For six weeks, a small grocer, Chinese restaurant, dry cleaner, liquor store and other tenants at 275 McKnight Road South in St. Paul have had to shut their doors or operate without access to a basic service — running water.

“Right now we are paying almost $300 an hour for somebody else to do the drycleaning,” said Kalpesh Patel, proprietor of Woodbury Cleaners, who has outsourced his core service to a third party. “We are losing business. We are losing customers.”

At the urging of city staff, the St. Paul City Council on Wednesday ordered the strip mall at the corner of Lower Afton Road and McKnight Road to be vacated and remain condemned until property owner Narayan Agrawal closes a giant hole in the Superette market leading down to the sewer system.

Agrawal also needs to restore private sewer and water services to the facility, which doubles as a Muslim religious center on weekends.

“You have not been adequately maintaining the building,” said a visibly moved Council Member Jane Prince, addressing Agrawal on Wednesday. “There are about 400 families who live within walking distance of that center. They use it for religious gatherings, social gatherings. It’s where they can buy Halal meats. It’s a social center.”

CITY WORKING WITH TENANTS

Prince said the Department of Planning and Economic Development is working with the commercial tenants, most or all of whom are immigrants, on possible relocation plans and other forms of business assistance. She noted the strip mall — known as Shamrock Plaza — previously registered a water issue in September of 2018.

“I would wager from talking to one of your former tenants that this problem has been going on a lot longer than this,” Prince said. “It just shocks me, the tens of thousands of dollars you take from those businesses in rent.”

Council Member Dai Thao agreed.

“The tenants, their business depends on you getting this repaired so you can put food on the table,” Thao said.

PRIVATE SEWER FAILED EARLIER THIS SUMMER

City staff said the private sewer failed in late July or early August, and a private contractor came in to determine if the problem was a sewer crack, sewer break or plugged sewer.

ASAP Underground pulled a permit at the time to replace 15 feet of sewer line for $8,000, according to city officials.

St. Paul Regional Water Services turned the water off at the contractor’s request, but has declined to turn it back on given that the sewer issue has not been resolved.

Mitch Vetter, service manager with ASAP Underground, said:

“When we got down there to fix the sewer we found out his water main was broken. Which could be why his sewer doesn’t work. We did what we could for him. I met with two other contractors with him, because he didn’t know how to relay information we had already told him. He was in an emergency situation. We said we could at least get something started. The water line guys said they’d been out there before and there were a few different issues. There were concerns before.”

The city’s Department of Safety and Inspections learned of the issue in late August and immediately issued a condemnation order.

“There has to be some place for the gray water to go,” said Marcia Moermond, a legislative hearing officer for the city. “It can’t just go into the ground.”

‘NOBODY’S WILLING TO HELP’

Agrawal then appealed the condemnation order to the city council and asked that the strip mall be allowed to remain open, noting the businesses have access to two porta-potties.

The council voted 7-0 on Wednesday to deny his appeal.

Agrawal told the council the first contractor walked off the job on Aug. 11, leaving repairs unfinished. Another who is willing to do the job is not licensed within the city. Everyone else he talked to said they were too busy, he said.

“I have been calling everybody, and nobody’s willing to help,” Agrawal told the council Wednesday. “If the city can do this, I am willing to pay the city. Find me the contractor. … I’m not finding the contractor.”

Moermond showed the city council images of the giant hole in the middle of the Superette market, not far from the grocery aisles and butcher counter.

“That is a hole in the floor that goes down to the sewer,” she said. She noted that city staff have found that the hole is not properly secured.

“No permit has been pulled to repair the sewer right now,” Moermond said. “A temporary allowance for a business to operate is no longer appropriate. There has to be a time when you can no longer operate without basic sewer and water. … I would recommend that all the businesses and the mosque remain closed and not operational.” Related Articles Minneapolis man pleads guilty to torching University Avenue business during May unrest

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Moermond said she conducted two public legislative hearings this month, the latest on Sept. 10, and heard numerous concerns from the individual business owners.

Some were still “limping along” using porta-potties without water access, and running across the street to a Holiday Station gas store as necessary.

“Six weeks is an incredibly long time for tenants not to have sewer and water,” said Council President Amy Brendmoen.