Photo by Isabel Subtil
table for two
If you’ve passed by the vine-covered brick building sitting quietly on the corner of 2nd Avenue and 8th Street, you may have thought it seemed out of place in the increasingly glassy and tall Minneapolis. But if you’ve wandered the dark wood–paneled halls of the Minneapolis Club, maybe for a meeting or an event, it’s quite easy to glean a historic sense of place.
The private social club was founded in 1883, and considering our city’s penchant for tearing down the old to make way for the new, 139 years is no small stretch. And yet the club’s board understands you can’t sit in the past if you want to keep going forward. Which is why, for the first time in its history, the ground floor dining space will open up to nonmembers.
Another first: It’s never had a chef in residence, or a female chef running their kitchen, but for the next three months, Jamie Malone will bring her signature elegance and modern refinement to the classic space that now sports the original bar from Charlie’s Cafe Exceptionale. And everyone is welcome.
It all started with kombucha.
Heather Hannig, director of engagement, recently came home to Minnesota and joined the Minneapolis Club team after working in high-end hospitality properties across the country, including Mandarin Oriental and the fast-growing Soho House. “I needed kombucha. Members had been asking for more nonalcoholic beverages, so I met with Marco Zappia of Tres Leches. He walked around, and he said, ‘Wow, this room—I didn’t even know this place existed.’ When he heard what we were planning to do with the ground floor, he connected us with Jamie Malone and Bill Summerville, and it all kind of magically came together.”
The reality is that, while private boutique urban clubs like Brick x Mortar gain social popularity and member-driven co-working spaces like ModernWell provide the means for people to network, the old-school clubs are faced with figuring out where they fit in this new landscape. It’s not as easy as it is for a country club with a golf course. Urban clubs have to find a way to appeal to the next generation driving the conversation.
“The truth is, Jamie Malone wouldn’t have been caught dead in this place a decade ago,” says Jeff Arundel, a member of the club through his family since he was a kid. He’s now serving as the club’s CEO, charged with an overhaul that is aimed at this new generation. He knows full well what his uphill battle looks like. “I can say this because I’m a member, but there was a creeping irrelevance. The food was irrelevant, the programming was irrelevant. We were asking for high fees, and it just wasn’t a value proposition.”
With a shoestring budget, Arundel and Hannig have worked hard to create some new energy inside of old rooms, respecting the heritage and charm of the space while giving it a fresh perspective. They understood this meant retiring the portraits of mostly white men circling the stairway as much as bringing in kombucha. Arundel also convinced his old friend John Rimarcik to dust off the bar from the historic Charlie’s Cafe Exceptionale, which had been languishing in a basement since the café’s demolition in 1982. To balance that, they’ve brought in new furniture and chic tableware, which also play with Malone’s modern elegance.
Mpls Club exterior
Most importantly, they are opening the dining room to nonmembers for 90 days—anyone can get a reservation. “Look, I know what we are really battling is people’s perception of what this place was—a bastion of stuffy old white guys. But we are different,” Arundel asserts. “We have all kinds of members that come and use this space for working during the day, then maybe they hit the pool or the gym and end with a drink at the bar or have friends in for dinner.” A free parking ramp in the middle of the city doesn’t hurt either.
Beyond the improved food and beverage options, the club has also lowered membership dues to invite more people into the mix. Arundel is hoping to woo more of the creative class and entrepreneurs who have hit a certain level of success and want a place that is more city-centric than a golf club. As for the current membership, Hannig notes that the majority is supportive of the changes. “They are proud of their club, and they want to invest in their community, their city, so that we all thrive for many more years to come.”
Can Jamie Malone and her brand of accessible luxury bring in the people who might look around and decide that a well-tended fireplace with access to a bartender beats any impersonal co-working space? With the under-40 set’s ease with subscriptions and memberships, will this be the aspirational pick they budget for? For at least 90 days, you can pull up a barstool and watch for yourself.
729 2nd Ave. S., Mpls., 612-332-2292, mplsclub.org
