G & L Furniture on Lake Street rebuilds, powered by solar

Abe was saddened by what was happening in his community, a place he has called home for nearly 30 years. Originally coming to the U.S. from Ethiopia to attend the University of Minnesota Morris to study chemistry and sociology, he ended up in south Minneapolis in the 1990s. He built his business, G & L Furniture, selling mostly customized furniture to the local (mostly minority) underserved community of residents. He worked hard and sent money to his family, and considered the vibrant and ethnically diverse south Minneapolis his new home. Abe cares about the businesses and people in his community. For instance, he wants to see single moms that rent in his community own their own homes.

While there was damage to the building—with over 30 broken windows and fire damage from Molotov cocktails found in the building—he was thankful they had not yet moved their furniture inventory into the building. Though he had insurance, like many businesses that were damaged, it was not quite enough. He did get some money from the Lake Street Council’s We Love Lake Street Fund [https://www.visitlakestreet.com/welovelakestreet] in the summer of 2020 that helped with some initial repair costs. 

When I asked Abe about the inspiration for the solar on the building, he said, "I thought about the daycare next to the building and wanted to do it for the future generations. I wanted those kids to see solar when they look over at the building right next to them. I wanted to do it for my community. I also wanted to reduce my electricity bill and advertise that my building has a solar system."

Photo: Abe Demmaj, owner of G & L Furniture, stands atop his new building on Lake Street in Minneapolis among the solar panels that power his business and the other tenants.

Abe was able to tap into some financial resources to make the building more resilient, including a Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) loan from the Saint Paul Port Authority’s MinnPACE program. PACE helps finance clean energy projects on commercial buildings by using a property assessment to pay back the loan. He received a $150,000 loan in September of 2020 to finance a 45 kW solar system on the roof. After an original approval for a $90,000 loan, he realized they could install a bigger system and save more money. The annual electric savings for the project is estimated at $8,300. The system was installed by Electro Solar Systems, now a tenant in the building. The project also received a $13,000 matching grant from the City of Minneapolis Green Cost Share program.   

Abe is one of the many stories of the immigrant-owned businesses along Lake Street that have risen up, despite the challenges of 2020. He cares deeply about his community and has a commitment to a cleaner energy future and a stronger Lake Street.