Greg Koch, co-founder of Stone Brewing, has won Minneapolis Planning Commission approval to redevelop Bryn Mawr's long-vacant Fruen Mill into a hotel, restaurant and spa.

The long-vacant Fruen Mill on the edge of Bryn Mawr is headed for a new life as a hotel, restaurant and spa under developer Greg Koch, co-founder of California-based Stone Brewing.
Koch bought the mill at 303 Thomas Ave. N. in 2023 for about $500,000. On May 6, 2026, the Minneapolis Planning Commission approved his plan to remodel the building for future build-outs that the site plan describes as a hotel, restaurant and spa, and to establish a bar on the third floor.
The approval caps years of trouble at the site. Sitting on Bassett Creek next to Utepils Brewing, the mill became a magnet for graffiti taggers and urban explorers, drawing scores of emergency calls; in one 2021 incident a woman fell two stories onto concrete and firefighters had to cut through a steel gate to reach her. Koch has already begun remediating hazards on the property.
Redevelopment along Bryn Mawr's industrial edges has long been a delicate subject in a neighborhood that prizes both its history and its quiet, park-bordered character. The hotel plan touches both nerves at once, promising to rescue a landmark while raising questions about traffic, scale and commercial use. Those concerns ran through the neighborhood association meetings and the watershed and city reviews the project has already passed, including a request for a letter of support that such proposals seek to ease their path through city review.
[unverifiable: the original article framed this as the Bryn Mawr Neighborhood Association weighing a letter of support; a BMNA letter is referenced in Bassett Creek Watershed records, but the specific meeting and vote could not be independently confirmed.]

The East Isles Neighborhood Association holds its annual Summer Social on Wednesday, June 14, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Joanne Levin Triangle Park, with a rain date of June 15.

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The Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association reviews apartment and land-use proposals in the Wedge through its Community Development Committee, the volunteer-led forum where the neighborhood weighs in before projects reach the City Council.

Land use is the recurring flashpoint in Lowry Hill, a neighborhood of Victorian and Prairie-style homes where even a modest multi-unit proposal draws scrutiny under the city's built-form rules and the 2040 comprehensive plan.