The Minneapolis City Council faces a difficult choice this week: Approve a controversial plan to redevelop the former gas station at George Floyd Square or send an already delayed project back to the drawing board.

Why it matters: The drawn-out search for a developer at the site — known as "the People's Way" — has shown how private investors are still leery of funding revitalization projects at a struggling intersection.

"If there's not significant public funding, nobody's going to be able to do that project," P.J. Hill, who owns the building next door, tells Axios.

Catch up quick: In 2023, the city bought the abandoned Speedway store, and in 2024, it opened an application process to find a developer.

• Last month, city officials chose the Minnesota Agape Movement, which had initially pitched a $20-plus million project: a six-story building with a café, museum, meeting spaces and more.
• The runner-up was Rise and Remember, the organization led by Floyd's aunt and cousin, which pitched a more modest $2.5 million concept for a memorial garden.

The latest: A city survey showed most neighbors preferred Rise and Remember's pitch — the primary reason why a City Council committee voted 4-2 last week to recommend rejecting Agape's selection.

• Plus: Council Member Soren Stevenson, whose ward includes the People's Way, said Rise and Remember's concept was "much more reasonable in scope."

Reality check: Neither organization has in-house development experience and both would rely on outside partners.

• "Is it the best that we would have liked to see? No," city development official Miles Mercer told the council. "But … we deal with the applications that we received."
• Agape's team knows its six-story proposal likely isn't feasible and is "scaling back," Mercer said.

Between the lines: Even a modest project would demand a lot of an organization without a development track record.

• Hill was signed on as co-developer on the Urban League Twin Cities' application for the site — but he says they dropped out after he talked the organization's leaders through the lengthy checklist they'd need to complete to execute the project and operate the site long term.
• Ultimately, Hill believes public dollars will be needed to fund at least half of any project — which would still require convincing a government that it's a worthy investment.

What's next: The full City Council may discuss Agape's application today, and is due to take a final vote Thursday.

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Minneapolis' city general fund faces a revenue gap of at least $28 million next year, the latest forecast shows.

Why it matters: The projection already assumes a 5.4% property tax levy increase.

• That means cuts — or a bigger tax hike.

Reality check: Gaps like these aren't unusual in early budget forecasts as normal inflationary pressures push up costs.

• Yes, but: "This is a large gap. I won't sugarcoat that," deputy chief financial officer Jayne Discenza told the council yesterday.

What we're watching: The city's trying to scrape together funds to prevent George Floyd Square property owners from paying a $636,000 special assessment for street repairs.

• It's the sort of patch-up that gets harder to pull off when the budget is tight.

🗞️ A spokesperson for Glen Taylor told Axios he "has never been interested in selling the Minnesota Star Tribune to Alpha News," reiterating he's exploring foundation ownership for the newspaper.

• The conservative outlet reported yesterday its lawyers had engaged in talks to buy the newspaper before Strib "ownership" broke off negotiations.

🫵 A GOP-led U.S. House committee issued a report faulting Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison for failing to stop fraud in state programs. (Fox 9)

• Walz's spokesperson dismissed the committee as a "joke."

🤖 The Minnesota Court of Appeals sided with environmental activists in ruling that Faribault city officials must do more to study how a proposed data center could affect air and noise pollution levels. (KARE 11)

🚔 Booker Hodges, Bloomington's headline-driving police chief, says he has no interest in being a candidate to lead Minneapolis Police Department. (WCCO Radio)

Minnesota's craft breweries continue to suffer major sales declines, according to new state production numbers.

By the numbers: Five of the six largest breweries in Minnesota reported a decline in annual production between 2024 and 2025, according to state data.

Zoom in: Summit (-28%), Fulton (-18%) and Surly (-12%) saw the steepest drops.

• Meanwhile, Utepils posted a 50% increase in production and Pryes a 15% jump.

Several others reported small gains in 2025, including Lift Bridge, Indeed, Modist and BlackStack.

State of play: Breweries have been dealing with a plethora of challenges. People are drinking less, there's more competition and costs have soared.

• Recent taproom closures include Fair State, LynLake and Wild Mind, plus Bauhaus will close at the end of the month.

Yes, but: Some breweries, to varying degrees, are seeing success selling THC seltzers, which don't show up in state production numbers.

• For example, Indeed told the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal it gets 25% of its sales from THC beverages.

What we're watching: Breweries are worried that a federal low-dose THC ban will kill the burgeoning industry if it's not repealed by November.

56 Brewing in Northeast Minneapolis plans to demolish part of its popular patio this week, WCCO reports.

Why it matters: The expansive space, which overlooks a community garden, is a super chill spot for drinks al fresco.

Friction point: The brewery built the wooden deck about eight years ago on property that's owned by Xcel Energy.

• Xcel now says the structure poses "safety and operational concerns" and needs to come down.

What they're saying: The brewery acknowledges that it added the patio extension "on land that isn't ours to build on."

• Still, it's disappointed to lose the space and its 70 seats.

Worth noting: Danielle Pallas, the brewery's community engagement manager, told Axios that the brewery is still lobbying Xcel to keep a set of wooden steps to the neighboring Marshall Terrace Community Garden.