Separated At Birth?! Vacant Lots At Big Stop And Wafana's "Inconvenience Stores"

Former "Big Stop" store, Jordan Neighborhood, above
Former Wafana's Store, Hawthorne Neighborhood, below

Photos and blog post by John Hoff

I wrote recently about how the "inconvenience store" at Wafana's disappeared off the face of the earth while I wasn't looking, but I didn't have an AFTER photo to show the glorious transformation. Click here for that blog post.

Well, here's yer AFTER photo and I can't help but be struck by the "family resemblance" between the vacant lot at the former "Big Stop" store in Jordan, top photo, and the Wafana's store, bottom photo. Except for the fact children have built snowmen on the Big Stop lot, there is VIRTUALLY NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO LOTS.

Amazing. Another North Minneapolis instance of "separated at birth?"

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CORRECTED POST: Wafana's Store Wiped Off The Face Of The Earth...

Photo and blog post by John Hoff

It was around Christmas of 2009 when I wrote how the notorious and very closed inconvenience store known as Wafana's was "moving toward demolition," click here for that article.

But still it stood for months afterward. Some time in the past few months, though, it disappeared. I wasn't sure when it happened.

Maybe it was during the month of June while I was busy in school? Maybe it was...

...while I was gone for most of August, September, October in South Carolina for job training?(Oh, wait, I forgot...there are crazy hater blogs which say I wasn't in South Carolina at all. Okay, believe whatever cuckoo thing you want while the reality train is leaving the station, choo choo)

But at some point Wafana's got demolished and who wrote about it? Who?

ANSWER: It was on the Hawthorne Voices blog. I missed it. Here is a link, click here.

I don't cheer for demolitions MOST of the time. I didn't cheer for this one. I thought the building would have made a nice little restaurant but it was, well, quite small and there were bureaucratic obstacles in the way. In any case, it's gone and its passing should be remarked here on Johnny Northside Dot Com.

There, its passing has been remarked.

I remember when I first came to North Minneapolis in 2008 and scary loitering groups of no-accounts would hang around in front of Wafana's, even though it was closed. They have gone away and Wafana's has gone away. I could dig down deep, all the way to the bottom of my toes, seeking emotions...but will I miss it?

Nope.

And so our North Minneapolis neighborhood moves forward in leaps and bounds. Another crappy building gone, and the crappy people who hung out there.

JSPAN VIDEO COVERAGE! City Council Resolution Honoring Former Hawthorne Neighborhood Board Chair Peter Teachout--Council Member Don Samuels Remarks

Video and blog post by John Hoff

After former Hawthorne Neighborhood Board Chair Peter Teachout and the rest of his immediate family were honored by the City of Minneapolis for their courageous contributions to the "18 Month EcoVillage Miracle," Council Member Don Samuels took a moment to add some remarks comparing the courage required of neighborhood revitalizers to the kind of courage exemplified by the military.

This video begins with a council aide giving each of the Teachout children a lollipop and then Don Samuels can be heard and seen speaking. Of course, the meeting just got better after that, with all the rental licenses of slumlord Bashir Moghul revoked (reportedly, not fully confirmed) and the demolition of the old Wafana's store moved forward. (I have severely mixed feelings about THAT, but the demolition is, undeniably, progress of a sort)

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Wafana's Moving Toward Demolition...(Recycled Headline)

Photo By John Hoff

The infamous Wafana's "inconvenience store" located at 2326 Lyndale Ave. N. continues to ride the greased-up skids toward demolition, as previously reported, click here.

A couple days ago I was going by and saw activity inside...

Naturally, I stopped by to make sure everything was OK and nothing unsavory was happening. I found a crew inside stripping out the useful components prior to pending demolition. (So you have to wonder, gee, if the city could salvage scrap metal--pictured above--and old refrigerators out of the thug store Wafana's, why couldn't they save Pauline Fjelde's TRUNK?)

The foreman of the two-man work crew told me "about twenty people" had stopped by just like I did, to see what was happening and then express their delight that, finally, Wafana's was coming down.

However, there's nothing actually WRONG with the building. And, after reading recently about the Dream Homes fiasco, I have to wonder if anything nice will actually get built on any particular vacant lot in North Minneapolis or whether some kind of fly-by-night developer will somehow get the lot and erect who-knows-what shoddy CRAP. More bothersome still is the fact a couple of great guys named John and Edwin were interested in buying the old Wafana's to put in a hip, trendy restaurant but had to back away due to all the scary political complications associated with the building and its zoning variance issues.

I don't know the answer to this conundrum and I feel torn in half by it. Naturally, I'm going to be happy to see Wafana's come down...but how unbearably long before anything good replaces it? And will it actually be something GOOD? Or yet another development fiasco?

On the bright side...somebody was actually looking for a location in the Hawthorne Neighborhood to locate a hip, trendy restaurant. As the neighborhood continues to turn around, hopefully we'll see more of that. A lot more.

Wafana's Moving Toward Demolition...

Photos By Jeff Skrenes

A couple nights ago, the Hawthorne Housing Committee approved $20,000 to be used toward the cost of demolition of the old Wafana's store on Lyndale Ave. N.

This building used to be what some North Minneapolis residents refer to as an "inconvenience store," which is a business where thugs hang out, crimes take place, and sometimes stolen goods are sold. An "inconvenience store" is more of a hindrance than a help to the neighborhood and this is exactly what Wafana's was, kind of like the old Uncle Bill's store in the Willard-Homewood. (Note how Urban Dictionary Dot Com has a different definition, click here)

This decision to allocate $20,000 awaits ratification by Hawthorne's board. However...

It appears the Wafana's building is riding the greased-up skids to Demolition City and I say BON VOYAGE AND GOOD RIDDANCE.

Hawkman Exclusive! Wafana's Goes Back On The Market And The Neighborhood Is Watching!

Guest post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman, on a mission.

Moments ago, I received a facebook message from a good NoMi resident who was wondering about buying a building to start up a new restaurant. These kinds of emails are always exciting, but this one was especially so, because...



The property in question was none other than the infamous Wafana's. This (in)convenience store was the source of 1,376 police responses to this address, 129 police reports filed, and 160 arrests for criminal activity (including citations). Of those calls, 99.7 percent occurred during the business hours of 8 am to 10 pm. Fifty-four percent were 911 calls, which means the other 46 percent were proactive stops; 84 percent were narcotics calls; two calls reported a shooting, three calls reported robbery, two calls reported a stabbing, and 15 calls reported fighting and assault.

Did I mention that all these calls happened between January 1, 2005, and February 19, 2006? Police had to respond to very serious criminal activity at this site an average of three times PER DAY. This place was a NIGHTMARE, and it made the lives of our good neighbors a living hell. We are so grateful to everyone in the city who worked with us to shut it down.

Two years ago, it was purchased by some businessmen who wanted to open a meat market, "but no deli or convenience store." We told them to come before various committees in Hawthorne, and warned them that the neighbors would be extraordinarily skeptical. At each subsequent meeting, their proposed plan got worse - from a stand-alone meat market to a meat market/deli, but no convenience store, then a deli/convenience store but no tobacco products would be sold, and finally a run-of-the-mill convenience store, and the owners claimed they would not be able to afford a security guard.

Needless to say, their proposal was, well, shot down by the neighborhood, and here's why: If the buyer of our dreams miraculously shows up one day and promises to utterly transform the property, we COULD grant the variance. But then if the business fails--or if he simply decides to sell because it makes sense--then we could very easily see history repeat itself. There would be nothing in the zoning that would keep another problem property from opening up.

So here is a stern warning to any prospective buyer: This property is zoned R2-B. The only thing you can do with it is to use it as a residential one- or two-unit property. Its commercial zoning variance has expired and the neighborhood has no intention of granting an exception.

There is good news, however. I called the number listed above and talked to someone at MFIA properties. He is fully aware of the zoning variance issue, and made it clear that they are disclosing that up front to any prospective buyer. I told him a bit about the history of Wafana's and that the neighborhood likely will not approve of a zoning variance here.

I asked some very pointed questions, and they were all answered to my satisfaction. It appears that we have listing agents who really know their stuff, and that's a relief. The way he was talking, if any prospective buyer comes forward saying, "Woe is me! I didn't KNOW about the zoning variance!" the neighborhood should not believe it for a second. We were in agreement that it would be best if the city or a neighborhood development partner could acquire this site.

Hopefully, that is exactly what will happen, and in this particular case, I don't think any residents would shed a tear at its demolition. But in case another buyer comes along, remember: YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.