For eight months, attorneys at Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services were told they could not get out of their 10-year lease at the Alliance Bank Center in downtown St. Paul without paying a hefty fee to effectively buy themselves free from their contract. That struck them as unfair, given that escalators in the building no longer work, security has been so lax they’ve hired their own, all the ground-level doors have been locked shut and most other office and food court tenants have already left. “They didn’t want us to go because we were the only ones paying any substantial rent,” said Candace Miller Lopez, development director with SMRLS, recalling how attorneys for Madison Equities required that the nonprofit otherwise stick to its longstanding lease for two floors of office space. Then came the March 10 notice from Madison Equities indicating that electricity and all other services in the building would be shut off “in the very near future” because management had not paid its utility bills. “You should immediately vacate the premises as there soon will be no heating/cooling/electricity/security/etc. at this building,” reads the written notice, which indicated “no firm date” for utility disconnection had been confirmed. The St. Paul Fire Department quickly determined that the “very near future” meant utilities would be shut off within two days of that announcement. Pedestrians pass mostly empty storefronts along the skyway through the Alliance Bank Center in downtown St. Paul on Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (John Autey / Pioneer Press) Lights on until April 1 The next morning, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter’s office negotiated with Xcel Energy and District Energy to keep the lights on until April 1. That’s now left SMRLS with mere days to relocate 48 to 50 offices and 60 attorneys from the building, which has served as its administrative headquarters and major service center for the south metro for the past 20 years. Until now, the bulk of its work representing low-income clients in civil cases, free of charge, has been handled from downtown St. Paul. “We’ll all have to go remote,” said Lopez, noting garbage removal and other day-to-day security and maintenance has already stopped. “You can’t move 60 lawyers in a matter of two weeks. We will find another office, but we have to find one that, as a nonprofit, we can afford, and one where there’s no interruption of services to our clients. It has to be safe and accessible. We closed 11,000 cases last year. It’s no small number.” She estimated that moving, storage and new lease expenses would total some $500,000 in unanticipated costs. SMRLS, which maintains 125 employees in eight offices across southern Minnesota, serves 33 counties, including the south metro counties of Dakota, Ramsey, Washington, Scott and Carver.” No respect whatsoever,” said Jessie Nicholson, the legal agency’s chief executive officer, who has worked for SMRLS for 40 years. “I thought to myself, how can they expect two full floors of offices to clear out within 48 hours?” Emergency assistance On Wednesday afternoon, the St. Paul City Council was poised to meet as the city’s Housing and Redevelopment Authority and consider approving up to $70,000 in emergency assistance from the city’s Business Assistance Fund, to be made available as $5,000 grants for any Alliance Bank Center tenants that were still on site as of March 1. The hope is to keep some of those commercial tenants downtown. The death of Madison Equities company principal Jim Crockarell last year has left buildings owned by downtown’s largest property holder in precarious straits, with several slipping into foreclosure, and weighed heavily on downtown businesses that — like the city’s tax coffers — were already in need of a boost in the era of remote work. St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter made note of what he described as Madison Equities “implosion” on Tuesday during an otherwise unrelated presentation to a committee of Senate lawmakers considering his request for nearly $400 million to renovate the downtown Xcel Energy Center, as well as the adjoining Roy Wilkins Auditorium and RiverCentre convention halls. “When we say the word vitality, the quickest definition of the word vitality is people, so having people downtown will go a long way for us,” said Carter, who has called city employees who went remote to return to work in person at least three days per week as of April 1. Some tenants already left Some tenants in the Alliance Bank Center left in recent months with what they could carry, leaving behind offices and cubicles. Retail tenants like Jackey’s Watch Bar, a tobacco shop, a barber, a convenience store, a longstanding pizza lunch counter and a CBD store are scrambling to make their own alternate arrangements, with varying degrees of success. Some have already announced they’ll land at the three-building Town Square complex on Minnesota Street or one of two Securian buildings on Robert Street. After Madison Equities abandoned the building, a leasing agent for Town Square’s UBS Plaza, which sits on Cedar Street, left her calling card and a brochure showcasing available spaces on the counter of the security desk. Laura Jelinek, the metro regional leader for SMRLS, said employees have remained committed to representing their clients — many of whom are disabled or live with small children — despite the disruption. Cases run the gamut from orders for protection to benefits termination, housing and unemployment appeals. ”We have a really good group of employees who are really dedicated to access to legal services and representing low-income clients,” she said. “We are not closing intake. We are not saying no to new cases. We are doing all of our casework, and moving boxes at the same time, which is a huge stress on our employees.” Lopez said the 60 attorneys in the office will work remotely, or from the SMRLS smaller satellite offices on University Avenue and Syndicate Street, until they can find a new office location, which in the meantime will be a loss to downtown eateries, parking ramps and meters, and other downtown amenities that benefit from everyday foot traffic. Still, she said, they’ll eventually land on their feet. “Our firm has been around for 115 years,” Lopez said. “We’ve existed through a couple of World Wars. Many changes of administration. The Great Depression. You don’t get to be around this long without learning how to navigate turbulence.” Madison Equities properties A look at the status of several Madison Equities properties: • U.S. Bank Center, 101 E. Fifth St.: Mortgage holder First Interstate Bank filed to foreclosure upon the property in December after being unable to collect on $24 million in outstanding debt, and Ramsey County District Court Judge Stacy Deery Stennes appointed a limited receiver for the office building on Feb. 28. The building was described as 57% occupied early last year when it was put up for sale alongside other Madison Equities properties downtown. • Park Square Court, 400 Sibley St.: Lender Merchants Bank filed to foreclosure upon the property in October after calling back two loans, totaling $5.7 million and $2.7 million in unpaid principal, interest and fees. Ramsey County District Court Judge Edward Sheu entered a foreclosure judgment on Feb. 10. The building is vacant and Lowertown neighbors have complained of trespassers and vandalism. • First National Bank, 332 Minnesota St.: The building was listed as 45% occupied in a sales memorandum last year. • Alliance Center, 55 E. Fifth Street: Madison Equities has effectively walked away from the office building, which contains a once-popular food court, and informed tenants on March 10 they would need to vacate immediately as security and maintenance was no longer in effect and utilities would soon be shut off. It was listed as 43% occupied early last year, but is expected to be vacant by April 1. • 375 Jackson Square, 375 Jackson St.: The building — which is home to the St. Paul Department of Safety and Inspections — was listed as 53% occupied in a sales memorandum last year. • Empire Building/Endicott Arcade, 360 N. Robert St./134 E. 5th St.: Judge Leonardo Castro appointed a receiver for the vacant buildings in November, and Merchants Bank acquired the properties for $1.37 million in a foreclosure auction last December, according to the Ramsey County Recorder’s office. • Lowry Apartments, 345 Wabasha St. N.: The troubled apartment building was sold in a sheriff’s sale last September to lender Colliers International for $7 million. The city condemned the building in early December and cleared it of tenants. • Degree Apartments, 325 Cedar St.: Minnwest Bank acquired the apartment building last December for $9.58 million in a deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure sale. • Other properties put up for sale by Madison Equities last year include the Stadium Ramp at 245 E. Sixth St., the Capital City Ramp at 50 E. Fourth St., the Handsome Hog at 173 N. Western Ave. and a surface parking lot at 401 Selby Ave. Related Articles St. Paul mayor, Wild owner pitch Xcel Energy Center to senate panel Gov. 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