Friends of the Historic Terrace have filed a MERA (Minnesota Environmental Rights Act) lawsuit in Hennepin County District Court and have requested a temporary restraining order in order to halt any demolition of the Historic Terrace Theater in Robbinsdale.
A Temporary Restraining Order will delay action that the city council took on August 23 for the demolition permit that property owner Brixmor /Blackstone requested last week. Property owner BRE Non-Core 2 Owner B, LLC (Brixmor/Blackstone) is listed as the defendant in the civil suit.
The civil suit which has been filed by the “Friends of The Historic Terrace” is being represented by attorney, Erik F. Hansen who has been involved in saving other cultural and historical assets, including Minneapolis’ Peavey Plaza.
On Monday, August 22 a representative of the newly formed “Friends of the Terrace”, Brad Nyberg, informed Robbinsdale Mayor Regan Murphy, of the legal action that the group has taken in order to delay the demolition of the community’s historical mid-century modern landmark..
Nyberg explained that the sudden acceleration of plans by more than a month, with Brixmor /Blackstone filing for a demolition permit forced the group’s hand.
On July 13 HyVee announced their intentions to demolish the historic theatre and build a 91,500 square foot big box store in its place.
Nyberg reported that in his meeting with the mayor that “Mayor Regan Murphy is motivated to redevelop this particular area. Any proposal needs to be in the best interests of Robbinsdale residents.”
The Historic Terrace Theater was built in 1951 by prominent Twin Cities architects Lienenberg and Kaplan as their crowning achievement and final indoor movie theater they designed. It has been closed since 1999.