Roof Depot sale to EPNI expected Sept. 7; new ‘community hub’ to open in 2025

VIA HEALING MINNESOTA STORIES — By Scott Russell, August 29, 2023

Lingering question: Why did the city mislead the public?

The Minneapolis City Council is expected to vote Sept. 7 to approve the sale of the Roof Depot property to the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute (EPNI), said Dean Dovolis, chair of EPNI’s board.

EPNI plans to renovate the empty warehouse on the property into a community-owned asset, with affordable housing, an indoor urban farm, a large solar array, and more.

If all goes according to plan, EPNI will have its drawings and permits by June, 2024 and start construction right away, Dovolis said. Construction should take about nine months and the building should be tenant ready by the first half of 2025.

Scavengers stripped the copper from the building, and it will need a new roof, he said. “But there’s nothing that can’t be fixed.”

“The building is sound. We won’t have to to do any structural work.”

This raises a nagging question, one the city won’t answer: Why did the city repeatedly say the building wasn’t safe?

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