Landlord of closed Black Sheep pizza in south Minneapolis sues for $200K unpaid rent

A real-estate investment company is suing the owners of Black Sheep Coal Fired Pizza for unpaid rent at the restaurant's former Eat Street location.

According to Northpond, a Chicago-based investment firm operating in this case as NP Icehouse LLC, Black Sheep owners Colleen Doran and Jordan Smith failed to pay rent for eight months of the past two years, totaling more than $200,000.

Doran disputes this, saying she and her husband were current on rent until the restaurant closed. That included paying rent in February and March of 2024, which the suit claims they failed to do.

An attorney representing Northpond — which also owns Seven Points, the property formerly known as Calhoun Square in Uptown Minneapolis — did not return a call requesting comment.

Six of the unpaid months the suit lists have been since November, when Black Sheep closed at the 2550 Nicollet Av. location in the Whittier neighborhood of south Minneapolis. It originally opened in late 2014.

The first Black Sheep opened in 2008 at 600 Washington Av. N., expanding in 2016. That location in Minneapolis' North Loop is the only Black Sheep iteration still open. The couple had at one point operated three restaurants and an outpost at the airport, closing the St. Paul location in 2022 after 11 years of service.

The Eat Street location was a part of what Northpond calls Icehouse Plaza, after the property's 19th-century use as storage for lake ice throughout the year. Icehouse, a music venue and restaurant next door to the closed pizza shop, also rents its space from the same company Black Sheep did.

Black Sheep opened the Eat Street spot after signing a 10-year lease, according to the suit, giving their personal guarantee.

In 2019, the restaurant's business fell substantially during some street construction, Doran said.

"Our sales went from really healthy to dropping by almost 50%," the co-owner said.

The couple requested a rent reduction, and their landlord agreed, as long as Black Sheep would amend its lease and extend through 2027.

"We didn't really have a choice," Doran said, "so we signed the extension."

But last year, the owners decided to shutter the location.

"We haven't made money here in three years," Doran recalled thinking, "and we can't stay open."

Per Doran, Northpond suggested the Minneapolis couple try to find a new renter themselves. A restaurant did offer to rent the property at a higher rate than Black Sheep had been paying, Doran said, but Northpond declined the offer.

Smith had also opened restaurant StormKing Brewpub and Barbecue next to Black Sheep's Nicollet Av. location in 2017, but it closed 11 months later. StormKing is now located next to Black Sheep in the North Loop.