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Insurance costs and demolition fees are hindering downtown Minneapolis businesses from rebuilding.
“One day after rioters destroyed the Sports Dome retail complex in St. Paul, a construction crew hired by the city knocked the building down because it was dangerously unstable.
Then the city presented the property owners with a $140,000 bill for what it would cost to haul away the debris.
“We were really upset about that,” said property owner Jay Kim, whose insurance policy covers a maximum of $25,000 in demolition costs. “We thought that was high. But we didn’t know how much demolition would cost at the time.”
Like dozens of other investors whose properties were severely damaged in the May riots, the Kim family was stunned to discover that the money it would collect from its insurance company for demolition won’t come close to the actual costs of doing the job. Most policies limit reimbursement to $25,000 to $50,000, but contractors have been submitting bids of $200,000 to $300,000. In many cases, the price of the work is not much lower than the actual value of the property, records show.”
But wait just a minute! All those looting BLM Antifa thugs have been telling us that business owners should have NO problem cleaning up the mess, because they have insurance!
BLM Chicago Leader on the looting of stores: "That is reparations…. anything they want to take, take it because these businesses have insurance…" pic.twitter.com/uB9GAGmkLu
— ForAmerica (@ForAmerica) August 11, 2020
As far too many business owners in Minneapolis, Kenosha, Portland, and elsewhere are finding out. The costs to rebuild are prohibitive, and insurance either barely covers those costs, or is just a drop in a very large bucket.
Good ole Ariel of BLM Chicago doesn’t care about that. Nope! Grabbing as many Coach purses and high dollar clothing from that Saks store is reparations baby! You business owners have insurance! Go ahead and rebuild so we can loot again!
In addition to the prohibitive insurance costs downtown Minneapolis owners face, some of the demo costs are higher because of the age of the buildings and the asbestos concerns. Furthermore, contractors are overwhelmed with work, so it may take months for some businesses to even start their rebuild. Which is an economic detriment to the business itself as well as the viability of the downtown area.
“”Nearly six months into the pandemic, downtown remains largely empty with at least 85% of the area’s workforce still at home. The throngs that once spilled out of restaurants for lunch and happy hours are gone. The theaters, nightlife and sporting events that lured thousands to visit downtown have largely shut down in recent months — some don’t plan to resume normal activities until next spring.
All of that has left fewer eyes on the street and growing worries about safety in the city’s core. Those concerns boiled over last week after rioters broke windows and looted businesses along Nicollet Mall, following false rumors police had killed a Black man downtown — the death was later confirmed a suicide. In interviews, many residents reported feeling unsettled even as statistically, crime is down from last year in the two downtown neighborhoods.””
People who live, shop, and eat downtown don’t want to anymore. They don’t feel safe. And if they don’t feel safe, they leave. Is it worth it to stay when it seems that rioters have free rein? I wouldn’t think so. Is it worth it to stay when the only response from politicians is to advocate for police reform and announce that systemic racism is real?
"We left our country for a future to see the American Dream. You work hard, you pay your taxes…We have not done anything wrong."
— Elizabeth Harrington (@LizRNC) August 11, 2020
How do the leftists repay Ibrahim Demaag?
They send him a bill after they let his business be destroyed.
Democrats destroy the American Dream. pic.twitter.com/qMI2vHSFSH
Businesses who wanted to put security shutters on the windows of their businesses cannot. Why? Because it would look bad and send the signal that the city is unsafe. Yes, you read that correctly.
Is it worth it to stay as a business owner when the costs to rebuild outweigh the original costs to open and operate that business?
Is it worth it to stay and rebuild when city planners and the Star Tribune editorial board are pushing for a “thoughtful memorial” to George Floyd at the intersection where he died?
It is abundantly apparent that the FOUR funerals for George Floyd and the four months of riots, looting, and destruction have nothing to do with George Floyd.
I applaud the business owners who are attempting to rebuild while navigating the insurance maze and dealing with high construction costs. They know it is to their community’s benefit that they rebuild. It is also understandable that other businesses took at look at the writing on the wall and have decided to leave.
A manufacturing company that has been in Minneapolis since 1987 has decided to leave the city.
— Star Tribune (@StarTribune) June 8, 2020
The company’s owner said he can’t trust public officials who allowed his plant to burn during the recent riots: “They don’t care about my business.” https://t.co/rMcZgudJCb
The rioters don’t care about the damage they have caused these last few months. Make them pay! seems to be the motto of these thugs. Businesses and the economy suffer while politicians sit on their hands or virtue signal in hopes that appeasement will fix things.
Insurance costs and construction fees will be a necessary evil for the business owners who bravely plan to rebuild. What shouldn’t be a factor in helping the businesses rebuild is the riots. Sadly, until the politicians get some spine, I’m afraid they’ll continue.
Welcome Instapundit Readers!
Feature Photo Credit: Make ‘Em Pay graffiti at a bus stop on Lake Street on Thursday morning after a night of protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota by Lori Shaull via Flickr, cropped and modified
Scott says: Any business that wanted to put up security shutters should sue the city because of that ordinance, as they have clearly been prevented from protecting their businesses.
The woman in the video, while I’m sure she doesn’t understand it, is part of the problem. Look as she’s being interviewed, there is a sign clearly visible next to her stating “no guns allowed”… does she think rioters will obey that sign? Just like the politicians in that city, she’s preventing law abiding citizens from protecting themselves, while giving the rioters free reign. What the city really needs is “roof patriots” like in Cali during the Rodney King riots. Businesses protected by them were about the only ones that didn’t burn.
As for the demolition charges that the city is giving business owners, every one of them should file bankruptcy, and stick the city with the costs, as they own the destruction that they’ve allowed. ( Every leadership course I’ve ever taken has some variation of the phrase ” that which you allow, you endorse”.. It’s time the dems were forced to face that reality) As an alternative, I’d think that a good lawyer (which I am not) might find some way to sue the city for breach of contract or something similar for failure to put down these riots..
Any businesses that don’t own their properties should immediately pack up shop, take whatever hit they might from breaking their lease, and leave town. Even property owners should consider taking what they can, and take whatever losses they have to, as it’ll still be less than if they stay.
GWB says: take it because these businesses have insurance
Like their ignorance about raising wages, or stopping shoplifting, or anything else related to business and economics, they don’t grasp that all of that has to come out of the price of the goods. And the cost of paying out claims comes out of the cost of paying the premium.
Go ahead and rebuild so we can loot again!
Only if the law is changed so I can protect my property with lethal force.
spilled out of restaurants for lunch
Ummmm, shouldn’t those people spill out of their businesses and into the restaurants? (Technically they would spill out AFTER lunch.) Good old Red-Star-Tribune, unable to write well or objectively.
They send him a bill after they let his business be destroyed.
Easily dealt with. Send the city a bill*. For costs related to dereliction of duty. Keeping the peace and law enforcement are about the only real, legitimate duties of government at the local level. If we can’t demand that, then why have a gov’t at all?
(* That means a lawsuit. And insist on personal culpability as well as corporate.)
a “thoughtful memorial” to George Floyd
OK. Can i design it? One picture of Floyd before he became a druggie, with the caption “George Floyd”. One with him strung out on fentanyl, fighting the cops, captioned “Floyd on drugs”. One with the cop kneeling on his neck, captioned “Floyd, on drugs, dying, along with a pissed-off cop”.
“They don’t care about my business.”
They NEVER cared about it. Yet, you probably kept voting for them, anyway. The only thing they cared about were your votes and your taxes. And maybe some donations to their campaign. They represented you, though. And this is what you got for those votes.
THINK ABOUT THAT before you go anywhere else.
(Mea culpa and my condolences if this dude fought the progs all those years.)
Sadly, until the politicians electorate get some spine, I’m afraid they’ll continue.
FIFY
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