End of Phase One for Coliseum Building Redevelopment
The 111-year-old building was at the epicenter of rioting and destruction following the murder of George Floyd by former Minneapolis police officers. The Third Precinct police station and many nearby businesses were burned to the ground, including the Coliseum which was home to independent retail and hospitality businesses, health providers and law firms.
Built in 1911, The Coliseum building stood firm as a beacon for small business through the Great Depression and World War II. After waves of neighborhood redevelopment plans in the 1970’s and 80’s. The Coliseum received a $5 million dollar infusion and reemerged in 2002 as a small business incubator, welcoming BIPOC entrepreneurs and commercial businesses.
Associates with Redesign Inc. saw the need to restore hope to the community anchor and joined local architects and Longfellow business leaders in a grass-roots effort to save the heavily damaged building.
RESILIENCE AND REMEMBRANCE MARK THE PHASE ONE REDEVELOPMENT OF LONGFELLOW’S COLISEUM BUILDING
Poems and colorful graphic design by the Twin Cities’ leading visual and literary artists will wrap the historic Coliseum Building on East Lake and 27th Street, marking the completion of its Phase One redevelopment.
As part of its mission, the non-profit developers worked with fiveXfive Public Art Consultants to bring ‘the heart of the neighborhood’ by engaging the community with messages of hope. The commissions include poets from St. Paul’s TruArt Speaks Collective, emerging graphic artists Precious Wallace, Daren Hill, Noah Lawrence-Holder and Emma Eubanks who created images of strength and resilience as the building moves into Phase Two interior construction.
The TruArtsSpeaks Collective is represented by Marcie R. Rendon, Isha Camara and See More Perspective. Founder Tish Jones served as a coordinator on the project, matching commissioned designers with the poets’ in-depth discoveries about the Longfellow community and retelling its long history of trade and transportation, the arts, and labor activism throughout the 20th Century.
The community public art reveal will take place Monday, June 27th at 2:30 pm. Members of the Redesign team will be on hand on talk about the project, as well as members of TruArtSpeaks Poetry Collective and the graphic design teams.
For more information: Contact Redesign (612) 338-8729 or info@redesigninc.org.
“While are gathering the financing to begin construction this summer, we want to show the community that we are rebuilding and recovering Lake Street in a new and equitable way”
WHO
Redesign, Inc., TruArtSpeaks, fiveXfive Public Art Consultants, B&B Installations, LLC
WHERE
WHEN
Community public art reveal June 27 at 2:30 p.m.
WHY
To demonstrate recovery and equitable development in new ways.
Read More about the Coliseum Building
