Protesters march to stop demolition of cracked affordable apartment - Southwest Journal

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A crowd of about 100 protesters marched from Mueller Park to the corner of Franklin & Lyndale on Aug. 20, holding big yellow signs reading, “Welcome to Lowry Hill East Neighborhood! Home of Naturally Occurring Profitable Housing!”

The marchers stopped in front of the four-story brick apartment building at 2003 Aldrich Ave., which held 25 affordable units until 2018 — when it was badly cracked in a botched construction job and residents were forced to vacate, some ending up in homeless shelters. 

Randolph Street Realty Capital, a Chicago-based company, was sued for damaging 2003 Aldrich and acquired the building in March after settling the lawsuit. Randolph Street, which isn’t disclosing the cost of repairing the building it damaged, plans to demolish it in September and construct a 47-unit market-rate apartment on the site. 

Alicia Gibson, board president of the Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association, asked the crowd to demand a change in Randolph Street’s plans and to demand that the city, which has said there is nothing to be done to stop demolition, devise an alternate strategy for preserving affordable housing at 2003 Aldrich Ave.

“They keep telling us these shenanigans are legal,” she said. “They need to fix that loophole now. If people can come in and damage affordable housing, buy it from their own malfeasance, tear it down and put in market-rate and higher housing, then that should terrify anyone in this city who cares about housing justice.” 

Activist Toussaint Morrison, a co-organizer of the rally, said the city was allowing gentrification. 

“We could have bought this right here, cleaned it up and made it for the people. This could have housed people!” he said. “You are turning away brown, Black, poor neglected people willingly.” 

Activist Toussaint Morrison hands out placards in Mueller Park before the march. Photo by Zac Farber

Wedge resident Nick Sanford said he lives in a similar century-old brick building to 2003 Aldrich. “I think they should be preserved,” he said.

The march, led by the groups On Site Public Media and Communities United Against Police Brutality, also stopped outside Council President Lisa Bender’s home in Lowry Hill East, with protesters criticizing Bender for not being responsive to constituents and not doing enough to reign in the Minneapolis Police Department before George Floyd was killed.

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Protesters march to stop demolition of cracked affordable apartment - Southwest Journal
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