"Mystery Buyer" Snaps Up 420 31st Ave. N. (REVISED)

Photo By John Hoff

Paying a mere $16,500 for what used to be the worst crack den in the Eco Village area, a "Damien Oliphant" of "Alam & Associates, Inc." bought 420 6th St. N. on October 10...

The sale information is listed on the city of Minneapolis website, but the name of the owner hasn't changed in the section listing the current owner. I assume this is because it takes so long to get new owners registered--I hear there is a huge backlog at the county--and so long to enter the data on the city website.

But I should be happy. Getting a sale listed on the City website which took place October 10 is actually pretty quick progress, compared to what I've seen in the past. Maybe they're improving. Maybe.

I'd contemplated buying the property myself because I consider any property in or quite near the Eco Village to be a good investment in the long term...but I couldn't bear to own this particular building. It bothered me at several personal and aesthetic levels. It had no historical character and I had seen the awful things which used to happen there, the blood and (expletive) on the front door, the fetid accumulation of crack addict possessions thrown around inside, helter skelter, the desperate prostitutes who used the front steps for soliciting, including "Kathy," who is Kathleen Margaret Croud, whose pimp is Khameron Duvall Lake.

The buyer of 420 31st Ave. N. is something of a mystery. At first I thought it was "Alan and Associates" but Jeanie Hoholik corrected me and sent a link, click here.

There was talk of the City of Minneapolis buying the property. Once again, they did not move quickly enough. I guess we're all waiting for the other shoe to drop. But based on what I'm reading on the link, this seems like a visionary entity. I have to wonder if this might even be connected, somehow, to talk of a "Minniapple" house at that spot. Maybe the property was snapped up for that purpose? Or might end up being part of that project?

Hope builds wildly. I was worried about this "mystery buyer" this morning, but now the purchase strikes me as very positive. Then again...this entity builds high rise buildings in Bangeldesh. And Dubai. I'm very opposed to a low-income high rise appearing at that very spot, which would mess up all the Eco Village plans. But who knows WHAT they are planning to build there? No way to know right now, or if the property was just snapped up as some kind of investment.

I guess I can only remain hopeful and optimistic. And wait.