After years of protests, court filings, and tense neighborhood meetings, Minneapolis and the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute have finally outlined a tentative truce over the long-vacant Roof Depot property. Under terms announced May 21, 2026, EPNI would purchase the southern portion of the site for $6.12 million, while the city would hold on to the northern half for municipal use. The deal keeps alive the neighborhood’s vision for an indoor urban farm and community hub, while the city pursues a separate facilities plan elsewhere. Officials say a final purchase agreement will be drafted and brought to the City Council in the coming months.
The announcement surfaced in a post on the City of Minneapolis, which laid out the basic split and noted that the sale would be backed by state dollars and additional financing. The purchase price of $6.12 million and the funding breakdown, including $2 million previously awarded and $4 million in state bonding, were detailed by the Star Tribune.
What EPNI Plans
EPNI has long pitched turning the 230,000-square-foot warehouse into an indoor urban farm that would also include space for local businesses, workforce training, and affordable housing, and the group says a planned rooftop solar array will remain part of that vision. While the larger deal is finalized, EPNI has signed a short-term lease to use the southern parking lot for raised-bed farming and education this summer. The group’s phased timetable and community-ownership model are laid out by the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute.
City Keeps The Northern Parcel
Under the agreement, the city would keep the northern portion of the property for municipal use and says it will work with neighbors on how that section is deconstructed and reused. City officials have also said they will not move forward with the previously planned water-system maintenance yard at Roof Depot and have identified an alternative site in Columbia Park, as reported by the Star Tribune.
Money And Next Steps
Before closing, EPNI must show roughly $120,000 in immediately available funds, whether as cash, a mortgage, or an equivalent source, as a condition of the purchase, according to FOX 9. A full purchase agreement will then be finalized and brought to the Minneapolis City Council for approval. The $6.12 million price tag remains higher than previous independent appraisals that put the entire site’s value at about $3.7 million, a sticking point in talks that was documented by Sahan Journal.
A Long, Contentious Fight
The Roof Depot site, a former Sears warehouse and long a focal point of pollution worries in East Phillips, has been a flashpoint for years. Neighbors have organized protests, launched legal challenges and even occupied the property as they fought a city plan to expand public-works operations there. That long history, including state funding battles and court action, has been tracked by MPR and other local outlets.
Legal And Council Steps
The City Council resolution authorizing the sale directs the Finance Officer to execute a purchase agreement consistent with the approved term sheet and specifies that transaction costs will come from the Public Works Waterworks Fund. The authorizations and legal parcel descriptions are laid out in a resolution published by the City of Minneapolis on its legislative information management site.
Neighbors say the compromise offers a way to finally move a blighted and heavily debated site out of limbo, in a neighborhood where residents have long argued pollution and lack of fresh food access are harming public health. EPNI says it will launch outdoor farm programming on the southern parking lot this summer while it works toward closing and begins building stabilization and retrofit phases later in 2026, following the timetable outlined by the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute.
