The Small Businesses Keeping Seven Points Alive During the Wait

The center, at the southeast corner of Hennepin Avenue and Lake Street, opened in 1984 and was renamed Seven Points from Calhoun Square in October 2020; Chicago-based Northpond Partners has owned it since 2019 ). Its anchors thinned years ago, with Kitchen Window closing in 2021 and Famous Dave's gone, leaving the remaining tenants to operate inside a property openly described as a partial teardown.

Doran Companies' plan, approved by the Planning Commission and upheld on appeal at City Hall, replaces the former CB2 and Kitchen Window spaces and part of the existing structure with a five-story, 228-unit apartment building wrapping Hennepin Avenue, West 31st Street and Girard Avenue. About 20 percent of the units will be reserved for households earning up to 50 percent of area median income, under the city's inclusionary zoning rules. The Hennepin frontage will hold residential amenities, a lobby, mail room, bike storage and a fitness center, rather than new street-level retail, the design point that drew the most pushback during review. Demolition of the southern half of the block was scheduled to begin April 20.

For the businesses still operating, the wait carries real costs: uncertain leases, the difficulty of marketing a location whose future is a construction site, and the half-empty feel that can itself deter casual shoppers. A property at one of Uptown's busiest corners going fully dark would also send a signal about the whole district. The tenants keeping their doors open are, in effect, holding a piece of Uptown's foot traffic together until the new building rises.

Editor's note: We were not able to independently verify a current roster of the businesses still operating inside Seven Points; we are confirming names and will update this story.