Throughout the Marcy-Holmes district of Minneapolis, you’ll find pockets where old factories and warehouses once reigned supreme. But as many of these companies moved out or closed shop, these massive buildings sat vacant and fell into disrepair.
While some developers may choose to bulldoze buildings like this and start fresh, the development team of George Sutton and Andris Baltins takes a different approach. It’s one that has injected new life along three blocks of SE 9th Street, just west of I-35W.
“Rather than tearing something down, we prefer finding the bones of it and making something lasting out of them,” says Sutton, who co-founded Bedrock Development, LLC with Baltins.
This string of developments is anchored by North Co. Off Site Link, a co-working office complex in the old Ry-Krisp factory at SE 6th Ave. and stretches along 9th to their warehouse space at 800 SE 9th Street. In the middle are the team’s newest tenants: a bike shop, a dance studio and a wedding/event center.
“We’ve kind of grown down the street, almost leapfrogging and filling in as we go,” says Baltins.
Sutton and Baltins worked with the commercial lending team at Sunrise Banks to finance many of these projects and bring new life to this low-to-moderate income neighborhood.
Early Projects: Jungle Theater and Red Wing’s Central High School
The duo first got to know each other in the early 1990s through the Jungle Theater, where Baltins served as the founding board chair and Sutton was the first managing director. They, along with artistic director Bain Boehlke, opened the theater’s first location at Lake St. and Lyndale Avenue S. in 1991.
At the time, the Lyn-Lake area of Minneapolis was known as a gritty industrial neighborhood with high-crime rates, including murders, robberies, drug dealing and prostitution. Many leaders saw the Jungle Theater opening as a turning point for the area, bringing foot traffic, new economic development and a sense of community safety.
From there, Baltins and Sutton have worked together on other real estate projects that needed fresh eyes and a new strategy. One of those projects was turning the old Central High School building in Red Wing into a residential condo complex. After the high school closed in the mid-1990s, Goodhue County commissioners originally wanted to level it and build a new justice center. But community members wanted to preserve the nearly 100-year-old building.
Sutton and Baltins, along with Greg Cummins, came in and transformed the building into what is now the Central Park Condominiums creating more than 20 high-end units, all while keeping the outer façade and other architectural details intact.
“What was once an abandoned high school is now a premier place to live,” says Sutton. “And to preserve it meant a lot to the community because so many people went to school there.”
Not a “Cookie Cutter” Operation
Through their Bedrock Development, LLC company, Sutton and Baltins have now created new spaces and opportunities in neighborhoods that other developers may overlook.
The three-block stretch of 9th Avenue SE in the Marcy Holmes neighborhood is a prime example. Rusty, graffiti-tagged warehouses and bare lots made up most of this area, as early as the mid-2000s. The Ry-Krisp factory, which sits at one end of the block, stopped operations in 2015 and ConAgra, which owned the building, couldn’t sell it.
The area was begging for something new to revitalize the neighborhood.
It’s now the North Co. Building Off Site Link, a mixed-use creative and commercial space. While parts of the interior have been torn down and rebuilt, many original features have been incorporated into the current design. You’ll even see original machinery and factory pieces standing as décor.
Current tenants here include Sidecar Studios Off Site Link, Kind Lips Off Site Link, Origin 414, and Coffeewomple Roastery Off Site Link.
“This is not a cookie-cutter operation—none of it has been, and it can’t be when you’re working with 100-year-old buildings,” says Sutton.
Down the block is the team’s newest project – a mixed-used facility that is now home to Freewheel Bike shop Off Site Link, the Minnesota Dance Theatre and School Off Site Link, and The Luminare Off Site Link, a wedding and event venue.
A few blank lots remain in this area, giving Sutton and Baltins a chance to think about what comes next – perhaps a restaurant, smoothie shop or coffee shop.
“Each opportunity builds on the last,” says Sutton.
Financing the Projects
Sutton and Baltins have used a variety of funding sources for their projects, including New Markets Tax Credit allocation through Sunrise Banks. This type of federal funding helps stimulate economic growth and private investment in distressed or low-to-moderate income neighborhoods.
Dave Scott, director of commercial banking at Sunrise Banks, says contrary to popular belief, both large and small-scale projects can qualify for NMTC allocations.
“Most customers think New Markets Tax Credits can only be used for big projects, like new multi-million-dollar buildings,” he says. “But developers who focus on smaller projects, especially those in low-to-moderate income communities, can also take advantage of these financing opportunities.”
Sunrise Banks has a Small Dollar NMTC Loan Fund that supports projects exactly like the ones Sutton and Baltins work on.
“Our projects are so unusual that they’re challenging for more traditional banks to underwrite,” says Sutton. “So as developers, we’re in a different kind of bucket. But Sunrise created a unique opportunity for smaller developers to do projects themselves.”
Leaving a Legacy
Baltins says doing development projects the way he and Sutton have also requires creative thinking and hands-on involvement. Over the years, other key partners have included Greg Cummins and Tom Tulien, bringing their unique skillsets to challenging projects.
“Leaving a legacy has been our way of approaching most every project we’ve been involved in,” he says.
To meet the company’s growing management, Baltins and Sutton brought Alex Jones on to the team.
“We like to kid, that Alex is our ‘Hugger in Chief,’” says Baltins. “He has become a key part of what helps us to maintain close relationships with our tenants.”
“Development teams like George and Andris are rare these days,” says Scott. “But they have demonstrated that it’s not only huge, multi-million-dollar projects that can have a significant impact on the community. Sometimes, it’s the smaller ones that can really spark new activity in a neighborhood.”
What Comes Next
There’s still room for the team to grow and leave their mark in this Marcy-Holmes neighborhood. And as for what is next? That is still to be determined.
“We like to have happy tenants and create spaces people actually need,” says Baltins.
Sutton adds, “We’ve built a partnership over 30 years that lets us take on complicated things – and leave behind something we’re proud of.”
To learn more about how Sunrise Banks supports development projects of all shapes and sizes, visit sunrisebanks.com/commercial-banking-solutions.
Member FDIC | Equal Housing Lender.
This article originally appeared on the MN Rising section of the Minnesota Star Tribune Off Site Link.