Lake Plaza provides exciting space for immigrant business owners

Plaza, mercado, mini-mall, strip mall, whatever you want to call it, they've been popping up all over Lake Street the past few years. The latest one is called Lake Plaza on Fifth and Lake, which holds over 80 businesses.

"I had a vision to create a big Mercado," said Basim Sabri, owner and developer of Lake Plaza, whose businesses are all owned by immigrants, primarily Hispanic and Somali. Sabri, himself a Palestinian immigrant, said he wanted the spaces to be affordable for business owners. Lake Plaza will be Sabri's first business venture working with both Hispanic and Somali business owners. In the past, he worked with either one or the other.

"I enjoy working with both Somalis and Hispanics," he said. "This is a country of all; it's a mixture of everybody."

Lake Plaza features five restaurants: three Mexican, one American (owned by Sabri's sister) and one Somali. The rest of the businesses are retail, and according to Sabri, all the spaces are rented.

When Sabri first bought the building that would become Lake Plaza in November of 2000 it was full of garbage. Located on the former site of Reach Out, a community thrift store, Sabri had to haul 200 dumpsters worth of garbage out of it before he could begin the task of developing the area anew.

Sabri has previously developed several other properties along Lake Street including Sabri Commons at Second and Lake, The International Bazaar, a mini-mall of Hispanic-owned businesses; and Karmel Square at Pillsbury and Lake. He also owns some residential properties around the city.

For Wleh Harris, renting a space in Lake Plaza is a chance to get his tailoring business off the ground. Harris came to the United States just two and a half years ago from Liberia, where he had been a tailor for 15 years. Harris had been working out of his house since his arrival in Minneapolis, but when he heard from a friend that Lake Plaza had spaces available, he and his brother, Charles, opened Up to Date Designers. With two sewing machines they make clothes to order and do alterations.

"We are the fastest tailoring in the city," he said. They have a two-hour express service and can make almost any type of clothing from casual clothes to wedding dresses and even sports uniforms.

"We'll be the best fashion designer in the U.S.," he said. "I know I can be and I know I will be."

The Zagal family, from Mexico, also found a great opportunity in Lake Plaza, choosing to open the third branch of their La Hacienda line of restaurants there. Miguel Zagal and his brother opened the first La Hacienda in 1998 in the Mercado Central on Lake and Bloomington. The second, owned by Miguel and his wife, opened two years later in Sabri Commons at Second and Lake. Lake Plaza has the third La Hacienda, owned by Miguel's brother and his father. Miguel Zagal cites working with a developer as helping him greatly in the opening of his businesses. The building was ready when he opened the restaurant—he just had to order the food.

"He (Sabri) helped me a lot," said Zagal.

Zagal's next plan is to open a restaurant in St. Paul where he says it's much easier to establish a new business because there is less paperwork to file than in Minneapolis. Many of La Hacienda's customers come from St. Paul and tell Zagal he should open a restaurant there.

Lake Plaza held a grand opening Sunday, June 29 at 4:00 p.m. where Ed Felien and 100 other people cut the ribbon.