Urgent Action Needed: Ask the Minnesota Legislature to fund redevelopment along Lake Street
We need your voice. You can help by asking your legislators, Representative Hodan Hassan and Senator Zaynab Mohamed to invest in the future of Lake Street - we need additional funding for redevelopment to bring customers back to our neighborhoods.
The Minnesota legislature has negotiated a funding package that will likely be voted on TODAY, Friday, May 12th, by the Jobs and Labor Conference Committee. This omnibus SF3035/HF3028 bill would make a historic investment of over $100 million toward economic development for small businesses in the Twin Cities metropolitan area.
As currently written the bill provides critical government funding to small businesses along our commercial corridors that continue to struggle after the civil unrest of 2020, historic disinvestment, and institutional barriers. We applaud Representative Hodan Hassan and Zaynab Mohamed for their leadership in advocating for these much-needed local dollars.
Specifically the “Providing Resources and Opportunity and Maximizing Investments in Striving Entrepreneurs (PROMISE) Act would provide grants of from $10,000 - $50,000, $50,000 to businesses with annual revenues under $350,000 $750,000 [updated as of 5/12/23 at 9:12 pm] and “may be used for working capital to support payroll expenses, rent or mortgage payments, utility bills, and other similar expenses that occur in the regular course of business.”
We recognize that this revenue restriction leaves many of our anchor businesses, like BIPOC-owned restaurants and other industries that employ significant numbers of community members, without support. We have requested that eligibility be expanded to larger businesses. (see line 188.5 of the bill language for more information)
We are saddened to see no clear source of debt-free financing for redevelopment projects along Lake Street, University Ave., and other damaged corridors. There are currently over 40 emergent redevelopment projects on Lake Street alone, and just ten of these projects need over 90 million dollars in public subsidy to move forward.
We have fought hard to keep the properties destroyed by the civil unrest in the hands of local entrepreneurs and redevelopers - the ability to redevelop these properties slips away with every year the Minnesota Legislature chooses not to prioritize civil unrest relief in our neighborhoods and commercial corridors.
We are also disappointed that the bill does not include the funding proposed in the House version to replenish our We Love Lake Street fund. This fund helped 500 businesses repair civil unrest damage and reopen and also has kept demolished property in local hands. The Lake Street Council had planned to utilize new investment in this fund to bring customers back, through programs for marketing, events, murals, and other placemaking, and safety initiatives.
We need your voice. You can help by asking your legislators, Representative Hodan Hassan and Senator Zaynab Mohamed to invest in the future of Lake Street - we need additional funding for redevelopment to bring customers back to our neighborhoods.
To find your legislator, click here. Below is a template email you can personalize to use as a resource when contacting them. Contact information for House and Senate leadership is also below.
Additional information about how this omnibus bill potentially provides support for Lake Street is below.
Redevelopment funding
The omnibus bill does not reallocate funding to the Minnesota Main Street Economic Revitalization Program. This program was initially funded in 2021 and saw a number of grants go to Lake Street businesses.
The omnibus bill removed the $62 million to the City of Minneapolis for forgivable loans for real estate development projects. These funds would have been added to the city’s already successful Commercial Property Development Fund.
The omnibus bill allocates $5 million for a statewide Emerging Developer Fund Program that would enhance the capacity of individuals who have been historically underfunded and excluded from pursuing a career in the property development field. These funds will be allocated to the Local Initiatives Support Corporation.
Ongoing business support
The omnibus bill does not fund the “Empowering Enterprise Program”, originally in HF 3028. This funding would have provided ongoing business support in the metro area and allocated $10.85 million directly, to the Lake Street Council, and other partnering organizations.
The omnibus bill establishes the “Providing Resources and Opportunity and Maximizing Investments in Striving Entrepreneurs (PROMISE) Act” to support small businesses in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. This act will provide both grants and loans to the Lake Street, 38th and Chicago, Franklin, Nicollet, and Riverside corridors. Specifically:
Over two years, $27 million can be used for grants of up to $50,000 for working capital to businesses and nonprofits with annual revenues under $750,000 that are located in certain census tracts.
Of this amount, $750,000 each year is for grants to businesses with less than $100,000 in revenue in the prior year.
These grants would be administered by the Neighborhood Development Center.
Over two years, $9 million can be used for a loan program that would provide funding for “development, redevelopment, demolition, site preparation, predesign, design, engineering, repair, land acquisition, relocation, or renovation of real property or capital improvements.” These loans would be capped at $1 million dollars, with an interest rate of no more than 3%.
Eligible recipients of this program must have a gross annual revenue of less than $1 million based on 2021 taxes; and be located in a community that has been adversely affected by structural racial discrimination, civil unrest, and lack of access to capital.
Priority will be given to projects that didn't receive Main Street funding and to developers who are Black, Indigenous, or People of Color; women, and veterans.
These loans would be administered by Metropolitan Economic Development Association.
Learn more about the omnibus bill here.
If you have questions about either piece of legislation, please contact Russ Adams at Russ@lakestreetcouncil.org or 612.438.6338.
Majority Leader Jamie Long (61B, DFL)
651-296-5375
rep.jamie.long@house.mn.gov
Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman (34B, DFL)
651-296-4280
rep.melissa.hortman@house.mn.gov
Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic (60, DFL)
651-296-7809
sen.kari.dziedzic@senate.mn
Senate President Bobby Joe Champion (59, DFL)
651-296-9246
sen.bobby.champion@senate.mn
Template email to send to your legislator
While personalizing the letter to fit your voice is most impactful, remember to first lead with the primary ask - to invest in the recovery of Lake Street and other impacted business districts.
Dear [INSERT LEGISLATOR(S) HERE]:
As a [local small business owner/resident], I ask that you support state investment in the recovery of business districts impacted by civil unrest.
Lake Street, University Ave/Midway, West Broadway, and 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis suffered hundreds of millions of dollars in damages after the civil unrest in 2020. Businesses like mine have been working hard to rebuild and recover, but we face tremendous challenges.
As currently drafted, the omnibus SF3035/HF3028 needs to go further to support my community. There is no apparent source of debt-free financing for redevelopment projects along Lake Street or other damaged corridors.
Small businesses bring incredible economic and cultural value to our state – and our government has a role to play in their recovery.
The historic budget surplus presents a unique opportunity to support this full recovery and make a generational impact on the future of Lake Street and other important commercial corridors. Please support legislation that invests in small businesses and the Lake Street corridor.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
[NAME]
[PLACE OF RESIDENCE / BUSINESS NAME]
