31-01-2025
Demolition of Michaels restaurant property to start next week
Jan. 31—ROCHESTER — The long-delayed demolition of the former Michaels restaurant site in the heart of downtown Rochester will officially start next week to address safety concerns and as a fulfillment of a pledge by Rochester developer Andy Chafoulias.
One southbound lane of Broadway and the sidewalk in front of the property, next to the Galleria at University Square Mall, will be closed for the month of February for Elcor Construction to demolish four of the buildings that once housed the restaurant.
The demolition is expected to take a month.
The buildings, at 11, 13, 15 and 17 S. Broadway Ave., have stood empty since 2014, when the Pappas family closed the iconic restaurant on New Year's Eve to make way for development.
However, development has not progressed as various issues, including conflict with the owners of a small fifth building on the site, have repeatedly delayed it. During that time, the buildings have steadily deteriorated to the point where they are now safety hazards.
Rochester Police Chief Jim Franklin said that became a pressing issue last summer, when officers had to enter the buildings to remove trespassers who had sought shelter there. Then-Fire Chief Eric Kerska told Franklin that the buildings were unsafe for anyone to enter.
"So we, myself and Chief Kerska, brought our public safety concerns directly to Mr. Chafoulias and said, 'You've got to do something here. This is a hazard for the community.' And to Mr. Chafoulias' credit, he 100% recognized that and was responsive," Franklin said.
The smallest structure on the Michaels site, at 9 S. Broadway, stands behind a tower that contains an elevator and stairway for the nearby public parking ramp. That structure is owned by members of the Pappas family, through a company, PRE Holdings. The family and their representative, Tom Hexum, have not yet come to an agreement with Chafoulias.
Earlier, in 2022, Chafoulias had started to make preparations to level the site. The work would have included a separate permit to also demolish the Pappas building. But through a letter signed by Don, George and Jim Pappas, the family opted out of that plan.
In September 2024, Chafoulias brought development plans for a "Titan Transformational Gateway Project" to the Rochester City Council. At that time, the council approved a two-year exclusive negotiating rights agreement with Chafoulias and his company, Titan Development & Investments.
The project Chafoulias presented includes a 14-story building with two floors of retail and three floors for the University of Minnesota Rochester for offices and classrooms on a level connecting to the adjacent Galleria at University Square Mall, where UMR already has space. Chafoulias' development plan further includes eight floors of student housing, plus a skyway connection across Broadway to the Hilton hotel, another property developed by Titan.
While those plans are moving forward, Chafoulias still needs agreements with the City of Rochester and the Destination Medical Center Economic Development Agency before he can lock in project financing. If the agreements fail to materialize as hoped, Chafoulias may need to scale down the project.
The hope was to have all of the agreements settled before the demolition occurred. However, Chafoulias said he wanted to honor his pledge to the fire and police chiefs that the site would be cleared early in 2025.
"I told them that we as a company will not tolerate any buildings being in violation, but I need cooperation from my neighbor, but that didn't happen," said Chafoulias. "Now with the development agreement or not, I will be taking those buildings down because they're dangerous. I don't want to put the fire department or the police department in danger. That is more important to me than having a development agreement. I'm willing to take that financial risk."
While the demolition is moving ahead, PRE Holdings and Hexum are renovating their small building into three office spaces. Hexum himself will be a tenant.
"It's good that Titan is applying to get a demo permit and is doing its thing," said Hexum earlier this month. "We don't have any new news on ours."
