Fire brings "newfound urgency" to Kmart demolition, city says
MINNEAPOLIS -- Officials say no one was inside when the former Kmart building in south Minneapolis caught fire early Friday morning.
The fire at the building on Lake Street and Nicollet Avenue is expected to speed up the demolition, according to a city spokesperson. City staff demolished a portion of unstable walls at the former Kmart building on Friday.
The city said their goal is to have the demolition contract by Oct. 30. Construction is set to begin in two years, and the city said the first should have no impact on their future plans.
The building on Lake Street and Nicollet Avenue has been at the center of controversy, ever since it opened back in 1978.
Since the very beginning, words like "eyesore" have been thrown around in reference to its very existence. It made getting around a headache, blocking a direct route from downtown to south Minneapolis.
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"By blocking off Nicollet Avenue, it really disconnected the neighborhood," said Adrienne Bockheim, Principal City Planner for Minneapolis in an interview with WCCO earlier this month. "It really cut people off from different resources."
The store eventually closed, and the city bought the land in early 2020. It served as the East Lake Street post office, but was destroyed in the uprising following the murder of George Floyd.
Since then, it's been a hotpot for homeless encampments, until just days ago when they were cleared.
The city recently laid out three concepts for the future of the Kmart site. The three plans each featured a different arrangement of green space, pedestrian and cycling areas, along with commercial space and affordable housing. The idea was to to return the area to its former existence as a historic commercial corridor.
"Lake Street and Nicollet Avenue, historically, had been large commercial corridors and supported a number of businesses and communities throughout the years," explained Kelsey Fogt, senior transportation planner. "This project will reconnect those streets and open up some more opportunities for uses along the street."