Shoreview's old fire station at the corner of County Road E and Victoria Street is headed for a very different kind of emergency response: satisfying cravings for bánh mì and croissants. Mi-Sant Kitchen and Bakery has agreed to buy the decommissioned building for $1.35 million and plans to convert it into a bakery, restaurant and test kitchen, with an additional $1 million earmarked for renovations.
According to Bring Me The News, Mi-Sant is paying the city's full asking price and bested several other interested buyers for the property. A memo to the Shoreview City Council reported the planned purchase and redevelopment, and the council is still set to vote on approval of the purchase agreement before the deal can move forward.
The station opened in 1988 as Lake Johanna Fire Department Station 4, according to the Lake Johanna Fire Department.
A Tri-City Department Outgrows Its Old Stations
Lake Johanna Fire Department serves Arden Hills, Shoreview and North Oaks. After emergency crews moved out, the surplus station was put up for sale. The new regional headquarters at 3535 Pine Tree Drive in Arden Hills was described by Bring Me The News as a newly built $13 million headquarters.
With the Victoria Street building vacated, commercial listings marketed it to developers as an institutional-quality structure on a high-visibility suburban corridor, well suited for adaptive reuse into office or retail space, according to a Crexi listing. Mi-Sant apparently saw something else in it: a kitchen-ready shell on a busy suburban corridor, the same kind of opportunity that has defined the company's growth strategy for years.
From KFC Drive-Thru to Fire Station
Mi-Sant was launched in 2018 by Quoc Le along with sisters Kim and Lihn Nguyen. Quoc is the son of a bakery owner, while the Nguyen family ran a Vietnamese grocery and deli in St. Cloud, according to the City of Roseville. The brand name itself is a portmanteau of “bánh mì” and “croissant,” reflecting a menu that pairs scratch-made French pastries with traditional Vietnamese noodle bowls and baguettes.
The company's first location remodeled a former Kentucky Fried Chicken in Brooklyn Park into a bánh mì destination, and its second reused a former Baker's Square in Roseville in 2021. The company has used existing restaurant buildings for multiple locations, per the City of Roseville.
The company's growth has included another real estate move. In July, Hoodline reported that Mi-Sant purchased the former TGI Friday's in St. Louis Park's West End, a site that had sat vacant for more than a year after the chain closed in late 2024.
What's Planned for the Old Station
Per the city memo, the Shoreview location will feature a bakery and fast-casual restaurant with both indoor and outdoor café-style seating, plus a separate dining room set aside for private gatherings. The majority of the building itself is expected to become a test kitchen, according to Bring Me The News.
Before any of that can open, the project will need rezoning and other applications to move through Shoreview's planning process, with those approvals expected before the transaction closes this winter. The purchase agreement is projected to close in mid-January.
Part of a Bigger Moment for Twin Cities Vietnamese Food
Mi-Sant's growth has included repurposed restaurant spaces across the Twin Cities. The New York Times has previously mentioned Mi-Sant, adding to the attention around the company's expansion.
