The University of Minnesota plans to open an off-campus public safety center in the heart of Dinkytown next month.

The Minneapolis neighborhood is a popular place for university students to live and hang out, but they’ve repeatedly reported feeling unsafe in the area for a few years. Plans for the safety center started in the spring as a part of the university officials’ and law enforcement’s latest efforts to curb rowdy crowds and violent crime.

A university spokesperson on Sunday confirmed the former Kitty Cat Klub located below Annie’s Parlour restaurant near the intersection of 14th and University Avenues SE has been selected as the safety center site, and it’s currently under renovation.

“The primary services in the center are safety, education and engagement, a safe study space for students in the afternoon and evening hours,” said UMPD Police Chief Matt Clark in an update before the University Board of Regents this summer.

“And this will be home to our YouthLink Somali elders group and also our safety ambassadors.”

The chief said the location will also serve as a central space for UMPD officers who have stepped up their presence in the area, helping the severely understaffed Minneapolis Police Department patrol the busy couple of blocks.

The plan follows several summers fraught with rowdy crowds of young people tossing fireworks at property, passersby and police. There was also a string of armed robberies this spring, some — like this one caught on a Ring doorbell camera — happened in broad daylight.

University of Minnesota senior Maddie Landsverk has not forgotten the pit in her stomach that she felt while watching that video.

“That was definitely a really scary time. I don’t know, I don’t always feel that protected,” Landsverk said on Sunday.

“There’s been a lot of gunshots too,” fellow senior Jack Kroells added. “In fact, just last year, I was living in The Marshall here,” he continued gesturing to a nearby apartment building in Dinkytown. “And there was one that came in through a window, through my neighbor’s window.”

“It just makes you feel like it could happen to anyone, it could happen to you,” said recent graduate Megan Hjermstad.

All of the students we stopped to chat with in the heart of Dinkytown said the safety center is “a good idea,” and several felt some relief knowing it would be accessible soon.

“Honestly, like that definitely makes me feel safer just to have a place to go, a building to walk into,” Landsverk reacted.

“I think that safety is something we should be really focused on this year,” commented sophomore Sam Kugler who added that his mom was pleased to hear the news as well.

“Hopefully it works,” Hjermstad said, concluding her remarks.

The grand opening is tentatively scheduled for September 6, a university spokesperson said, noting, “construction timelines are always a bit fluid.”

If it’s ready, the center “could be open and operating in the days preceding [Sept.] 6 as we start the fall semester,” they added.