Saint Paul Brewing’s owner wants the City Council to halt a plan that he says would jeopardize his businesses by building apartments on a neighboring parking lot that brewery patrons use.
Why it matters: The council’s vote Wednesday could advance a long-awaited redevelopment that promises to revive a site that Hamm’s Brewery abandoned in 1997 with almost 200 housing units, a market and outdoor plazas.
- Those plans have alarmed the brewery, whose eclectic patio and cavernous event spaces there have made the sprawling East Side industrial complex an entertainment destination.
The latest: Council members are set to vote to rezone the property — a major political hurdle facing the redevelopment project.
- Saint Paul Brewing’s owner Rob Clapp owns parts of the complex — but the city owns the surrounding property, including a 148-stall shared parking lot.
Friction point: Developer JB Vang’s plan calls for halving the parking to 70 shared spaces to make way for the construction of 110 affordable housing units.
What they’re saying: Clapp, who also owns the temporarily shuttered 11Wells Spirits distillery on the site, says a shortage of on-site parking and limited transit options nearby would make it impossible for existing businesses on the site to survive.
- Clapp questions how the 70-stall lot could accommodate the developer’s vision for a new 30,000 square-foot marketplace when brewery patrons already regularly fill the existing lot, even on off days.
“They’re taking away parking and adding more uses,” Clapp tells Axios. “The city keeps telling me I’ll be fine, but they don’t provide any evidence that I’ll be fine.”…