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Michelle Bruch
The Regional Flavor Theatre Company will renovate the second through fourth floors of the Skyway Theatre building.
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New theater company is eyeing Skyway Theater
UPDATED January 30, 2009, 10:23am
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By Michelle Bruch
A new theater company is interested in moving into the empty Skyway Theatre that sits above Barfly on Hennepin Avenue. The Regional Flavor Theatre Company would like to renovate the second through fourth floors of the building at 711 Hennepin Ave into a haven for local artists. “We’re planning to turn that into a large theater on Hennepin Avenue which focuses on allowing Minnesota writers, artists, directors and actors to have a place to perform,” said Artistic Director Phillip Rudy. “We’re going to program shows that are either by Minnesotans or deal with issues that are relevant to the state of Minnesota.” Rudy said he expects the fundraising and renovation to take one–two years to complete. When finished, the group would like to restore the film-screening space to provide a place for filmmakers to screen their work. They would also like to bring in national bands to perform in an intimate stage setting. “It’s our goal and our vision to take that part of Downtown ... and make that something that Minneapolis can be proud of,” Rudy said. “We wanted to provide a theater company that would give Minnesota playwrights and Minnesota artists a chance to have their work done. It’s really hard to find a place that will take a chance on new shows because they don’t sell very well.” Rudy said the new theatre company originally planned to organize a small production in Hopkins. Plans changed when Rudy met David Kabanuk, the owner of the Hennepin Avenue building, and learned that the Skyway Theatre space was available. Rudy said the theatre had been abandoned in 1998, and it will require quite a bit of cleaning and renovation work. Rudy recently relocated to Minnesota, and he currently works as an electrician, stage manager, technical director and lighting designer at venues around the Twin Cities including the Orpheum, Fitzgerald and Guthrie Theaters. He has also stage managed for national touring acts such as The Village People, Ru Paul and Flogging Molly. In addition to Rudy, the team of staff working on the project includes Managing Director Nicholas Olson, Business Manager Josh Airman, and Production Manager Christy Keocher. For more information on the project, Rudy is available at phil@regionalflavor.org
“Anyone that’s willing to help us out should definitely get in touch with me,” Rudy said. This story has been revised to clarify that plans for the theater are still tentative, and a lease is not yet finalized.
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City considers street closures for Twins home games
UPDATED March 4, 2010, 5:24pm
By Gregory J. Scott
2 Comments
The latest Target Field-induced transit adjustment may involve the closing of three nearby city blocks to traffic.
Under a plan being considered by the city, cars would be denied access to a two-block portion of 1st Avenue North between 4th and 6th street, for one hour before and one after every Minnesota Twins home game. In addition, the 6th Street exit from Interstate 394 would be blockaded for one hour after every home game, and 6th Street itself would shut down between 1st and 2nd avenues, also for one hour after each game. Both thoroughfares would be open during games.
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Hubert's to replace NBA City
UPDATED March 3, 2010, 10:20am
By Gregory J. Scott
One of the most popular bars from the Minnesota Twins' Metrodome days is following its team to the west end of Downtown. According to a statement released this morning by co-owners Steve Anderly and Bob Jones, Hubert’s Café and Sports Bar is opening a new location in the space currently occupied by NBA City at Target Center. The new Hubert’s will open on April 2, just in time for the Twins’ first exhibition game in the adjacent Target Field. The original Hubert’s, located at Chicago Avenue and 6th Street, has been a favorite pre- and post-game destination for many sports fans since it opened near the Metrodome in 1983. It will remain open, with no planned changes to its menu or bar.
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Si se puede!
UPDATED March 1, 2010, 1:46pm
By Gregory J. Scott
// Hours before a scheduled strike, Downtown janitors celebrate a new employment contract // After nearly two months of heated negotiations and threats to walk off the job, Downtown janitors may have a new employment contract as early as this Saturday. Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 26 — which represents over 4,000 Downtown janitors, as well as security officers and window cleaners — announced this morning that a tentative contract agreement with the Minneapolis–Saint Paul Contract Cleaners Association had been reached early Sunday. The announcement came just days after janitors had made concrete plans for a strike, which was to begin at 4 p.m. today. Congressman Keith Ellison and several
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Visions for Downtown
By Sarah McKenzie
Collin Barr, president of the Minnesota Region for Ryan Companies US, Inc., a major commercial real estate firm headquartered Downtown, recently met with the Journal to talk about his work and thoughts on the city. Barr has been with Ryan Companies for more than a decade, overseeing many major development projects in the city’s core. He also serves on the board of the Downtown Council. Here are highlights of the interview. DTJ: What is the outlook for the year for Ryan?Barr: We’re more optimistic than 2009, clearly, for us. We see our revenues and profits increasing, which of course we’re excited about. It’s still an extremely challenging economic environment, and the construction/development
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Development update :: 'Bright Spaces'
By Gregory J. Scott
Simpson Housing Services unveils 'Bright Spaces' A Minneapolis housing nonprofit has just finished renovations on four brand new environments that integrate novel design, early education expertise and homelessness advocacy.
Simpson Housing Services is the latest local beneficiary of Bright Spaces, an international program that creates developmentally appropriate calm zones that help children in formerly homeless families keep pace with their peers. Each space is carefully designed by early education professionals and tailored to the specific population it serves. Equipped with bursting bookshelves, backpacks stuffed with educational games, dress-up clothing closets, tents and toy kitchens, the Bright Spaces are imagination-stoking workshops that
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Northeast spotlight :: Savoring cider
By Lana Walker
The entrepreneurial mantra of Joe Heron, president and founder of Crispin Cider Company, can be summed up with this: forward motion and innovative change, with a little humor and fun thrown in there too. Crispin Cider Company is a producer of super-premium natural hard apple ciders, headquartered on the corner of 4th Street and Central Avenue. Launched in November 2008 by Heron, along with his wife and business partner Lesley, the cider company has done nothing but push the envelope in the market of hard cider in an attempt to refresh the beverage’s image in the eyes of American consumers. “In my generation, cider was like the Smirnoff Ice today,” explained Heron, who hails from South Africa. “If you didn’t like alcohol much, you drank
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Community notebook :: Bike-sharing
By Gregory J. Scott
Minneapolis looks to avoid other cities’ bike-sharing mistakesSure, the bikes are on their way. But what about the broken locks, the busted kiosks and the bankrupting expense of theft and repair? Are we getting those, too? The recent announcement that Minneapolis would adopt Montreal’s BIXI system for the city’s bike-sharing program triggered a wave of enthusiasm. Not only were we getting a taste of European-style transit here in the Twin Cities, but we had hired the best in the bike-sharing business to bring it here. The BIXI system — with its beefed-up bikes and its computer-chip based, solar-powered, WiFi-enabled parking stations — was named one of the top inventions of 2008 by Time magazine.
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Biz buzz :: FinnStyle
By Gregory J. Scott
FinnStyle unveils new Glenwood Avenue location
The Finnish design boutique officially opened its new location on Glenwood Avenue on Feb. 19, a spacious, white-tiled showroom that effectively doubles the size of the former location in Gaviidae Common.
The retailer left the skyways last month in the hopes of consolidating its merchandise under one roof. Previously, FinnStyle, which does a considerable amount of business through its website, finnstyle.com, had kept the bulk of its inventory in a Golden Valley warehouse, which led to inefficiencies in stocking, said store manager Elina Ruppert.
The new space at 160 Glenwood Ave., with its high ceilings and track lighting, provides an art gallery environment for the store’s
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Southern centennial
By Gregory J. Scott
// The Southern Theater celebrates its 100th birthday //Although the college kids swarming the bars at Seven Corners might not realize it, hoards of young Swedish men and women were doing the same thing, at the same spots, one hundred years earlier. Not sucking down fishbowls at Preston’s Urban Pub, per se. But preening and profiling, flirting and fighting, and of course, drinking — lots and lots of drinking. At the turn of the 20th century, Minneapolis was the most densely Swedish city in the United States, and the Cedar Riverside area was where the Swedes came to party. From about 1880 to 1916, a carnival of social clubs, saloons and pool halls electrified the intersection of Cedar and Washington avenues. According to Nina Clark,
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Trekking with purpose
By Sarah McKenzie
// Smile Network unveils Global Ventures program for mission-driven travelers //Smile Network, a North Loop-based nonprofit, has launched a new international travel program matching adventure treks with charitable work. The Global Ventures initiative features five- to 10-day adventure travel experiences in Peru, Africa, India and Ecuador this year. The participants help raise money for the Smile Network, an organization that provides reconstructive surgeries for children and young adults born with cleft lips or palates. The treks provide the organization with another important revenue stream, said Kim Valentini, founder of the Smile Network. “Every adventure travel experience butts up against a surgical
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