Well-known north Minneapolis barber determined to repurpose troubled 4th Street Saloon property

Flashlights danced in the darkness inside the shuttered 4th Street Saloon on a recent Wednesday morning.

The north Minneapolis building's new owner, Teto Wilson, along with two structural engineers and an architect, stepped gingerly around weak floor boards, dodged cobwebs and marveled at odd basement tunnels, a battered staircase to nowhere and long-abandoned chambers worthy of an archeological dig.

They stomp-tested the 100-year-old dance floor at the West Broadway mainstay, noted missing support beams, weeping limestone walls and slivers of light in the ceiling. And they sidestepped decades of discarded barstools, lounge seats and trash while inspecting the former Minneapolis bar once plagued by violence.

Wilson — a longtime North Side barber, business mentor and family man of few words — is undeterred. There is enough money coming in from the few tenants in the building to bridge the gap until redevelopment, he said.

Armed with grants from the Metropolitan Council, the Minneapolis Foundation and Hennepin County, his life savings and a $630,000 loan from U.S. Bank, Wilson bought his nemesis building this summer and is now determined to repurpose the mess into a "wholesome" food hall along the lines of popular the Market at Malcolm Yards.

But first, he awaits word from the structural engineers, who say just how far Wilson can push his renovation dream.

4th Street Saloon closed in March after decades of providing drinks and music to regulars and the "gang banger" crowd, as former owner Greg Hegwood described it. But the bar also was known for the violence it attracted, more than 300 calls in the past five years before it closed and shootings, sometimes fatal, near or in the bar.

So why take a chance on the troubled property?

"This building is literally placed at the entry way of north Minneapolis," Wilson said. "It's literally the first property you see as you approach and are coming into north Minneapolis."

Wilson, a board member of the Northside Economic Opportunity Network (NEON), estimates it could take $6 million to turn the property into something residents are no longer afraid of and where police don't swarm.

While some question his vision, few question his motives.

"Teto's story is a great story," said Erik Hansen, community planning and economic development director for the city of Minneapolis. The city has "been engaged with Teto way before he even found this one building. He was actually looking at a different site on West Broadway."

Even with his strong start, a long road of fundraising lies ahead, Wilson said. Repurposing the site will take faith, patience, time and cash.

There are not as many publicly available grants for commercial renovations as there were a year ago, said Gretchen Nicholls, senior program coordinator at Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC).

"The challenge is, this real estate market is very episodic," said Gretchen Nicholls, senior program coordinator at Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC). "There are periodically amazing resources, and they're in these niches of real estate. But the rug just got pulled out of the commercial space."

Still, she said, "it's kind of the magic of this industry that you never count somebody out. Because they could come up with the most brilliant solution you never saw coming. "

If Wilson succeeds, the food hall — he is thinking of calling it Swank Eatery — will rise to join the 10% of Minnesota's businesses that are Black-owned and become the eighth major economic development project targeted for north Minneapolis.

"It's got to go," Wilson said as he and the team dusted off and gathered outside to look at one more thing 4th Street Saloon was known for: the large mural that boldly says, "Welcome to North Minneapolis."

The mural must go if the redevelopment goes as planned, Wilson said, as he explained his vision to architect Catie Flores.

"If we can, we'll put windows there across the [entire] second floor and an outdoor patio. I'm not against murals. I just want nothing to do with the association" of the old bar, Wilson said.

The change from a bar to a bright, light-filled food hall is intentional, he said.

"Of course, you want to feed people's belly," he said. "But we're going to feed their spirit and their energy as well."

Upstairs tenants currently rent single dorm rooms and share two hall bathrooms. As the redevelopment moves forward, those tenants may be relocated, Wilson said.

He'll help the tiny Cajun seafood takeout restaurant in one corner of the property find a new spot inside the spruced up building. The low-slung addition that features a Prince mural will be bulldozed.

"I love what Teto's trying to do for the community, for his neighborhood. And I'm curious to see what the structural engineers determine can be done and what we can keep or not, because it's quite old," Flores said.

Changes "can't come soon enough," said Wilson, after picking up three Narcan vials someone left by the back door of the bar.

"There were so many [positive] things we could see about this project," said Tim Farrow, the U.S. Bank business access adviser who brought Wilson's idea to a loan officer at the bank.

Looking at the saloon's disturbing past "really gets you excited about what he is going to be changing," Farrow said. "At the end of the day, it all comes down to Teto. We will continue to work with Teto as he gets a better idea of what is possible in that space. … He is such a tremendous thought leader in North Minneapolis and is deeply dedicated and passionate about giving back to the community."

Wilson, an Illinois native who moved to Minnesota from Boston in 2000,

is already a proven business owner. He opened his barber shop in north Minneapolis in 2007 and then bought the building last year, with the help of U.S. Bank.

Now the 51-year-old said he is looking to edge away from the styling chair. Commercial real estate offers the chance to create a legacy and generational wealth for his family, which includes six children, ages 19 to 32.

The 4th Street Saloon project also gives him another chance to make a difference in the community, he said.