terry did confirm that Kettle was released from custody April 24, when the charges were dropped.
Kettle was immediately placed in solitary confinement after he arrived at the jail Feb. 9, the lawsuit says. Jail staff didn’t assess Kettle’s poor mental health, which the ACLU says was well-documented and known to officers. The ACLU says Kettle “exhibited increasing signs of physical and mental distress” and officers allegedly “laughed at him, mocked him, and left him to suffer.”
Kettle had been booked at the jail multiple times before. In March 2022, he was convicted of making terroristic threats and sentenced to two years. On the day he was scheduled to be released from Rush City Correctional Facility after serving his full sentence, he was charged in Otter Tail with four counts of aggravated witness tampering stemming from the conviction.
“Rather than going home on February 9, 2024, as he had anticipated for nearly two years, he was transferred to Otter Tail County Jail to await trial on these new charges. The new charges were unfounded and intended solely to keep Mr. Kettle incarcerated,” the lawsuit states.
District Judge Johnathan Judd dismissed the charges as lacking foundation.
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