A police raid early Thursday morning disrupted a thriving after-hours club in an unmarked building near E. Lake Street and Minnehaha Avenue, where police found drugs, alcohol, guns and dozens of people partying inside.
Officers carted off 75 people in police paddy wagons and cited them with misdemeanors before they were released. Police said another 12 people were arrested and booked into jail on drug, gun or warrant charges.
The chaotic scene at 3017-3019 27th Av. S. unfolded shortly after 3 a.m. just a block from the police department's Third Precinct headquarters.
Property owner David Chall said he had no clue about the after-hours parties when he leased the building May 1 to a group that called itself "the Zodiac Corp."
"They said they were a nonprofit charitable company that did all types of fundraising," said Chall. The tenants recently told him they were raising money for tornado victims in north Minneapolis and had allowed some people made homeless by the storm to take up residence in the building.
A woman who works a night shift nearby said she saw men and women spilling out of the building during all-night parties over the past few weeks, sometimes congregating on the street until 5 a.m.
Another woman said she went to the after-hours club twice. "It'd be jukin', partying," said Tash Hill, who lives nearby. She said she knew some people who came to the parties would carry guns, but it didn't worry her. It was a popular "after-set" bar that would open up to cater to the after-hours crowd. It was also known as a biker bar, with motorcyclists parking in the alley behind the building, she said.
Chall, who operates a fair-trade coffee roasting business, said he never intended to become a landlord, but when his business grew too large for the 27th Avenue S. space he had to move.
