The Skyway Cobbler

 Here in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, we have what we call skyways, which joins buildings together in our downtowns, enabling folks to go from point A to point B without needing a coat, even in winter! These portals are large enough that they can also house a small coffee shop or other small businesses. It seems that one business is being evicted, however, despite the fact that the management company could reasonably afford to accommodate him by providing another location for him to perform his work. In today's world, when a man is doing the best that he can without seeking corporate or personal welfare and gets that shot to the rear anyway, this smacks of highway robbery! Read on for more: (taken from the St. Paul Pioneer Press Thursday Oct 24th, 2013)

 


For 27 years, shoe cobbler Jerry Whebbe has been a sounding board for federal judges, prosecutors, public defenders and downtown St. Paul executives in need of a little shoe polish and friendly banter.
These days, he could use a lift himself.
At the end of September, Bigos Management informed Whebbe that he had a month to close his one-man shop, Anjolen's Shoe Repair, and move out of the skyway level of the Kellogg Square Apartments. Neighboring jeweler Ben Granda of Ben's Custom Design was also told to leave. On Wednesday, both men said they had no idea where they'd go.
Whebbe, who will turn 64 this winter, doubts his one-man operation can afford to relocate. If he closes, downtown St.
Paul will lose its last shoe cobbler, at the very time 1,000 new residents are projected to soon move into the remodeled Pioneer-Endicott buildings, the new Penfield apartments and other surrounding residences. "I'm really beside myself. I've never been like this. It's eating away at me," Whebbe said. "They put me and the jeweler next to me out so they can make a hallway -- on a 30-day notice, that's what's the killer. There's no way I can pack up and move in 30 days."
A convenience store down the hall will be relocated within the building, said Whebbe and a store clerk.
Edina-based Bigos bought the 32-story, 450-apartment Kellogg Square building at Robert Street and Kellogg Boulevard last December for $51 million. Improvements quickly followed, including a fitness center in former commercial space and updates to apartments.
A notice at KelloggSquare.com indicates: "Kellogg Square is under new management and adding luxury new amenities including an expansive 24-hour fitness studio, business and conference center, theater, and more!"
Granda said he has polished jewelry for downtown St. Paul customers since the early 1970s, having spent 10 of those years in Kellogg Square.
"Christmas is coming. I don't know whether to take on more customers," Granda continued, listing off famous customers that have included the likes of 3M and Ecolab executives, former Minnesota Gov. Rudy Perpich, and multiple generations of the same families. "I dealt with grandma and grandpa, and now I'm dealing with the grandkids."
On Sept. 27, attorney Alan Weinblatt reached out to Bigos Management's regional property manager, Jeffrey Flake, on Granda's behalf, urging him for more time. Flake responded by email, writing: "I am happy to pursue whether there may be any accommodations made ... as to the desired end date of the lease. I will look into the matter by consulting with project management."
Flake, in an email to a reporter Wednesday, said the businesses were on month-to-month leases and given 42 days to vacate. He said the hall will be remodeled, and two businesses sit in the way of a planned skyway corridor and a new coffee shop, and the "difficult-to-rent commercial spaces" across from them will be converted into apartments.
So far, Whebbe and Granda have heard nothing in the way of encouraging news. "I'm going to miss you guys when you're gone," said Andy Morrison, an attorney who visited Whebbe on Wednesday. "This is the only game in town anymore."
Mike Dunn, owner of Stude-Becker Advertising, said he's been a fan of Whebbe and Granda for years. He said both men deserve more time to find a new spot.
"I've been in the First (National) Bank Building as the owner of the agency for 17 years, and I just have a hard time believing people can conduct business by evicting someone in 30 days, not even walking in and showing their face," Dunn said. "They really are some hardworking, down-to-earth blue collar guys who have a lot of friends in downtown St. Paul. There are times I've taken stuff to them and they didn't even charge me."
Whebbe said he's been forced to move four times in downtown St. Paul in the past 27 years, beginning with a bar he owned at Robert Street and Plato Boulevard, which shut down when the remodeling of the Robert Street bridge restricted access to his parking lot. He relocated to the Minnesota World Trade Center building on East Seventh Street but was forced to relocate when it became Wells Fargo Place.
He went to the Pioneer building but was forced out when that building, which is being renovated, closed. So seven years ago, he landed at Kellogg Square. For a time, business was strong, especially during the height of the recession, when more customers began fixing rather than tossing shoes, horse saddles and other pricey items.
That time is apparently over. "In all four moves, I never got assistance from anybody," said Whebbe, who said city building inspectors share some blame in approving the Bigos Management remodeling plans. "There's just no way I can set up a working business again and make money. I'll be paying rent for two years before I break even. They know that they've killed the business."
Robert Humphrey, a spokesman for the city inspections department said the property did not need zoning variances to complete $1.8 million in improvements to the first and second floors.