St. Paul Brewing owner sues city to stop development on parking lot

St. Paul Brewing has sued the city of St. Paul to block development on a parking lot that the brewery owners see as key to the businesses operating in the old Hamm’s Brewery complex on the East Side.

The lawsuit pits the business’ parking against plans for affordable housing. Build apartments in the parking lot, the complaint argues, and the brewery dies.

The suit seeks to stop the rezoning of the parking lot and other pieces of the brewery complex for redevelopment, and to keep use of a 149-stall surface lot.

“It would be virtually impossible for Plaintiffs to operate their business or satisfy their lenders’ due diligence requirements without sufficient parking,” read a complaint filed Thursday in Ramsey County District Court.

The parking lot, which sits just east of brewery complex, is owned by the city Housing and Redevelopment Authority, but St. Paul Brewing and the other businesses at the Hamm’s site have been using the lot for free since the city bought the dilapidated complex in 2003.

St. Paul Brewing’s owner, Rob Clapp, who also owns Can Can Wonderland and reopened the Dark Horse bar in Lowertown, said St. Paul Brewing depends on the parking space — and expansion plans also hinge on the availability of free parking.

The complaint states that previous generations of business owners were told the parking lot would be available for their use, and Clapp said he bought his space from former Flat Earth Brewing in 2021 with the understanding that there would be a large parking lot.

The St. Paul City Council is set to vote next week to rezone the land, a key step in redeveloping the parking lot after developer JB Vang won a contract to build on the parking lot and in vacant spaces inside the red brick Hamm’s complex.

JB Vang is planning to build new apartment buildings on part of the parking lot, leaving 70 of the 149 stalls for the other businesses, and building a separate parking ramp for residents. A later phase of construction will build artist-style lofts and a vendor market in now-vacant parts of the brewery complex. Vang has undertaken other redevelopment projects in St. Paul, including a former casket factory on University Avenue.

JB Vang’s Ashley Bisner declined to comment on the lawsuit, but she said the developer is waiting on state funding available for affordable housing and historic preservation projects before construction could start.

If St. Paul’s City Council approves the rezoning on Aug. 20, Bisner said, JB Vang will still be waiting for state funding and the city will have to approve site plans before construction could begin. But she said the project could move forward in early 2026.

Clapp has said losing that much free parking could kill St. Paul Brewing and plans for a neighboring distillery run by his spouse, and will certainly hurt his plans to expand into the upper floors of his portion of the old brewery complex.

In the complaint filed Thursday, these issues are referred to as an “unlawful reprisal campaign” against St. Paul Brewing, after the company’s complaints about losing use of the parking lot.