Rochester sends default notice to Castle owners over vacancies, closure to public

ROCHESTER — A once-promising downtown arts and cultural space is practically empty and Rochester officials want to know why.

The city of Rochester has once again issued a default notice to Castle Community on Thursday over ongoing issues at the Castle building.

Rochester officials say the Castle's vacancies and the fact that it's closed to the public violates a 2017 purchase agreement with the city to use the building for arts and cultural groups and events.

The notice doesn't give a deadline for the group to respond, but it asks owners to reach out to the city with information on new vendors or programming, as well as to potentially amend the agreement to take into account the amount of time the Castle has been out of compliance.

Rochester sold the building to its current owners in November 2017 for $250,000, well below the property's value of $675,000 at the time. City officials set up a tax-increment financing (TIF) district to recoup the $425,000 difference over time.

City spokeswoman Jenna Bowman said Castle Community had not responded to the notice as of Friday afternoon.

Castle Community President Scott Hoss could not be reached for comment despite multiple attempts. Calls to other Castle Community partners were not returned.

The building's current iteration started out as a potential arts and culture hub featuring studios, a book store and space on the second and third floors for events. Several vendors had to close down or relocate once the COVID-19 pandemic hit Minnesota. The building has struggled since then.

City officials sent a default notice to the Castle's owners on Nov. 11, 2021, in part over its pandemic lease to Echo Church, which didn't comply with the arts-focused stipulation. The owners worked out an arrangement with the city that would allow Echo Church to leave the building at the end of March.

Other vendors to leave the Castle include Threshold Arts, Neon Green Studio, Queen City Coffee & Juice and Cameo, a restaurant formerly occupying the Castle's first floor. The Rochester City Council recently appointed Threshold Arts to operate the Chateau Theater in downtown Rochester.

Cameo's owners sued Castle Community earlier this year, alleging the group and Threshold Arts breached a 2018 agreement that gave exclusive food and beverage rights to the restaurant as well as a catering deal for events.

The suit argues Castle Community violated its tenant agreement by leasing space to Queen City and violated the catering deal when the owners failed to provide more arts and culture programming, as well as leasing space to Echo Church.

Former Cameo owner Zach Ohly said Friday the lawsuit is ongoing.

The Castle began as an armory built in 1915. The Armory building housed members of the Minnesota National Guard at first but became a community gathering space in the decades after World War I. State officials sold off the building in the 1970s and it was a senior center for a number of years until 2016. Its exterior, particularly the northeast tower with parapets, gave rise to its nickname "the castle."