12 cultural malls in Minnesota get $3M from state
Midtown Global Market welcomed shoppers on Saturday, November 28, 2020 to support small businesses struggling to make it through the pandemic. (FOX 9)
ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Twelve cultural malls primarily based in the Twin Cities are set to receive more than $3 million in grants from the state of Minnesota as part of a COVID-19 relief program to help small businesses.
The funds come from the $70 million "Main Street COVID Relief Grant" package. Each of the malls' operators will get between $20,000 and $300,000.
In turn, the funding will aid more than 1,178 Black, Indigenous and People of Color business owners, according to the state's estimates.
The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development says "up to $25,000 of the grants identified below to cultural malls can be used for the operator’s own working capital expenses. The remaining grant must be distributed to their tenants in the form of rent forgiveness for previously owed rent or in the form of credit towards future rent. The maximum amount of rent credit or rent forgiveness an individual tenant can receive is $25,000."
The malls receiving the grants include:
- Karmel Plaza, Karmel Properties, LLC., Minneapolis: $300,000
- 24 Mall, 24 Mall LLC., Minneapolis: $300,000
- Hmong Village Shopping Center, Hmong Village, Inc., St. Paul: $300,000
- Hmongtown Market Place, Hmongtown Market Place LLC. St. Paul: $300,000
- Plaza Mexico, Lake Plaza LLC., Minneapolis, $300,000
- Midtown Global Market, Midtown Global Market LLC., Minneapolis, $300,000
- Mercado Central, Mercado Central LLC. Minneapolis, $300,000
- Century Plaza, Century Plaza LLC., St Paul, $300,000
- Riverside Mall, Riverside Mall Inc., Minneapolis, $300,000
- JigJiga Business Center, Jigjiga Business Center LLC., Minneapolis: $200,000
- Midtown Plaza, New Minnesotan Realty, LLC., Willmar, MN: $80,000
- International Mall, FMJ Mall Inc., Rochester, $20,000