The City of St. Paul inspected the Lowry Apartments downtown last Friday and gave it a failing grade, meaning the deadline to vacate the building by April 1, 2025, still stands.

The building was sold at a foreclosure auction earlier this month to a Canadian business, which now holds the mortgage on the 134-unit property. In August, city regulators listed nearly two dozen code violations and reinspected the building on September 13.

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Willie Navy is a resident at Lowry Apartments. He told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS he is concerned about finding affordable housing.

“In a way, I am concerned. But, it should be on them. Not on me. It should be on them. They brought me here, now get me up on out of here,” said Navy.

Retired commercial real estate developer John Mannillo told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that when buildings like the Lowry fall into this type of situation, it hurts all commercial property values and makes it hard to find people willing to invest in downtown.

“The fact that values are decreasing and people are not coming downtown, it’s affecting all of the properties and forcing it down even further,” said Mannillo. “Does it make sense for me to invest in this to improve it, or not? Well, many owners will not take that risk.”

The city said it will inspect the Lowry again on October 2.