A Latino Developer's Viva Project Aims to Revive Burned Lake Street Lots

Wilmar Delgado, who has lived in Minnesota for more than 25 years, assembled four razed lots near the former Third Precinct station for his Viva project after Holy Trinity Lutheran Church agreed to sell the final parcel at 3017 27th Ave. S. The block was destroyed in the unrest that followed the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis officers in May 2020 and has stood empty for about five years.

The plan calls for seven stories with roughly 100 housing units above 12,000 to 15,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, with space set aside for a possible Latin American market. Delgado, a first-time developer, is working with the nonprofit Redesign to advance the plans and line up financing. The project, earlier known as Rodeo Plaza, received a $150,000 city predevelopment grant in 2023 and a $450,000 grant from Hennepin County's Transit Oriented Communities program in 2024.

Groundbreaking is expected no earlier than 2028, and the project still needs financing and city approvals. Viva would replace one of the corridor's most visible fire scars with housing and storefronts on a stretch whose commercial life was built largely by immigrant entrepreneurs.