Plans remain in flux for former Third Precinct headquarters

This summer, Minneapolis will begin cleaning up the former headquarters of the Third Precinct as it prepares to relocate its election operations there. 

The repurposed Third Precinct, now dubbed the Minnehaha 3000 building, will also include 8,000 square feet for community use. Despite the space available, organizers envisioning a Black cultural center on the site say it’s not big enough for them. Others, believing the city is not doing well with community engagement, are soliciting proposals from the community on what to do with the former Third Precinct site.

The Third Precinct building, located at the southwest corner of Lake Street and Minnehaha Avenue, has been vacant since it was looted four years ago during the unrest following George Floyd’s murder. After years of discussions, the city council last year decided never to locate a police precinct in that building again, instead deciding to purchase a building for that purpose at 26th Street and Minnehaha Avenue in the Seward neighborhood’s industrial park. 

Minneapolis will spend $1.5 million this summer to clean up the site. The work includes removing the concrete and barbed-wire fence barricade that has secured the site for the past four years, replacing the doors and windows, and rewiring the building, according to city officials.

“The best way to think about it is [as a] cleanup effort, which will allow us to make the building secure,” Minneapolis Director of Property Services Barbara O’Brien said at the open house.  

The city isn’t sure what to do with the Minnehaha 3000 building immediately after cleanup work concludes later this summer. Nonetheless, officials say cleaning the building up is a priority. “We owe the community that, and that is what we’re doing,” said O’Brien. 

The city wants to move its elections headquarters from the 980 E. Hennepin Avenue leased space to the Third Precinct site. They decided on the Third Precinct site because it is close to a neighborhood with some of the lowest voter turnout rates in the city. The city says it is also easier for people to access by biking, walking, and public transit, owing to frequent transit lines and the Midtown Greenway nearby. 

With the construction of an addition to accommodate election operations, the city anticipates having 8,000 square feet left over. ZoeAna Martinez, who lives in the East Phillips neighborhood, wants to see a space for youth-oriented activities, as well as space for entrepreneurs and a technology hub. 

Others, like Brenda Short, say they want to see the building house the unhoused while providing services for them to get back on their feet. “If we can move some of our own unhoused neighbors in different spots and have wraparound services, which says you’re gonna come into our shelters, you have to do a job program to keep having your services,” said Short, who lives in the Third Precinct and is running for mayor next year. 

Meanwhile, organizers of a proposed Black Cultural Center have decided they will not be pursuing the space. “The 8,000 square feet they allocate to the community is not enough for our vision. So we’re asking the city to help us to find another location,” organizer Frederick Brathwaite said at a June 10 open house hosted by the city about the Minnehaha 3000 site. The city has not confirmed at press time if they plan to help Black Cultural Center organizers find a site.

Community engagement

Even as about 100 people trickled into the recently expanded Minneapolis American Indian Center on Franklin Avenue to munch on Jimmy John’s sandwiches, representatives from Confluence Studio, an urban design collective engaging South Side community members about the future of public safety, said the city is not doing a good job engaging community members.

“I find it deeply ironic that the public within the Third Precinct patrol zone was left out of the decision-making process to place it where they are proposing to do so. At the end of the day, that site is like no other in the city,” said co-founder Sam Gould. 

Gould believes the city needs to undertake a truth and reconciliation process addressing the history of the Third Precinct, and that neighbors can imagine the future based on the findings. So, Confluence Studio is soliciting proposals from Third Precinct residents, youth, artists and designers about what to do with the Third Precinct site. 

Proposals are being accepted until August 25. Organizers say they should address adaptability to neighborhood needs, community engagement, connections to Indigenous and local resources, creative reuse or redesign of the Third Precinct building, abolition, liberation, and neighborhood care. 

After August 25, Confluence will make the proposals available for a vote by Third Precinct residents. Confluence would also exhibit those proposals at a future “People’s Assembly,” which occurs on the second Saturday of the month. Of proposals created by residents, youth, and design professionals, one from each group that receives the most votes will receive $1,500 and collaborate on creating a final vision for the site.