ICE Grabs St. Paul Workers, Sprays Protestors, Still Sucks

Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.

More ICE Chaos

ICE was in St. Paul today, along with the FBI and DEA. Live reports and social media posts from the scene show that… something happened at Bro-Tex LLC at 800 N. Hampden Ave. KARE 11 spoke with a son of an employee, who says his dad and uncle called the family to let them know that agents had “stormed” the building. Their whereabouts are currently unknown.

Outside, observers shouted “shame” and “show your face” before ICE agents resorted to pepper spray and shoving. Star Tribune reporter Louis Krauss captured footage of the protest; you can read his full account from the scene here. St. Paul City Council Member Molly Coleman and outgoing St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter were at Bro-Tex this morning; Carter says he wasn’t given a heads up.

“What happened today is not law enforcement—it is an assault on our community,” writes the Immigrant Defense Network in a press release sent out this afternoon. They’ll be hosting a community vigil at the location Wednesday starting at 9 a.m.

Wrecktangle on the Hook for $1.6 Million?

That’s what Palace Theatre alleges in a lawsuit filed last week. In 2023, Wrecktangle opened up Wrestaurant at the Palace in the former Wild Tymes sports bar at 33 W. Seventh Place in St. Paul. The idea was that the space, owned by First Avenue, would operate like the Depot Tavern, serving Palace Theatre concertgoers as well as anyone else who stopped by. 

But by December of 2024, Wrestaurant had closed (the spot would later reopen as the Palace-run Palace Pub). According to court documents filed in Hennepin County by Palace Pizza, LLC, Wrecktangle borrowed $3 million from Palace Theatre, which owned 51% of the business, for renovations and general business costs, and now owes a certain amount of repayment, plus interest. 

Outside of the doomed Palace venture, Wrecktangle seems to be thriving and surviving, with booths in Malcolm Yard and Graze, full-blown operations at Lyn-Lake and in Duluth, and a food truck regularly hanging out at Falling Knife. (In 2021, Racket ranked it very highly in our local pizza chain feature.)

A Tale of Two (Big Buildings in Two Different) Cities

Big buildings in town: What are they up to? Why are so many empty? And who is buying them? Let’s take a look at some recent developments we have absolutely no control over.

First up: Uptown’s MoZaic East and West office buildings and the Landmark Lagoon movie theater. A judge recently ordered the foreclosed buildings, which are currently 63% vacant, go up for auction in December and January. “The MoZaic complex in Uptown was a $120M investment, but according to court documents, it couldn't even sell for the remaining loan balance of $55M,” writes Axios’ Nick Halter.

Property owners, apparently a handful of LLCs associated with local developer Stuart Ackerberg, are currently facing a lawsuit from First National Bank of Omaha, which says the companies defaulted on loans and owe them $55.3 million.

Over in St. Paul, Minneapolis developer First & First and Chicago-based commercial real estate firm R2 Cos have purchased Prior Works at 755 Prior Ave. N. for $12.3 million. The building is currently home to Can Can Wonderland and BlackStack Brewing. Hopefully that won’t change; Caitlin Anderson at Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal writes that the new owners are looking to do some renovation upgrades while increasing occupancy. “We’re bullish on the Midway area,” says First & First CEO Peter Remes.

Man Loses Bet, Has Good Time at Stub & Herbs

I don’t know who this man is or what kind of bet he lost, but it looks like he had fun paying it off by spending a day—like a full day, from bar open at 9 a.m. to bar close at 1 a.m.—at much-loved U of M bar Stub & Herbs.