Why There’s a Fence Around the Shuttered Loring Park Speedway
A fence may seem a minor deterrent to petty crime, but a Minneapolis property is showing how a simple wire barricade can serve as a major obstacle to drug dealing and loitering.
It isn’t the prettiest sight, but before a fence was erected around the Grant Street Mall and former Speedway parking lot in the Loring Park neighborhood, criminal activity was rampant on the businesses’ shared lot. And it only got worse this past spring when Speedway shuttered.
Minneapolis Police Department Lt. Mark Klukow strongly suggested that the property owner, Realty Income—a San Diego-based company that owns most Speedways in Minnesota—have a fence erected around not only the vacant convenience store but also the longstanding businesses that share its parking lot: Lotus Restaurant, Rainbow Road, and Greenway Liquors. During business hours there is a small opening for cars to enter, but after hours the lot is frequently sealed off.
“Criminals don’t like being surrounded by three walls. It’s kind of a general rule,” says Klukow. “They don’t feel like they’re going to be able to get away from the police if we come to arrest them. They also don’t feel like they have a chance to get away from enemies.”
Advance Realty, a Minnesota commercial real estate company, owns Grant Street Mall. Owner Jamie Heilicher says the tenants have three decades of longevity in the building. Despite reservations about the fence, Heilicher says the barricade has been more a help than a hindrance to business.
The neighborhood was doing well before the pandemic, Heilicher notes. Then Covid hit, and civil unrest left tenants’ windows broken and businesses looted on multiple occasions. Heilicher had cameras and extra lighting put up. He even hired a security service. “That lasted a couple of days before someone beat up the guard, and the security company pulled their contract because they said they couldn’t justify having someone there in this little center alone.”
Realty Income stalled in putting the fence up, so nonprofit Citizens for A Loring Park Community (CLPC) paid for it. The company confirmed it has agreed to reimburse CLPC. It has been difficult for Heilicher to contact Realty Income, and he’s had little luck getting further information from the city on how long the fence will be up.
Councilmember Lisa Goodman, who represents the neighborhood, says she is grateful that the tenants have been able to persevere despite the “unprofessional behavior” of the Speedway management and ownership.
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“This is a situation where the property owner couldn’t get a handle on drug dealing and crime, perhaps as a result of this pledge to abolish the police that had been going on,” she says. “But it is interesting that once the property was closed and the lot was fenced, now there’s no problem.”
