MINNEAPOLIS — A two-alarm fire engulfed the vacant building that was formerly Kmart in south Minneapolis on Friday morning.
Minneapolis Fire Department crews arrived at the scene around 5 a.m. and worked to put out the fire with three aerial ladder water towers, as the building was too dangerous to enter, officials said. They went on to discover a wall in the rear of the 10 Lake St. building had partially collapsed.
While their preliminary search indicated the building's exterior doors had not been breached and they did not believe anyone had been in the building or was hurt as a result of the fire, MFD said a more thorough investigation of what remains of the building will take place when the fire is fully extinguished.
In an update just after noon on Friday, the Minneapolis Fire Department said the bulk of the fire had been put out, but crews continued to remain on site. MFD called it "still an active fire scene."
Initially in an effort to contain the fire, Xcel Energy shut off gas and electricity to the building, which inadvertently also caused power outages to area businesses before it was restored.
Officials added that gas may have been on in the vacant Kmart at the time the fire started, but the source of the flames is still under investigation.
The event caused emergency officials to block off nearby streets, and detour almost a dozen Metro Transit routes out of the I-35W and Lake Street Station over the power outage.
Metro Transit recommended getting on or off southbound buses at Stevens Avenue in south Minneapolis, just past Lake Street. For more information on bus routing, click here.
The store originally opened in 1978 and closed in 2020. The city then bought the building and it was briefly a U.S. Postal Service office, but mostly remained vacant.
Minneapolis leaders discussed demolishing the building in fall 2022, but it was pushed back.
City officials released this statement Friday afternoon:
Due to the fire this morning, City staff completed a necessary, partial demolition of unstable walls within the former Kmart building. The City was already on track to demolish the full building beginning in 2024, but the fire this morning has brought newfound urgency to that effort.
In the next City Council cycle, City staff will be seeking Council approval on the demolition contract that was already bid out. Following approval, formal demolition work can begin, starting with abatement and proper disposal of hazardous materials. The work will unfold as quickly as it can over the upcoming weeks and months.
The New Nicollet Redevelopment Project remains on track and staff are currently gathering feedback from community members on new roadway and public space design concepts. You can learn more about the project on the City’s website: https://www2.minneapolismn.gov/government/programs-initiatives/new-nicollet/.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
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