After missing purchase deadline, Roof Depot advocates say they have plan to raise $5.7M

The group behind the Roof Depot project in south Minneapolis missed a purchase agreement deadline with the city this week, but remains optimistic it can secure the site that community members fought for years to obtain.

The East Phillips Neighborhood Institute (EPNI) failed to pay the $5.7 million needed to meet a purchase agreement deadline with the city of Minneapolis to complete the acquisition of the Roof Depot, a former Sears warehouse they plan to convert into an indoor urban farm, affordable housing and a community business hub. The city had planned to construct a public works facility on the site before agreeing to sell the property to the group.

The missed Monday deadline initiates a contract termination process, according to Erik Hansen, the city’s director of community planning and economic development. The contract termination triggers a 60-day period for the institute to complete the purchase.

“If that does not happen, the purchase agreement will fully expire,” Hansen said in a statement. “The city has made staff available to find a path forward throughout this process and will continue to do so during the 60-day cure period.”

The shortfall was expected after state lawmakers failed to deliver promised funding for the project this spring. Institute staff say they have a path to raising the funds by the 60-day deadline.

“EPNI is confident that the plan we have been developing in partnership with elected officials will allow us to overcome this funding hurdle and close on the building this summer,” the group said in a statement.

The group gained an opportunity to buy the site in May 2023 , when state legislators agreed to commit $12.2 million toward the purchase of the site. The city of Minneapolis had spent years and millions of dollars planning to construct a public works facility on the site. The money approved by lawmakers was intended to help the institute buy the property while making city taxpayers whole, and was to be allocated in two sessions through bonding bills.

When lawmakers failed to pass a bonding bill in 2024, they failed to deliver the remaining $5.7 million pledged to the Roof Depot project, creating a shortfall for the institute.

The group raised $3.7 million last November to finalize the purchase agreement with the city. That fundraising was required to obtain the second batch of funding from state lawmakers.

Despite holding up its end of the arrangement, the institute is now working to cobble together funding to fill the gap. EPNI President Dean Dovolis said the institute is working with local elected officials and financial institutions to get there. The group says it will share details at an August 6 news conference.

“These partners, from various levels of local government, see how this project will bring good jobs, fresh food, opportunity and overdue justice to the heart of East Phillips,” the institute said.

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