A new beginning for the Coliseum Building on Lake Street
It’s Bourbon Street, on Lake Street.
“Born in New Orleans, raised here in Minnesota,” smiles Saba Shaw, from Minneapolis.
“You know, there was so much loss along Lake Street,” recalls Jennifer Pennington, Marketing and Communications Director for Du Nord Social Spirits. “In so many different places, there’s just a lot of hope.”
On Saturday afternoon, there was a grand opening and street festival with a New Orleans flavor — with Big Easy music echoing across a parking lot and plenty of Cajun food on hand.
All part of a new beginning for the Coliseum Building in South Minneapolis.
“I think this building tells two stories, one is what was, one is what’s going to be,” declares Chris Montana, the co-founder of Du Nord Social Spirits. “But it’s important for people to know what this building meant to this area, and where its place in history is.”
The severe fire damage and vandalism in the 100-year-old building, sustained during the unrest following the murder of George Floyd, has been repaired as part of a $30 million renovation.
“Be that sustainable change for the neighborhood,” notes Montana’s wife, Shanelle. “Start a catalyst that the neighborhood can grow around it.”
That change includes a grand opening Saturday for the Du Nord cocktail room, and continued construction on Lagniappe, a Cajun/New Orleans-style restaurant.
“I really like that idea. I think it’s really needed right now. I grew up in this neighborhood not far from here,” Shaw says. “Seeing everything how it’s changed. I really like to see people come together and make something new out of it.”
Upstairs, there’s a wall inscribed with the date May 25, 2020, the day George Floyd was murdered, and three phrases: ‘Say his name. We remember. So, we do better.‘
On that wall, trails of water, mixed with soot from the fire, have left vertical stripes — a reminder of the blaze that spread inside the building.
“Leaving this wall the way that it was, after this building was set on fire, is a reminder of where we were,” Montana says. “Then hopefully, all the businesses and all of the vitality you see in the building is going to be the evidence of where we’re going.”
In another area is a display of the plywood art created that spring.
A place of remembrance of George Floyd and what happened after his passing, the unrest, the days of cleaning, and eventually, the healing that followed.
“I was here the morning after the building burned,” Pennington explains. “It was incredible, and people walked out of their houses with dust pans and garbage bags and came to clean up. It was one of the most beautiful and heart-wrenching things.”
But why Cajun fare for the restaurant?
“After the uprising, we actually moved to New Orleans at the end of 2020, and had this giant bear hug that New Orleans gave us,” Shanelle explains. “We thought it would only be appropriate to give a lot of that back to the community we started in here, in south Minneapolis.”
The hope is that the cocktail room and the restaurant will help attract start-up entrepreneurs to the 25 open spaces in the building.
“A lot of businesses have fallen off the wayside,” notes Ray Shamsid-Deen, from St. Paul. “So, any kind of a comeback, I’m proud to see it, happy to see it, and I wish him well.”
Chris and Shanelle Montana plan to formally open the cocktail room next Thursday, and the restaurant on Oct. 11.
New hope for an iconic building and a neighborhood that’s seen difficult times.
“I’m not naive about what we’re trying to do here. The rest of this area hasn’t been built up yet. We want to be a catalyst,” Montana declares. “Because we want people to come back to this area and remember what this area was, and hopefully dream about what it could be.”
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