Lowry Grove residents race for exits ahead of midnight deadline

Only hours remain until Lowry Grove residents must vacate the mobile home park where some have lived for decades.

The 15-acre manufactured-home park in St. Anthony awaits redevelopment after its June 2016 sale to The Village, an affiliate of Wayzata-based Continental Property Group. The $6 million deal prompted a lawsuit, and multiple court rulings have upheld the sale of the park.

Other forms of relief are still possible, but residents say they have agreed to leave the park by the end of June — midnight Friday.

Traci Tomas, vice president of The Village, said in a statement Friday that the development company reached an agreement with the residents about the closure date more than six months ago.

"The Village expects that by the end of the day, the park will be fully vacant, as the parties agreed in writing, and no further action will be necessary," Tomas said.

The midnight deadline took on a sense of urgency in recent days as neighbors and volunteers scrambled to empty homes and make temporary housing arrangements for those still without a plan.

They packed pickup trucks and cars with possessions accrued from years of living in the city's only mobile home park. They tossed toys, furniture and appliances into green dumpsters.

Several educators in the St. Anthony School District were among those helping the residents Thursday. Kent Myhrman ventured to Lowry Grove with his wife, Nora Hoaglund, a recently retired teacher at Wilshire Park Elementary.

"It makes sense from a business point of view, from a developer point of view," Myhrman said. "But the people who pay the price are the poorest among us."

On Friday, they said their final goodbyes.

"Everybody is with us," said Antonia Alvarez, a park resident and organizer. "But the law doesn't represent us."

hannah.covington@startribune.com • 612-673-4751 miguel.otarola@startribune.com • 612-673-4753