St. Paul native Tyrone Minor has held many titles: Track star. Educator. Trainer. Husband and father.
But for the past year the self-proclaimed “son of Rondo” has been getting used to two new ones — commercial developer and building owner.
Minor bought and redeveloped a 5,000-square-foot former warehouse space in St. Paul’s North End neighborhood just minutes away from where he grew up.
He opened The Mali Center as a business hub last year, hoping to seed the effort to revitalize his neighborhood by inspiring other entrepreneurs and building wealth for his community.
“I guess that’s that Rondo in me,” Minor said. “Growing up in Rondo, as you rise, you lift up others, and nothing great is accomplished alone. And so I knew that, sure, I could go purchase a building and try to do everything on my own, but we’re stronger as a collective.”
Currently The Mali Center has 13 tenants, nine of which are personal trainers under Minor’s Fit Lab business who use the building’s gym to train others.
After drawing a bubble of attention for his opening, Minor has faced first-year growing pains: losing some tenants, dealing with maintenance issues and learning how to build an enterprise for the long haul.
A year in, Minor says he now wants to focus on teaching other entrepreneurs the skills he’s learned after opening The Mali Center.
Turning a challenge into an opportunity
The Mali Center got its start partly because Minor was struggling to find a spot to lease for his personal training business. Instead of just finding a place to house his business, however, he said he wanted to own a space and help “uplift” other entrepreneurs.
He gave the building its name to draw a connection to the Mali Empire, a pre-colonial West African state that was known for its wealth from the 13th to the 16th century.
The business hub opened a year ago with 16 tenants: a mix of personal trainers, nonprofits doing community work and professionals renting office space.
Minor said it took a team of different people to make his dream a reality.
He had to lean on connections within and outside of his network as he navigated the process of buying and redeveloping the building.
“As an entrepreneur, especially if you’re a solo entrepeneur, it’s a lonely journey. You operate in these silos, and there’s no way that you’re going to maximize your potential as an entrepreneur or small business if you don’t have a team of professionals that you’re working with,” Minor said.
Minor began his building hunt by looking for properties as close to Rondo as possible. He also had a checklist. He needed higher than normal ceilings for the gym, he wanted a standalone building, parking space and some land.
“You don’t typically find commercial buildings that are stand-alone, that have their own private lot. It’s almost always connected to other buildings,” he said.
Even without his checklist, Minor said it took months to find properties. His team told him there was a difference between buying a residential property versus a commercial building.
There were few properties on the market, more complex application processes and high demand from other developers.
In one case, Minor found and made an offer on a property, near St. Paul Central, his alma mater, but didn’t even get a response.
During that search Minor connected with banks, nonprofits, city departments, friends and family for help.
Building a network
Jimmy Lloyd, the economic development director for the city of St. Paul, met Minor in 2022.
During their initial meeting, Minor had an idea of what The Mali Center would be but still needed to figure out technical issues and finances, according to Lloyd.
“A lot of barriers start with finances,” Lloyd said, so it’s important to understand how banks work, and how to get documentation in order for a loan. “We also observe that a lot of times businesses out of not knowing what options are available, or not being able to access options that are available, really take some big risks, and those big risks often cost a lot more.”
Capital and access to it is a crucial barrier for entrepreneurs, but other times it is also mentoring and networking.
Ky’Mari Love, an economic development specialist for the East Side Neighborhood Development Co., said entrepreneurs frequently are first-time business owners who don’t have anybody in their immediate network to go to with questions.
The ESNDC supports economic development on St. Paul’s East Side but also works with entrepreneurs in other neighborhoods.
Love met Minor during a philanthropic trip to Atlanta, in which a group looked at how Atlanta supports its entrepreneurs, especially their Black entrepreneurs, and how they could bring some of those skills back to Minnesota.
She said Minor’s ability to connect with others impressed her. Building a strong network allows an entrepreneur to tap into resources and information from other business owners, organizations and people from diverse backgrounds, she said.
Understanding the journey
Minor said his search for a building came with a learning curve, but in the end he found his spot.
The building, located at 576 Front Ave., used to be owned by TMG Construction. The warehouse space where the gym is now located was used for construction whereas the office space was used for project planning.
Minor closed on the building in January 2024 and took about six months to redevelop it into The Mali Center.
Now, a year since opening, Minor said he’s taken many of the lessons he’s learned to heart and is trying to pass them on.
An in-demand skill or product might make you some money, but it isn’t enough to sustain a business.For instance, you can be really good at cutting hair, but that skill alone won’t keep a business going for long, Minor said.
“You might have a business concept, but you don’t really know if it’s a viable business until you actually research, get funding. There’s so many aspects to it, and then you actually have to execute, own and operate the businesses,” Minor said.
It’s a lesson he picked up from working with Lloyd and now tries to teach newer entrepreneurs.
“I want to try to help some businesses, or some entrepreneurs on the front end, understand what the business journey entails,” Minor said.
First-year growing pains
Although The Mali Center is now a reality, the struggles are far from over. Minor has had to deal with new problems, including water leaks and other maintenance issues.
“Once you own the building, now you’re responsible for the maintenance,” he said. “It’s not something that you can actually go to school for. You just have to experience it. There’s no way that anybody can prepare you for the unknown.”
Minor initially envisioned having more tenants, but now that some have left, he said he’s thinking of ways to utilize the newly vacant spaces in his building.
He described his current business model as one that is agile, fluid but also focused on giving back.
In early August, The Mali Center alongside ESNDC hosted a wealth and wellness retreat for 15 entrepreneurs, whom they connected with a panel of experts in banking, real estate and other fields.
“I didn’t have mentorship or guidance when I embarked on that entrepreneurial journey, and so I vowed that I would put myself in a position as my business grew in scale, to bring in mentor work with others,” Minor said.
For Minor, mentorship is a crucial part of building wealth. He said the process is harder if you’re trying to go at it alone.
During August’s event, Minor stressed to participants the importance of lifting each other up in business.
“The focus isn’t what I can get from somebody, but rather, how can I be in community with this person,” Minor said.
