A large Hawaii-based coffee roaster is looking to acquire to a slice of the old Hamm’s brewery complex directly overlooking the northern edge of Swede Hollow in St. Paul — and, if things go well, open a top-floor café overlooking the park.

Euram Inc., which does business as Hawaiian Paradise Coffee, is looking to renovate the dilapidated 30,000-square-foot building at 680 Minnehaha Avenue and turn it into a production and distribution front.

The Kapolei, Hawaii-based company has put in a formal proposal with the city to acquire the site — the first to do so for the building since it became available in 2003.

Following a 45-day public notification period, which begins this week, the city’s Housing and Redevelopment Authority will decide whether to approve the deal.

City officials said the building is likely worth less than the cost to appraise it. Related Articles St. Paul district to wait on reopening schools, citing lack of staff

Ginsburg makes history again, lying in state at Capitol

Coronavirus Friday update: Six more Minnesota deaths and 1,191 new cases

CDC coronavirus testers pulled from Minnesota after repeated hostile and racist encounters

Roseville: Man arrested after ex-wife suffers potential exposure to toxic chemical

Jean Claude Drui, Euram’s chief executive officer, said he’s planning to put roughly a million dollars into renovating the building.

“It’s part of the Hamm building, and when I tell clients that we’ll be roasting in a portion of the Hamm, people’s ears perk up,” Drui said. “I happen to really like refurbishing old buildings and being part of the history.”

The building, on the west edge of the Hamm’s complex, used to be a grain drier. It is not on any historic registers.

Drui said he only expects the city to connect him to sewer and power lines at the street level. He said his proposal is to buy the property for the cost of the legal work to do so: less than $10,000.

Euram, started in 1993, commands a roughly 65 percent market share for coffee in Hawaii’s restaurants, grocery stores and hotels. It is now looking to expand to the rest of the United States, again focusing on hotel and restaurant chains — and use St. Paul as its base of operations to do so.

The bottom two floors of the building would be used to roast beans grown and shipped from Hawaii, South America, Central America and Asia, as well as package and distribute them.

But the top floor, with its low ceiling, wouldn’t fit that purpose. And Euram doesn’t need the office space. So Drui has other hopes for it.

“The area needs a little love. We would love to contribute to that by putting in a really good café,” Drui said.

With large windows overlooking the Swede Hollow valley, Drui envisions a café to complement the foodie renaissance that has struck the northern side of Payne Avenue, a half-block away.

Still, the café isn’t part of the company’s current proposal.

Drui, whose children were born in White Bear Lake, also has a home in St. Paul’s Summit Hill neighborhood.