‘Endangered’ buildings offer chance to bring small businesses to neighborhoods

If the vision comes together, a former grocery store in the Cathedral neighborhood will become a coffee shop and office before long.

Rendering by Koch Hazard Architects

But first, the building’s owner has a gap to fill.

That’s because when brick masons began removing stucco from the outside of the former Effting & Co. Grocers building at Ninth Street and Grange Avenue, they determined some of the brick underneath wasn’t viable.

“So I’m in the process of getting quotes to re-brick the building,” said Alex Halbach, who bought the 1902-era building this year, after he’d driven by for years contemplating the potential.

He doesn’t need to do that. He could have torn it off, chosen to re-stucco it or thrown up some siding.

“That would be the most cost-effective way to do it, but I am such a firm believer that when you take on projects like that, you agree to do the right thing for the project, for the building, for the neighborhood,” he said.

“I just firmly believe that with buildings like this, they deserve to come back to what they were.”

Halbach, who is an attorney and recently was named to his second term as chair of the city’s Board of Historic Preservation, knows there are other such buildings citywide.

In late 2019, he and the rest of the board asked for a list of so-called endangered structures – mostly vacant, former commercial or institutional buildings that could be demolished if an appropriate reuse isn’t found.

“Right now, they’re just sort of on our radar,” said Diane deKoeyer, city neighborhood and preservation planner.

“Historically, that’s what they were (commercial) and how they functioned, and I think people are looking for more of that these days. We’re seeing that happen in other communities, and there’s no reason that couldn’t work here. … What it takes is someone who has the vision, a private investor … somebody like Alex who is going to say, ‘No, I’m going to save this building.’ ”

With Halbach’s project, the city is looking at rezoning the property to add diagonal parking and is supportive of the vision, she said.

“It’s a great little neighborhood building and a great walkable area to come for breakfast, coffee, whatever it may be,” she said, adding it could serve as an example for others trying “to save some of these and reintroduce them back into the neighborhood.”

Sunny’s Pizzeria is a good example, she added.

Located at 1801 S. Walts Ave. and built in 1929, it’s a former laundromat.

That’s the case with many buildings on the city’s list, which have a history as neighborhood-based businesses.

There’s the former Moe Grocery, built in 1917 at 127 N. Covell Ave.

There’s the former Williams Bros. Grocery, now Kolbe Watch Shop, at 1301 S. Duluth Ave.

And the former Haggar Grocery, built in 1921, at 1511 E. Fifth St.

“These small commercial properties in residential neighborhoods are part of the fabric of what makes them attractive,” Halbach said. “The reasons people are drawn to those districts is because of the detail, because of the history and the uniqueness of the structures.”

Other “endangered” structures are former laundromats, like this one at 701 S. Glendale Ave. built in 1945.

Former schools also fit the city’s criteria for endangered structures. DeKoeyer points to the DakotAbilities reuse of the former Longfellow Elementary as an example of how significant buildings such as that can be preserved.

The hope is the same might materialize for the former Joe Foss School, built in 1923 at Cliff Avenue and Third Street, which at one point was envisioned as a multicultural marketplace.

“It’s been sitting empty for a long time, but structurally it seems like a pretty sound building,” she said.

The city likely will continue to identify and add properties to its list with help from Minnehaha County’s museum staff.

In the meantime, Halbach is trying to “turn over every rock” as he attempts to restore his building.

“When you look at how to make it cash flow with the improvements the building needs, it’s an upside-down project almost immediately,” he said, while adding he’d like to add a rooftop patio and significant outdoor dining space to expand the size of an operation.

“The city has been so great with trying to find ways to be flexible and to work with me on this project,” he added. “From a policy perspective, the city has said neighborhoods are an emphasis. They’re committed to neighborhoods, and honestly these types of projects economically don’t really work without some creative financing and some creative avenues.”

He has tenants in line but can’t finalize anything until his numbers pencil out more effectively. There are contractors ready to start on it in the spring though.

“I don’t think I really understood how big of a project it was going to be to get it to come back,” he said. “But I’m committed to making the project happen. It’s not if it happens. It will happen. It’s just trying to figure out the economics of what that means.”