The Lowry Pours Its Last Coffee on Hennepin After 13 Years

The Lowry served its last brunch April 26, closing after 15 years at 2112 Hennepin Ave. The all-day diner, part of the locally owned Blue Plate Restaurant Company, had been a fixture on the corridor since it opened in 2011.

In announcing the closure, Blue Plate said multiple compounding problems over several years had made the business unsustainable: the prolonged reconstruction of Hennepin Avenue, rising costs, changing customer habits and what the company called city-specific mandates. The Lowry sat in the middle of the Hennepin Avenue rebuild between Lake Street and Douglas Avenue, a project that fenced off sidewalks and rerouted traffic for two seasons before wrapping in October 2025. Even after the work finished, the company noted, a new median made it harder for customers to reach the restaurant's parking lot.

Nearly 50 employees were offered positions at other Blue Plate restaurants, which include Longfellow Grill, Highland Grill, The Freehouse and Groveland Tap.

The closing did not happen in isolation. It landed alongside other Uptown exits, fueling a recurring debate about whether the district is dying or simply changing shape. Business boosters point to new tenants and redevelopment in the pipeline; for regulars who treated The Lowry as a second living room, that offers little comfort.

Blue Plate has not named a successor for the corner and said it would look to serve former Lowry guests at its other Twin Cities restaurants. Whether a new operator takes the turnkey space, a built-out kitchen on a freshly rebuilt street, is an open question on a block that has lost more than it has gained this year.