Pizza Shark Closes in Uptown, Blaming Endless Construction

Pizza Shark has closed its Uptown shop at 2210 Hennepin Ave. S., adding to the list of businesses that did not survive the Hennepin Avenue reconstruction. The pizzeria went dark in May 2025, posting a sign that blamed the construction that turned the surrounding blocks into a maze of detours and fencing.

The $36 million rebuild of Hennepin Avenue South began in April 2024 and reconstructed the corridor between West Lake Street and Douglas Avenue, adding protected bike lanes, wider sidewalks and new METRO E Line bus rapid transit. The avenue reopened in October 2025 after roughly 18 months of closures.

For a concept that leaned on takeout and delivery, the disruption was especially damaging. Restaurants run on thin margins and tight cash cycles, and a multi-season closure breaks the habits a neighborhood pizzeria depends on: the after-work pickup, the late-night order, the Friday regular. When drivers cannot find a curb and customers cannot tell whether a place is open behind the fencing, the delivery orders meant to cushion the slow months never fully materialize.

Boosters argue the worst is now behind the district, with the rebuild finished and a calmer, more walkable street emerging. That came too late for the operators who ran out of runway during the dig, Pizza Shark among them. No successor has been named for the space, which joins a growing inventory of newly accessible storefronts on a corridor finally past its disruption.