Apostle Supper Club is set to close on June 1.
The high-profile, tiki-themed restaurant across the street from the Xcel Energy Center, which opened in 2022, is the latest in a string of restaurant closures in downtown St. Paul. Co-owner Brian Ingram said the reasons for closing are many, including high crime rates, multiple break-ins and overdoses on the restaurant’s patio and in its bathroom.
“We are walking away from a $4 million buildout,” Ingram said. “It’s not something we’re doing lightly. It was a lifelong dream to build that style and that restaurant, but we can’t sustain it.”
Ingram said the busy patio season is coming up, and he’ll be able to offer jobs to all Apostle employees at his other restaurants, which include Hope Breakfast Bar locations all around the metro area, including one opening soon in Blaine, and The Gnome on Selby Avenue in St. Paul.
Ingram said office workers not returning to downtown and other businesses closing since the pandemic have transformed downtown from a “once vibrant” neighborhood into a quiet core “in crisis.”
While upwards of 90 percent of downtown residences are occupied, one-third of downtown St. Paul’s commercial office space is vacant, according to the mayor’s office.
In recent months, Saint Dinette and Dark Horse Bar in Lowertown have closed. Wrestaurant at the Palace closed due to some water damage a few months ago and has not reopened. All of the Madison Hospitality Group restaurants — including several on Mears Park in Lowertown and Gray Duck Tavern in downtown proper — remain shuttered since the death of owner Jim Crockarell last year.
Ingram and other restaurant owners, including Steve Lott of Big River Pizza in Lowertown, have talked about concern for their safety and that of staff members.
“The thought of something happening to one of our staff members when we close really weighs on me,” Ingram said. “It’s gotten pretty bad.”
St. Paul Police said they’re investigating the case of the latest Apostle break-in, which took place on April 21, as criminal damage to property.
Overall, though, crime reports in downtown St. Paul have been trending down this year. As of Monday, according to St. Paul Police Department statistics:
• There were 128 crimes against people reported vs. 179 in the same time period last year.
• There were 316 crimes against property reported vs. 376 in the same period last year.
• There were 144 quality-of-life crimes reported vs. 166 in the same timeframe last year.
Still, Ingram said, the city can and should do better. In his social media post about the closure, he said the following:
“This isn’t giving up. It’s taking a painful, honest look at what’s working — and what’s not. Right now, downtown St. Paul simply is not a viable place for small, independent restaurants to thrive.”
Mara H. Gottfried and Frederick Melo contributed to this report.
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