The J.H. Allen Building sits kitty-corner from CHS Field in St. Paul’s Lowertown, where its nine-inch concrete floors and red brick exterior offer a glimpse into its turn-of-the-century origins as the site of a wholesale grocery and confectionary manufacturer. Constructed in 1905 by an associate of Minnesota State Capitol architect Cass Gilbert, the sturdy, six-story warehouse at Sixth and Wall Street was divided up for smaller tenants in 1920.

Pearson Candy left the Allen Building in 1965 and moved to West Seventh Street, followed by printing companies and other small-to-midsized manufacturers that have come and gone across the decades. Recent years have been less forgiving, with the Allen Building and other downtown structures sometimes hard-pressed to find office tenants in the modern era. Several floors now sit vacant.

But prospective new owners have entered the picture.

Global Commercial Real Estate Services, Inc. (Global CRES) — a subsidiary of Global Building, of Carlsbad, Calif. — has plans to buy 287 Sixth St. E. and use all the levels above the ground floor as a commercial storage facility.

The property is already zoned for businesses purposes, or “B5,” which allows for commercial storage to take up 15% of the gross floor area. Global CRES is seeking a variance from the city to convert 85% of the floor area to storage rental.

A hearing before the Board of Zoning Appeals is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Sept. 30.

Wide reactions

A call to building owner Tom Erickson was not immediately returned on Friday, but his attorney, Brian Alton, who on vacation, said in an email: “There are several floors that are empty. .. I have been told the leasing broker for the building is not able to secure new tenants. Storage would not be in lower level or first floor. Tenants leases would have to be honored according to their terms.”

On social media, Lowertown residents have expressed everything from relief to alarm. Residential neighbors have said the outside area needs better security and debated whether a storage company would provide it or prove to be more of an absentee landlord.

“Honestly, given the size of (Lowertown) apartments, some extra storage space so close would not be a bad thing,” wrote one resident on an online forum. “We need affordable housing,” wrote another. “It’s a prime candidate for anything and everything better, including residential conversion,” wrote yet another.

The Allen Building’s basement and ground level have drawn a variety of creative uses, including a small hard rock venue, the White Rock Lounge, which occupies a former School of Rock music studio around the corner from a gas station. Other lower-level tenants have included Empowered Percussion, a drum maker, the Lowertone recording studio and the organizers of the Twin Cities Jazz Fest. Upper floors have drawn small firms ranging in focus from engineering to healthcare.

“People are really wrestling with it’

A neighborhood organization, the downtown CapitolRiver Council, held a discussion about the commercial storage proposal before its Planning and Zoning Committee on Thursday morning, though the committee made no final recommendation around the variance request.

“People are really wrestling with it,” said Jon Fure, executive director of the CapitolRiver Council, in a brief interview Friday. He noted that the building has windows on only three sides, and most of the windows are situated above eyeball height, one of several elements that would likely complicate a conversion to residences or another dynamic use.

Historically, “it was used for storage,” Fure said. “That is what it was designed for. They used to stack boxes up to the window height.”

The surrounding Lowertown Historic District, which sits on the National Register of Historic Places, spans upwards of 40 buildings in a 16-block area. Given its lack of ornamentation and somewhat generic history, the Allen Building is officially designated a “supportive” structure within the district, neither “non-contributing” nor “pivotal.” As such, efforts to punch in new windows and make other adjustments could run up against historic preservation guidelines, depending upon their interpretation.

Related Articles

St. Paul Athletic Club at 340 Cedar St. fails to sell at auction

St. Paul Winter Carnival’s signature daytime parade to relocate to Grand Avenue

A Perfect Circle, Primus and Puscifer to play joint tour that stops at Xcel Energy Center in June

Letters: To evaluate this St. Paul question, I need more information delivered in good faith

Donald Glover postpones his Childish Gambino tour, which includes a stop in St. Paul

ST. PETER, Minn. — Charges filed against an 18-year-old suggest he used an Airsoft rifle during a robbery-vehicle theft Saturday at Gustavus Adolphus College.

Tayvius Sorgatz Martin, of Maple Grove, was charged with felonies for first-degree robbery, second-degree robbery, simple robbery and theft in Nicollet County District Court.

A criminal complaint states the robbery occurred around 2:45 a.m. A woman told police she parked her Buick LaCrosse on campus and was walking to her dorm when a man wearing a ski mask and holding what looked like a rifle ordered her to give up her keys or he’d “shoot her in the head.”

The man took the keys then ran toward her vehicle, according to the complaint, while she went to the dorm and called police.

Local police reported the vehicle as stolen, leading to the Plymouth Police Department locating it Sunday at a Walgreens.

Martin was one of two people in the vehicle. The other person, Star Wesley Sommerville, 19, of Plymouth, was booked into jail but had not been charged as of Wednesday.

In an email, Gustavus confirmed Martin is not enrolled as a student and has no known connection to the college.

The complaint against Martin notes his parents confirmed he owns an AR-style Airsoft rifle.

Related Articles

Man shot behind St. Paul apartment building ‘was targeted and executed,’ murder charges say

St. Paul man gets probation for accidentally shooting himself in leg at elementary school open house

Kentucky sheriff charged in killing of judge at courthouse

Shooting that injured boy, 14, outside St. Paul school stemmed from fight between young people, charge says

Burnsville park shooters likely targeted some people, police say as investigation continues

Wild coach John Hynes wasn’t happy with the Wild’s first training camp scrimmage on Thursday, and general manager Bill Guerin echoed that assessment after watching the first day of camp at TRIA Rink.

“Day 2,” Guerin said Thursday, “has got to be better.”

It was.

With the first preseason game set for Saturday in Winnipeg (7 p.m., KOOL-FM 107.9), camp has three practice groups comprising 55 players, and the Group B won a tight scrimmage 2-1 on goals by former Gophers forward Sammy Walker and veteran Joel Eriksson Ek, who was centering Matt Boldy and Marcus Johansson. Prospect Ryan O’Rourke scored for Group C.

“I thought they were focused, and they did a good job,” Hynes said. “And you could clearly see that they were engaged in it today.”

That was better than Thursday, Hynes said, when the A and B squads went through a scrimmage that ended in a 3-0 win for the B’s.

“We talked about it this morning, just that I felt that the practices yesterday were very good — tempo, the intensity, the competitiveness — but the scrimmage wasn’t,” Hynes said after Friday’s practices. “It was a little bit not what we wanted.”

Using what he called “quick pointers,” Hynes told his team what he wanted to see: quick transition, north play, quick closes on defense, net front presence on offense — even better changes, faster off the ice and at the right time.

“I thought the scrimmage today was night and day from yesterday,” Hynes said.

An abundance of caution

Veterans Jared Spurgeon, Marcus Foligno and Jonas Brodin were withheld from scrimmaging for a second straight day. All have gone through practices, but the Wild are being careful about scrimmaging.

Spurgeon (hip, back) and Foligno (core) are returning from season-ending surgeries.

“The practices were pretty intense, and they got through that,” Hynes said. “We wanted to see how their body feels before we threw them in. … (We) just wanted to see how they get through these first couple days. They were full-go in everything except the scrimmage.”

Brodin, who missed 20 games last season, mostly because of a broken arm, was hurt during summer hockey.

“Nothing major,” Hynes said. “He’s practiced full and everything. It was just don’t risk it in the scrimmage. He’s done well in practice, so I think the way that they’ve all responded so far, we will see after today, but they’re going to continue, I think full go.”

Earn it

After his Swedish Hockey League team was bounced from the playoffs last spring, prospect Liam Ohgren flew to the U.S., played four games for AHL Iowa and then made his NHL debut for the Wild.

Ohgren, 20, made a good first impression on the team that drafted him 19th overall in the 2022 amateur draft, earning a goal and assist in four games, and has a real chance to make the NHL roster out of training camp.

“I am here to take a spot,” Ohgren said. “I’m working hard every day to take that spot.”

It won’t be handed to him. The Wild have a few unsettled roles on the bottom two offensive lines, and acquired forwards this offseason with more NHL experience than Ohgren in Jakub Lauko (trade) and Brendan Glaunce (free agency), and Ohgren has competition from AHL prospects such as Walker and Caeden Bankier.

“Liam’s done a nice job. There’s some other players that have caught our eye, too,” Hynes said. “As we move through camp, we’ll see who gets the opportunities. But our plan is to give him a good opportunity to play with some different types of players and some different styles of players, and see what he does with them.”

Briefly

The Wild will hold another three practices on Saturday morning, starting the group that will travel to Winnipeg to play the Jets in their first preseason game tomorrow night. After a day off on Sunday, it might be a smaller group that convenes at TRIA Rink Monday. “Possibly,” Hynes said. “I think we’ll see how tomorrow goes, and then we’ve got Sunday to re-evaluate some things and see where it goes from there.”