MINNEAPOLIS — Editor's note: The video above first aired on KARE 11 on Nov. 20, 2022.
After a fit of stops and starts that began during the COVID-19 pandemic, downtown Minneapolis fixture Seven Steakhouse and Sushi has closed its doors for good.
Managing partner Ken Sherman, who has long been critical of Minneapolis elected officials' response to rising crime downtown, says the condition of the 100-year-old building at the corner of 7th and Hennepin plagued by ongoing roof leak issues was the final straw.
Sherman previously pointed to a lack of business caused by crime and a lack of policing downtown as reasons for temporary closures.
“Ultimately we shut down because the building was in such a state of disrepair; we couldn’t do business," Sherman said.
The building is currently in receivership, and court documents note an ongoing legal battle that reached all the way to Minnesota's Supreme Court between Seven's ownership and the landlord.
Seven received an $826,000 judgment against the landlord for failing to fix the leaky roof, and Seven stopped making rent payments to the landlord in 2020 because of the unfinished repairs, according to court records.
Seven first opened in 2007, and Sherman became managing partner in 2017. A sign on the front door says the building will be sold at public auction on Dec. 20.
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