Icehouse on Minneapolis’ Eat Street facing eviction for unpaid rent

Icehouse — a bar, restaurant and music venue on Nicollet Avenue in south Minneapolis — is facing eviction from its Eat Street location with its landlord suing for more than $85,000 in unpaid rent.

The suit, which Chicago-based Northpond Partners filed Monday in Hennepin County District Court, “speaks for itself,” the landlord said in a statement. A lease amendment filed with the lawsuit indicated Icehouse owed the landlord nearly $118,000 in past due rent as of July 20, 2023. Icehouse leases about 5,000 square feet of the overall 38,000-square-foot property. The hearing is scheduled for May 7.

“The eviction lawsuit ... comes after significant post-COVID shutdown concessions,” Northpond Partners said in a statement.

Northpond — which also bought Calhoun Square, now known as Seven Points, for $34.5 million in 2019 — acquired Icehouse Plaza for $7.7 million in 2017 in a joint venture with Minneapolis-based Paster Properties. The property includes two mixed-use buildings with retail and apartment tenants, built in 1900 and 1914, as well as a parking lot and outdoor space. It is for sale for $9.4 million by brokers with Chicago-based JLL, a commercial real estate services firm, and the listing described the overall property as 100% leased to seven commercial tenants and 13 residential tenants.

Icehouse owner Brian Liebeck declined to comment, and a representative of Paster Properties could not be reached for comment.

Icehouse opened in 2012 when Minneapolis-based First & First owned the property.

“I viewed it as a critical part of that development,” said Peter Remes, owner of First & First. “I feel like they’re a tremendous asset not just to the local music scene but the community.”

Remes said the property name references how one of the buildings was used to store ice.