Briefs: Plans for Dooley's site delayed, UMR adds land, and Mayo maintains top hospital ranking
More than six months after the city agreed to sell off the former Dooley’s space in downtown Rochester, the building remains dark — though its new owners say plans for the site are starting to come together.
Nick Powers, president of Powers Ventures, said the company has been dealing with supply chain issues over the past few months as it works out plans for a new restaurant build-out.
The company — which also owns Canadian Honker, Mayowood Stone Barn, and The Hubbell House, among other enterprises — had originally set late 2021 as its goal for opening the new downtown eatery.
“The major delay has been due to choosing finishes and then finding out the lead time is unknown which is forcing us to continue to go back to the drawing board,” said Powers. “It’s been quite the experience, but we’re still optimistic and excited for the project to move to the next stage.”
Despite the setbacks, Powers said the business plans to file for building permits for the site this month, with the hope of opening mid-summer.
He declined to offer additional details about the project, saying he wanted to “keep the element of surprise rolling.” Last summer, Powers described the proposed concept as a family-friendly restaurant with “quality food and service and a fun, unique dining experience.”
The street-level space, located at 255 First Avenue SW, has been unoccupied since November 2020. Its former tenant, Dooley’s Pub, had operated a sports bar and nightclub out of the building for more than a decade before working out an agreement with the city to end its lease.
The city then put out an RFP for a possible lease of the site. The RFP, however, failed to generate any interest — leading the city council to accept an offer from Powers Ventures to purchase the site for $1.4 million.
Getting hot, hotter…
A new chicken joint will soon be spicing up South Broadway.
Nashville Coop Rochester is set to begin serving up its signature hot chicken on March 20 at 102 20th Street SE, in the same plaza as Ichi Tokyo South. It will be the restaurant’s first location outside of the Twin Cities.
The ownership group behind the Rochester eatery includes Minneapolis restaurateurs Nabil Ghebre and Hamza Muridi, along with former Minnesota Vikings special teams ace Marcus Sherels.
Nick McLaughlin, also a partner on the project, said the restaurant will focus on providing “quick and easy service” for dine-in or take-out. Nashville Coop Rochester will also offer a drive-through option.
Launched as a food truck in 2020 by brothers Arif and Kamal Mohamed, Nashville Coop now has locations in both the Target Center and U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, along with a spot on Snelling Avenue in St. Paul.
Its menu features “true and authentic Nashville style hot chicken.” Spice levels range from “Minnesota Nice” (no spice) to “Cluckin’ Hot.”
UMR adding property downtown
University of Minnesota Rochester’s plans to purchase the former Running Room building, 711 South Broadway, appear to signal the school’s intentions to stay the course on its plans for a campus expansion.
While the sale has not been finalized, UMR is hoping to have a deal in place later this spring. It would be the latest in a series of real estate acquisitions in recent years on the south end of downtown.
UMR’s goal is to one day develop the area into a campus, though details regarding what exactly that may look like remain fluid. UMR currently has an enrollment of about 1,000 students, with plans for continued growth.
“The long-term vision for an Education district remains, though we have no specific plans to announce at this time,” UMR Chancellor Lori Carrell said in a written statement. “Timing and partnerships are yet to be determined for the realization of that long-term vision. In the near term, continued enrollment growth is creating pressing housing needs."
Plans for a full-fledged campus go as far as back as 2009, though it wasn’t until 2014 when a master plan outlined a potential 10-acre campus near Soldiers Field, between South Broadway and Second Avenue Southwest.
Since then, UMR has been buying up property in the area, mostly by using funds from the city’s half-cent local option sales tax. (As the P-B’s Jeff Kiger first noted, the Running Room purchase would not use any of UMR’s $14 million share of the tax, and instead would rely on university funds.)
Those plans, however, suffered a setback in 2020 when a partnership with the YMCA to develop the area was put on pause. The YMCA wound up closing its doors permanently less than 15 months later.
As it maps out its next steps, UMR will continue to use a piecemeal approach for its campus. It now operates out of 318 Commons, One Discovery Square, and the top two floors of the Galleria.
Mayo tops Newsweek’s 2022 hospital list
It has become about as predicable as seeing Tom Brady in a Super Bowl parade, but remains noteworthy nonetheless: Mayo Clinic in Rochester has found itself again atop a list of the best hospitals in the world.
Newsweek published its 2022 hospital rankings on Thursday, with Mayo besting worthy rivals Cleveland Clinic and Massachusetts General Hospital for the top spot. Mayo’s other two campuses in Jacksonville and Phoenix also made the top 100, finishing at 61 and 68, respectively.
In addition to the annual Newsweek rankings, Mayo has also been named U.S. News and World Report’s best hospital for six years running.
Sean Baker is a Rochester journalist and the founder of Med City Beat.
