Kare11
St. Paul tenants blindsided by foreclosure, impending sale of affordable apartment building
Tenants say mounting concerns about health and safety inside the Lowry Apartments have been largely ignored, but nothing prepared them for this.
ST PAUL, Minn. — Weeks after the Gray Duck Tavern suddenly closed with little explanation in downtown St Paul, it’s now clear the entire 11 story building, including 134 affordable housing units, is in foreclosure.
Notice of the Lowry Apartments foreclosure first appeared in a July posting within the St. Paul Legal Ledger, but residents say they had no idea that the building was set to be sold in a sheriff’s auction on Aug. 22, until being contacted by a reporter from the Pioneer Press for a story about the foreclosure this week.
“We haven’t received no notice,” said Calvin Harris, who moved into the building three years ago. “I haven’t talked to anyone. We don’t know what’s going on.”
“The law very clearly states that we were supposed to be informed by July 22 of the foreclosure action and we were not,” said Megan Thomas, another resident of the Lowry. “I have received nothing official from the property owner since my lease renewal last October.”
To make matters worse, Thomas, Harris, and other tenants who spoke to KARE 11, say they’ve spent months begging property owners and managers to address urgent health and safety concerns.
KARE 11 visited the Lowry Apartments on Thursday and the issues were apparent before even entering the front door.
“This window here was shot out,” Harris said, pointing to a large window next to the front entrance that has been boarded up since January. “After that, this window here (in the door) got broken. You know it’s just really, really unsafe here.”
Harris and Thomas say the issues have opened the door to homeless squatters who have committed crimes, destroyed property and jeopardized safety.
“It’s dangerous,” Thomas said. “The front door is completely unlocked. There’s been virtually no security for about two or three months. There is supposed to be someone here overnight, but when I came down to look at things the other night, one of the guards was taking a nap on the sofa.”
The building is owned by Madison Equities, St. Paul’s largest downtown property owner, which is in the process of trying to sell off most of its portfolio after the death of long time owner Jim Crockarell in January.
“The building has been in decline, rapidly, since the owner died,” Thomas said. “There’s a risk of violence, there’s a risk to health, I found a cockroach in an ice cube in my freezer last week because they are everywhere.”
Legal Options for Tenants
On Wednesday night, Thomas organized a meeting for tenants to share concerns. She also invited city and state officials to provide information about the legal options available to them.
“The tenants are deserving, through state statute, of a 30 day notice,” said Representative Maria Isa Perez-Vega, who attended the meeting. “They didn’t receive a 30 day notice. They received a headline in a newspaper. For many of these folks, they don’t know where to go. They’re looking at homelessness.”
Perez-Vega said her office has been compiling tenant complaints and will be doing her part to elevate them.
“I’m working with the office of the attorney general,” she said, “who has been very responsive in terms of landlord and tenants initiatives, but I also want to do a call of action to city and county leadership to address this as a deep emergency. We need to have immediate action on what the agenda and the plan is. Not ‘we’re working on this.'”
St. Paul Deputy Mayor Jamie Tincher, who also attended the tenant meeting on Wednesday, told KARE 11 that the Department of Safety and Inspections has responded to many complaints and issued several citations for issues raised by residents.
Tincher said inspectors cannot cite the owners for the front door security concerns because it is not allowed under state statute. She said the city will be working with the legislature to change that.
In the meantime, she said they are planning to open city hall in the coming days, so that tenants can organize and learn more about their legal options.
On Thursday afternoon, a spokesperson from Ramsey County shared the following statement with KARE11:
“Ramsey County just learned of the issue facing the residents of The Lowry today. We are working with the City of Saint Paul on a response plan to provide resources. We are currently in the process of identifying any residents already receiving Ramsey County support in the building so that we can work with them directly and are available to support all residents through our single point of entry contact number at 651-266-1050. It is our goal that all residents of The Lowry are supported through this situation.”
Thomas said it’s too late for her, though she won’t stop fighting for others.
“I’m moving tomorrow,” she said. “I have an emergency placement with an emergency crisis respite place. One of the problems that I have and a lot of the other people have is that, right now, I have 6 cents in my bank account. I can’t even afford to pay application fees.”
Gary Peterson and his friends are collecting donations to help people in their community.
ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. — A St. Louis Park pumpkin display is raising money for their local food shelf.
Gary Peterson started carving and painting three pumpkins over a decade ago. It’s now grown to over 100.
“I’ve heard people say they’ve come from Hutchinson,” he said.
Peterson along with two of his neighbors have spent the last 14 years growing their display, turning it into a neighborhood event.
“It’s been incredible, I just can’t believe how much this has expanded,” he said. “We did it just because we like to and then people were asking to give us money to cover the cost.”
The trio refused to take people’s money, but then one of them had an idea.
“My neighbor, Steve Leensvaart, just mentioned how about we just do it for the STEP program and the STEP program is our local food shelf in St. Louis Park,” he said.
So, they started to collect donations to help families in need. They’ve raised hundreds of dollars and donated hundreds of pounds of food over the last few years, carving for a cause.
“It is more gratifying every year,” Peterson said.
He estimated they have over 100 unique pumpkins in their yard. They’ve created the displays and come up with new family-friendly concepts for people to enjoy. Peterson said about 30 of their neighbors carved their own pumpkins to be put on display, and it’s been a big hit.
“It’s great. In the last couple of years, it’s turned into more of a neighborhood event,” said Sarah Durch.
“We love this Halloween display, we come every year to see it. We love that the whole community gets involved to craft and carve the pumpkins,” said Jami Gordon-Smith.
“The shading and the details are unbelievable,” said Elizabeth Hanson.
Hanson hopes to take her 2-year-old son trick or treating for the first time but is worried the cold temperatures might keep them indoors.
“We’re going trick or treating hopefully,” she said. “He’s going to be a firefighter, but we’re probably going to have sweatshirts maybe like two pairs of sweatpants underneath. We’re going to be bundled up.”
Gordon-Smith said her family will be out Halloween night no matter the weather.
“Halloween only comes once a year, so you really have to take advantage and enjoy the evening no matter what the weather brings,” she said. “Guess it’s not totally unheard of in Minnesota to have a cold Halloween, but we are going to try and modify and do a lot of layers underneath our costumes and then we might add some hats and maybe some warmer socks.”
Durch also isn’t surprised they’re in for another chilly night.
“Well, what would Halloween be without Minnesota cold? I feel like every time you plan a costume you have to plan for how you can make this work if it’s snowing,” she said.
Peterson said they will have a bonfire and some hot chocolate and cider on Halloween to keep trick-or-treaters warm while they look at their pumpkins.
Click here to learn where you can see the pumpkins and how you can donate.
Jeremy Jourdain was 17 when he was last seen on Halloween 2016.
BEMIDJI, Minn. — The search for Jeremy Jourdain, who was last seen on Halloween in 2016, continues now eight years later.
Jourdain was last seen at a family member’s house in Bemidji, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior Indian Affairs. He left the residence near the 500 block of Wood Avenue after midnight and while people followed him, no one was able to find him.
Jourdain was 17 at the time.
Officials said he was wearing a blue and grey sweatshirt, and blue jeans when last seen. He is Native American and is described as 6 foot 5 and 175 pounds.
If you have any information on his whereabouts, you can contact the Bemidji Police Department at (218) 333-9111. Tips can also be sent to 1-833-560-2065, or you can email ojs_mmu@bia.gov.
The organizations say many Asian Americans are planning to vote despite lack of candidate outreach.
ST PAUL, Minn. — Most people have been contacted in some way shape or form by a campaign in the last few weeks. And if the polls are right and the race for president is a dead heat, every vote will matter.
That’s why this is a head scratcher:
According to a September 2024 voter survey by Asian American Pacific Islander Data, 27% of Asian-American voters said they hadn’t been contacted by either political party trying to get their vote. Last spring, earlier in the voting season, it was even more – 42%.
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are the fastest growing racial or ethnic group nationwide.
Their voter participation levels are growing too, with 60% of eligible Asian-American voters turning out in 2020. And AAPI Data reports as many as 90% of Asian Americans they surveyed said they plan to vote this cycle.
“Candidates are not reaching out to Asian Americans, which is a huge mistake,” said ThaoMee Xiong, executive and networking director of the Coalition of Asian American Leaders.
She says even though there are more than 200,000 eligible Asian voters in Minnesota, the Asian vote is under-appreciated.
“Neither the Democratic or Republican parties have been reaching out in huge numbers,” Xiong said. “They’re sending general mailers to everyone but … they need it in their native language.”
That’s why CAAL is partnering with two more organizations to keep voter turnout high and reach anyone candidates or advocates missed.
Xor Xiong is from Asian American Organizing Project, which focuses on engaging metro-area teens and young adults.
“Many of our communities are still facing barriers to go to vote,” he said. “There’s been more times than I like to admit in terms of when I was having a conversation over the phones of voters being surprised that they can take time off to go and vote, or they can bring the kids to the polling locations, or they can even bring someone to translate for them.”
“In Ramsey County, because of the large Hmong American population there, the polls in Ramsey County are federally required to provide interpreters and translated materials,” ThaoMee added.
Their nonpartisan campaign, Get Out the Vote for Asian Minnesotans, aims to get people registered and well-informed.
“Throughout Covid, there was a lot of anti-hate around the AAPI community and we are still feeling the impact of that to this day,” said Amanda Xiong, a community organizer with a group known as CAPI USA. “Even if folks are afraid to go to the polls, due to that, we try our best to then educate them around absentee ballots, voting early.”
“And so yes, there is a huge increase in terms of voter turnout, but then why is it still 70% feel as though they don’t belong?”
In 2021, the FBI reported a 168% increase in anti-Asian hate crimes.
In Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center, the groups knocked on at least 700 doors in one session alone while keeping safety top of mind.
“We make sure that there’s a car following all the door knockers,” ThaoMee said. “We put everyone on text chain … and we are putting a lot of precautionary measures in place for the day of voting.”
After the election, the CAAL plans to conduct surveys and send the results to county election officials. They’ve done this before and say it led to policy changes this year at the legislature including measures to ensure people have easier access to interpreters.
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