Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily midday digest of what local media outlets and Twitter-ers are gabbing about.
Tattersall Faces Eviction, Says Hacking Is to Blame
Building owners want to boot Tattersall Distilling from its northeast Minneapolis space at 1620 Central Ave. According to an eviction case filed in Hennepin County, landlord JGS Management is alleging that the business hasn’t paid rent since August 2023, and owes a total of $121,717.64. Reps from Tattersall say that it all comes down to a misunderstanding. "It appears that our landlord's IT system was hacked and caused issues for the landlord in receiving our payment,” a distillery executive tells KARE 11. “We are working with authorities to attempt straightening things out and getting the dispute resolved.” In 2020, Tattersall workers made history as the first distillery to unionize in the nation. (Yay!) A year later, Racket discovered that feel-good story was ultimately more of a feel-bad bummer. (Boo!) In addition to its decade-long Minneapolis home, Tattersall currently has two other locations: a bar/restaurant at the MSP International Airport and a (non-union) production facility, restaurant, and bar in River Falls, Wisconsin.
More Pay Options Coming to Metro Transit
Metro Transit is planning some major tech upgrades, according to a presentation given at a recent Met Council Transportation Committee meeting on Monday (props to Axios's Nick Halter for listening in). Soon folks will be able to pay for rides via contactless credit cards, as well as mobile wallets like Google and Apple Pay. “Our system was put in 2004, so we have pretty much done as much as we can do with our existing system,” said Finance Director Ed Petrie, who went on to explain that the current ticketing system is at the end of the line, in bus-speak. Upgrades to behind-the-scenes systems should begin this year, with public-facing changes rolling out in 2025-’26. Less tech savvy riders fret not: Riders will still be able to use cash, change, and prepaid cards to ride.
James Beard Awards: Minnesota Is Still Tasty
The James Beard Awards, aka the Pulitzers of the food universe, came out with its nominations for 2024 yesterday afternoon, including noms for seven Twin Cities chefs/restaurants across five categories. Marc Heu of Marc Heu Pâtisserie Paris is up for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker (“My baby is probably about 30% made of chocolate croissants, all of them by Marc Heu,” Racket contributor wrote Becky Radecki in her dining out while pregnant guide). Oro by Nixta is up for Best New Restaurant (you can read Racket’s delicious review here), while Meteor, who Em credits for bringing Malört to the Twin Cities, is up for Outstanding Bar. Daniel del Prado of Porzana is nominated in the Outstanding Chef category. Best Chef: Midwest is also repping the Twin Cities, with Ann Ahmed (Khâluna), Christina Nguyen (Hai Hai), and Karyn Tomlinson (Myriel) on the list.
Let’s Take a Tour of the Proposed Southdale Library Project
Hennepin County recently released conceptual art for Edina's Southdale Library project and, dang, it sure looks like it’s going to be real pretty. (We also feel for you, champions of the current/contentious/soon-to-be-leveled '70s brutalist compound at 7001 York Ave. S.)
“The vision for the Southdale Library site is about library services, and so much more,” the press release states. “The site will include renewable resources like solar and geothermal to help reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Several acres of the site will be returned to a more native state with native plants covering the landscape and promoting diversity of living species while supporting the surrounding natural environment.”
Construction is set to begin next year with completion around late 2027. The proposed layout includes bike/walking trail exits, a wetlands trail, and a kids’ plaza. You can check out the designs, complete with fake people walking around, below.
