St. Paul condemns troubled Lowry Apartments in downtown, displacing dozens of tenants

After months of maintenance problems and safety concerns in downtown St. Paul’s Lowry Apartments, city officials condemned the building, forcing dozens of tenants to abruptly relocate to hotels this week.

On Monday afternoon, city staff responded to a plumbing leak in the 11-story building at 345 Wabasha St. N. Officials reported significant damage and signs of vandalism, including copper wire theft that left electrical systems exposed. The leak also raised concerns about mold.

To make repairs, the building’s water must be shut off — a move that would leave tenants without boiler heat and fire sprinklers, Deputy Mayor Jaime Tincher wrote in a Tuesday email to state Rep. María Isa Pérez-Vega and City Council Member Rebecca Noecker, who represent the area.

After determining heat and water could not be restored quickly, Tincher wrote: “There was no other option than to conclude the building was not safe for residents to stay.”

Property manager Halverson and Blaiser Group (HBG) agreed to provide alternative housing for tenants for up to 30 days, Tincher said. City staff worked with Ramsey County’s Housing Stability team and Metro Transit to help 71 residents pack and move.

For months, residents have raised concerns about conditions at the Lowry Apartments. HBG took over management of the property in August, when a Ramsey County district judge appointed a receiver, Frauenshuh, for the property to protect it through foreclosure proceedings.

Before then, the building belonged to downtown St. Paul’s largest property owner, Madison Equities. After the January death of the company’s founder and longtime principal, Jim Crockarell, the dire state of the group’s real estate portfolio became apparent.

The Lowry Apartments, the sole property with a high concentration of low-income housing, quickly became the most troubled. Residents reported frequent break-ins, pest infestations, inoperable elevators and more, to no avail.

The city eventually took the rare step of revoking the property’s fire certificate of occupancy, meaning residents would have been forced to move out in April if code violations weren’t addressed. The receivership team started to make headway on those repairs, Tincher wrote, but this week’s leak demanded urgent intervention.

A city spokesperson said officials are hoping Lowry Apartments residents will be able to move back into their units in 30 days or less. In her letter, Tincher noted that many of the relocated residents did not have current leases in the Lowry Apartments.

Representatives for HBG and Frauenshuh did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday. Nor did an attorney from Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services, which is representing several Lowry Apartments tenants seeking remedies in court.

Additional claims are starting to pile up against Madison Equities. Many of its properties are older office buildings that continue to lose corporate tenants in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and rise of remote work. Representatives have also blamed worsening crime in downtown St. Paul.

Crockarell’s widow, Rosemary Kortgard, is attempting to offload the properties. But many of the buildings are not worth the debt they owe, creating a complex race among lenders to recoup what they’re owed.

The lender for the Lowry Apartments, Colliers Funding LLC, used $7 million of the credit it’s owed to acquire the property through a foreclosure sale this fall. In an ongoing lawsuit, the lenders argue Kortgard owes the outstanding $10.4 million as a personal guarantor of the loan.