Business owners with shops in Alliance Bank Center downtown were told late Monday they had to immediately vacate the premises — although the tenants now say the city has promised to keep the lights on until April 1. 

Tenants received a note from Alliance Center, LLC, which is owned by Madison Equities, that all the building’s utilities would be shut off in the very near future. The fire department informed them the lights would be off by Wednesday. 

The sudden announcement left 14 businesses, including a pizza shop, a jewelry store and a hemp supplier, scrambling to figure out how they would move thousands of products in two days. 

Robert Wolf owns Greenwolf Hemp and Organics on the second floor of Alliance Bank Center, near immobile escalators in the main lobby.

“Overnight, literally, we get a letter saying we have to move, they’re turning off the power, they’re boarding up the building. They might even be tearing down the building.” he said. 

Tuesday afternoon, St. Paul gave the businesses some good news: after city officials negotiated with Xcel Energy, the businesses now have until the end of the month to move.

“It's been an emotional day because this is close to my heart. I'm tired of watching people get bullied,” Wolf said. “All Madison equities has been, to all of us, is a bully.”

Located at 55 E. Fifth Street, Alliance Bank Center is an important skyway connection over Cedar Street. It also connects to Town Square over 6th Street East, to U.S. Bank Center over Minnesota Street, and to the now-closed connection to the Central Station light rail stop. It’s unclear what will happen to the skyway access points that connect to Alliance Bank Center.

Many storefronts inside are vacant. Tenants said they’d suspected for a while that the building would be closed down or sold, but not with such short notice.

In the letter, Alliance Center, LLC states it is facing “significant financial hardship due to the condition of downtown St. Paul and the flight of tenants away from the Central Train Station,” which is located next to the building. It said the landlord could not afford to keep the building open and had not been making utility payments.

Wolf said he’s never missed a rent payment, even during the pandemic when he had to temporarily close up shop.

“The question again from everybody today is: Where is the money going? What are they doing with the money?” Wolf said. “They’re not paying bills.”

In the letter, Alliance Center, LLC said its lender Royal Credit Union would not take control of the building or provide financial assistance to keep it operational. Tenants will not have to continue to make upcoming rental payments.

Eli Johnson works at the Skyway Mart, a convenience store in Alliance Bank Center that sells food and chilled drinks. He said moving isn’t going to be easy.

“It's a lot because you've got to update everything with the state of Minnesota as far as the licensing, you gotta redo inspections,” he said. “I say the physical moving's probably going to be the easy part, and that's a lot because of the fridges.”

As of Tuesday afternoon, St. Paul officials have not yet provided comment. Madison Equities has not responded to multiple requests for comment.

Madison Equities owns multiple buildings downtown, including the recently condemned Lowry Apartments and the First National Bank building. The company bought Alliance Bank Center in 2020, according to the Pioneer Press. Tenants have accused the property owner of failing to properly maintain its buildings, many of which are historic city markers. 

The company has faced problems since owner James Crockarell died early last year. Since then it has placed its entire portfolio on the market. 

Collected from Minnesota Public Radio News. View original source here.