A St. Paul building that was being turned into a neighborhood art hub is now a soggy construction nightmare, and police say a 12-year-old is at the center of it. The suspected vandalism caused at least $150,000 in damage to the future studio, with major water damage and a collapsed ceiling on the main level leaving the owner and neighbors scrambling as contractors try to figure out if and when the space can safely reopen. For now, it is weeks of repair bids and insurance calls instead of paint and canvases.
Police estimate the damage is in the $150,000 to $200,000 range and say the juvenile, identified publicly only by age, was linked to the scene through electronic monitoring. Officers have presented the case to the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office for possible charges, and the studio owner says she has already received a victims’ rights letter. As reported by Pioneer Press, investigators told the owner that the youth’s ankle monitor placed them at the building and that police have tied roughly 20 incidents back to the same juvenile since March 2025. The sheer scale of the loss has the artist and her contractors now wondering whether the renovation schedule, and the business plan built around it, can still hold.
The space was being built out for artist Josie Lewis, whose website notes she has shipped more than 13,000 packages from her home studio while cultivating a national online audience. The new location was supposed to become a production and teaching hub for her artwork and merchandise, giving her room to ramp up in-person classes and local sales. According to Josie Lewis’ website, her operation depends on steady workspace and reliable shipping capacity, both of which are now on pause while repairs and insurance claims move forward.
How the Damage Happened
The disaster was discovered on June 17, when a subcontractor walked in and found second-floor sinks plugged and left running. Water had poured over, soaking the floors and bringing down the ceiling on the main level. Renovations had been underway for roughly six to seven months when crews came upon the scene, and Lewis says the studio is now waiting to find out what insurers will cover, from structural damage to any lost inventory. The owner told Pioneer Press she feels the suspect “seems to have a blank check to terrorize the neighborhood,” a sentiment neighbors echo as they describe a sharp rise in unease after the discovery.
Legal Context
The case lands right as Minnesota is reworking how it handles very young juveniles. A state law set to take effect Aug. 1, 2026 will shift children under 13 away from formal juvenile court charges and toward child-protection routes, making the question of accountability more complicated in cases involving kids this young. Local data and reporting show that dozens of delinquency and juvenile petty-offense filings each year involve children ages 10 to 12, feeding a broader debate over prevention, consequences and community safety…