The Minneapolis City Council approved money for designing a democracy center on the old site of the burned-down Third Precinct building on Monday. 

Since burning down during the 2020 protests after the murder of George Floyd, the Third Precinct site has sat abandoned as its future remained in the hands of the Minneapolis City Council, which debated what to do with the site for over four years. 

Thanks to the over $800,000 contract to design the democracy center with LSE Architects, a local interior design firm, the vacant building will see new life again. The democracy center will house an election and voter services center as well as host community events and engagement.

Outside of the eventual winning idea of the democracy center, rebuilding the police precinct, creating a museum or a community cultural center were other options considered.

The design team will finish the designs in August and construction will start in 2026 if approved by the city council, according to Mohammed Lawal, CEO of LSE Architecture and principal architect of the project. 

Last year, the city council approved turning the building into a democracy center despite reservations from city council members and residents. 

At Monday’s meeting, City Council Member Jeremiah Ellison (Ward 5) said the process is in a better place than last year. 

“We’ve had a lot of discussion about this site and what’s going on here. I think that we’re at a point where I’ve got a lot of faith that we will be able to move forward here,” Ellison said at the meeting. 

Mayor Jacob Frey echoed Ellison’s sentiment in a statement and said the city council’s approval of the money is a step in the right direction. 

“Minneapolis has some of the highest voter turnout rates in the nation, and that doesn’t happen by accident. Our voter services team does exceptional work, and this project will help even more of our neighbors access the ballot box, while also providing a space for the community to gather and heal,” Frey said in a statement. “I’m proud to see this vision moving forward.”

Rebecca Thoman, the board president of the League of Women Voters in Minneapolis, supported the democracy center, and said its location at 3000 Minnehaha Ave allows accessibility to a wider range of people than the similar but smaller Elections and Voter Services building in 980 E Hennepin County Ave in Minneapolis.

The building would also be a way for the community to heal from the 2020 protest that destroyed the old Third Precinct, Thoman said.

“They wanted something different there. So a democracy center we think is really valuable because it comes into the community that’s been so disrupted and says, your voice matters,” Thoman said. “This is where you can come to make your voice heard.”

While Thoman believes the election service center is a step in the right direction, concerns from other activists remain.

One of the main points of contention for the democracy center is that the warehouse section of the building will turn people away from the neighborhood.

The Longfellow Council, a nonprofit organization representing south Minneapolis, voiced those concerns in an open letter to the city council. In the letter, the Longfellow Council said the warehouse section near Hiawatha-Lake Street and Lake Street light rail will look unappealing to people visiting the neighborhood.

Sam Gould, a Minneapolis resident who lives near the Third Precinct area, said the warehouse section will make it less likely for people in the community to congregate because the windowless warehouse will not encourage people to come to the building.

“I think everybody can coalesce on the idea that a windowless warehouse at a prime spot in a neighborhood that is attempting to rebuild after the uprising and rebuild towards a place where people will congregate, a place where people will support small businesses in the area is a bizarre step to take,” Gould said.

Gould has lived in the area since the George Floyd protests and after. For him, the building’s old appearance is a constant reminder of the protest.

Gould said he hopes the design firm will take input from the community when designing the center. 

“They’re still in the design phase and there’s still an opportunity to account for past harm within that design phase that is genuine and authentic and transformative,” Gould said. “I hope that the architecture firm who has been contracted for that work recognizes that in a substantive way.”