Since it changed hands earlier this year, the historic Kickernick Building has become a haven for artists, with studios throughout the upper floors and a forthcoming gallery on the ground floor.

Minneapolis-based artist Sarah Edwards is moving into a sixth-floor studio and showing some of her paintings in the gallery. It’s a big deal for her because she hasn’t had her own dedicated space for creating art before.

“I’m just excited to get really, really creative and get a little messy,” Edwards said of her new studio, reflecting on bygone days of cleaning up after herself after every painting session in friends’ studios and garages.

The Kickernick Gallery will help reactivate the corner of First Avenue and Fifth Street in the Warehouse District, with large windows that will give passersby on the street a peek at the art inside. The space has been vacant since Brothers Bar & Grill closed just over two years ago.

The Kickernick Gallery will be located in the former Brothers Bar & Grill space at First Avenue and Fifth Street. Photo by Brianna Kelly

New owners acquired the Kickernick Building for about $3.8 million in February. The mixed-use property last sold for $19.1 million in 2017 and was valued at $7 million in 2022. 

Shortly after the new owners took over and a few leases expired, the 168,000-square-foot building was almost 99% vacant, according to commercial leasing manager Dave Poyerd. But more than 15 leases have been signed over the past six months. Several of those spaces have been claimed by artists starting at $975 a month.

The Kickernick Building is leaning into creative businesses in general. Its tenant roster now includes two tattoo studios, Bound Jewelry, and Ethereal Sound Bath.

Two restaurants are expected to open soon on the ground floor. Hyderabad Indian Grill is taking over the former Hark Café space on First Avenue this month and Trópico Columbia Cocktails is setting up shop in a smaller space on Fifth Street in the next couple of months.

There’s still a basement-level restaurant space up for grabs below the Kickernick Gallery.

Sarah Edwards stands next to some of her artwork in her new Kickernick Building studio. Photo courtesy of Sarah Edwards

Christy Frank, curator of Kickernick Gallery, got a dozen local artists on board for the first show, which will be open through January.

In a recent conversation with Downtown Voices, Frank referred to the gallery as the face of the building, and she explained how the gallery epitomizes the building’s mission of bringing art back to this part of downtown Minneapolis. “Back in the ‘70s and ‘80s, and even a little in the ‘90s, there were so many galleries around, and it was an artistic hub for our city,” Frank said.

From her new artist studio, Edwards can see Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra's mural of Bob Dylan, and she's just a stone's throw from Gluek's Bar and Restaurant, where she bartended for a while. She encourages anyone who's interested in art to come check out the building and gallery.

"It's kind of a hidden gem that's so accessible to artists and creatives from a price point," Edwards said.

Emily Donovan is another local artist who’s showing her art in the gallery and renting a studio upstairs, though it's not a requirement to do both.

Full list of artists showing their work in the Kickernick Gallery:

The public is invited to a grand opening for the Kickernick Gallery at 430 N. First Ave. on Sept. 26 from 6-8 p.m.