The historic Gale Mansion on Stevens Avenue in Minneapolis, bought for $2.6 million in 2022 by Somali Community Resettlement Services, now carries a pending notice of foreclosure and could be sold at auction before the end of the year. The nonprofit, which listed the mansion as its headquarters, recently reported having zero employees and has not responded to multiple requests for comment about its properties or its organizational status.
A public notice published in late October put the combined mortgage debt on the Gale Mansion and a second commercial property in New Hope at about $1.6 million, according to KSTP 5 Eyewitness News. Hennepin County records show the nonprofit took out a mortgage on both properties in 2024, two years after purchasing the Minneapolis mansion. Longtime executive director Abdullah Sharif Hared has also not responded to requests for comment, the station reported.
A Mansion With a Storied Past, Now in Limbo
The Gale Mansion spans 24,245 square feet and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 as part of the Washburn-Fair Oaks Historic District, according to Minnesota Reformer and Forgotten Minnesota. Before the nonprofit bought it, the mansion operated as a well-known wedding venue, having been listed for $2.5 million in 2022, per the Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal. Somali Community Resettlement Services, founded in 1999, has historically provided services to immigrant communities near Rochester and maintains offices in both Minneapolis and Faribault, the station's reporting notes.
That Faribault office was open on a recent Monday but appeared mostly empty, per the KSTP report. A volunteer there said the organization was still providing services, describing it as “the same normal things that we normally do before,” but added a note of uncertainty: “We still do it. But I don't know until when.” The nonprofit's website, meanwhile, had been replaced with an error message reading “Account suspended!” according to the same report.
Revenue Swelled, Then Slid
The nonprofit's reported revenue tells its own story of rapid rise and partial retreat. Annual revenue was less than $500,000 in 2019 before spiking to more than $4.1 million in 2021, the station's report states. Minnesota Reformer's review of the same filings shows a slightly more granular trajectory: $1.2 million in 2020, $4.1 million in 2021, and nearly $3 million in 2022. IRS tax filings cited by the station indicate that most of that money came from government grants and public tax dollars rather than private fundraising.
That surge in public funding drew legislative attention. Former state representative Hodan Hassan, a DFL lawmaker from Minneapolis, withdrew two bills in 2024 that would have given the nonprofit $6.5 million in grants, as reported by Minnesota Reformer. The withdrawal came as scrutiny of the organization's finances intensified alongside broader fallout from the Feeding Our Future fraud investigation.
Ties to the Feeding Our Future Case
Federal prosecutors filed exhibits in 2024 linking Somali Community Resettlement Services to defendants on trial in the Feeding Our Future case, with court records indicating the nonprofit sponsored food sites that falsely claimed to provide meals to children under a federal COVID relief program. KSTP and Minnesota Reformer both report that the nonprofit itself has not been charged, and no employees of the organization have been charged with a crime.
A Second Property Sits Empty in New Hope
The nonprofit's troubles extend beyond the Minneapolis mansion. Its commercial property in New Hope, a former funeral home, sits vacant, and plans to convert it into a grocery store, deli and adult daycare never moved forward, according to the city as cited by the station. The Sun Post reported that the nonprofit's original vision for the site included an adult daycare, deli and resource hub, but its contract with the city of New Hope expired after a six-month extension without marked progress. A developer has since proposed building 97 housing units on the site, though the New Hope City Council's consensus after a study session was to keep the property commercially zoned for now, per the Sun Post.
What Foreclosure Could Mean Next
Minnesota law generally gives property owners a chance to reclaim foreclosed real estate even after a sheriff's sale. According to guidance from the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, most properties sold in a foreclosure sale can be redeemed by the mortgagor, typically within a six- or twelve-month window, though certain actions taken before or after the sale can shrink that period to as little as five weeks. It remains unclear whether Somali Community Resettlement Services would attempt to redeem the Gale Mansion if it reaches auction.
For now, the mansion that once hosted weddings and later became the public face of a nonprofit serving Somali and immigrant communities across Minnesota sits in a kind of limbo — its headquarters sign still up, its finances under scrutiny, and its fate tied to a foreclosure notice that could play out before the calendar turns to a new year.
