October 20, 2026 Business, Housing & Zoning Committee

The Minneapolis Business, Housing & Zoning Committee met October 20, 2026. Procurement- and funding-related actions included approval of a $2 million city loan to Port of Minneapolis LLC for the Upper Harbor performing arts center, at 7% interest with payments deferred until December 2028, and approval of revised lease terms for event parking and billboard signage. The committee also approved subordinating the city’s existing $547,000 forgivable loan to Sabathani Community Center behind a $4.9 million Sunrise Banks loan for a geothermal system. For the 38th Street Thrive plan, staff described $850,000 in federal earmark support and planned funding opportunities, including $250,000 for cultural-district/land-trust work; staff said the intended $200,000 consultant allocation to help create a community development organization could not be used for that purpose because the city lacks authority to create such an organization. The committee received and filed the update. Heritage Park relocation and rehabilitation efforts were discussed, including the $2.5 million allocation for relocation and rehabilitation and a separate $500,000 award to replace furnaces in unoccupied units; the report was advanced without recommendation.

The committee approved a safe outdoor parking ordinance package, amended to require an annual public outcomes report on facility use and participants’ housing outcomes. The framework would allow qualifying nonprofit, religious, or government operators to seek zoning and business licenses for managed sites; operating costs would fall to providers, with no new city funding identified. Other approvals included liquor and extended-hours licenses, a revised Trio Development recommendation changing income limits for six of ten units to up to 80% AMI and waiving a down-payment-assistance subsidy requirement, and a rental-license reinstatement. The committee also approved rezoning for a proposed commercial redevelopment and voted to deny the related site-plan appeal, upholding staff and Planning Commission findings.