With additional reporting by H. Jiahong Pan

On Tuesday morning, the City sent out contractors to board up 2621 Pillsbury Avenue, which has been officially condemned since February. The landlord, C. David George, was also observed on-site early Tuesday morning. George owns multiple vacant properties in Southwest Minneapolis, two of which caught fire over the last year.

This property has been a nuisance to nearby residents for months. In 2022, there were 41 calls made to 911 made about the property. As of February 2023, there were 12 calls made about the property. Southwest Voices reported on people breaching the vacant property in December 2022 and March of this year. The landlord for 2619 Pillsbury contacted Southwest Voices in April, reporting that people were using power drills to regain access to the building after the front door was boarded up.

On Tuesday morning, a nearby neighbor reported that police filtered out around 20 people from the building when the contractors arrived to board up the building. This same neighbor had to reinforce their gate and barricade it because people were using the backyard area to gain access to upper areas of 2621 Pillsbury.

According to City of Minneapolis Regulatory Services, “Six individuals were on premises and vacated as soon as they observed City inspectors entering the property.”

Xcel Energy disconnected power from the building “to prevent risks of fire should the building be breached again,” according to statement sent from Sarah McKenzie, the City’s spokesperson.

The third-party contractor has been working on site Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.

“If an owner doesn’t comply, then it basically gets sealed up,” Peter, the foreman with the third-party contractor, said.

Peter declined to give his last name. Our request for the third-party contractor’s company name has not been confirmed by the City at time of publication.

“The City will tell us what to do,” Peter said when asked about the extent of the boarding-up process.

Peter said he had called Regulatory Services that morning to come remove the garbage on the property.

“Usually we come in and try to beautify the block, basically.” Peter said. “Something has to be done in this situation.”