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The McBee Building is located at 4300 36 1/2 Street
at Excelsior Blvd.. It sits on former
Hanke land,
and indeed in 1926 the map shows that Lydia Hanke owned the
1.25 acres where the building sits. The 1958 directory
lists it at 4300 Excelsior Blvd.
The Building was built in 1954, named after the company it
was built for. Royal Typewriter merged with the McBee
Company, which made early computers. The company shows
up in the 1956 and '58 directories on Excelsior Blvd.
We do not have the 1959 or '60 directories. It does
not show up at all in 1961 to 1965. In 1966, the
company moved out/expanded in 1958 to
6415 Wayzata Blvd.
Nevertheless, the building on Excelsior continued to be known as the McBee
Building, and indeed in 1984 it was owned by the McBee
Building Limited Partnership.
The 3,000 sf office building was built by Ohme and Rutledge
for $23,000. From about 1956 to 1978 it was owned by Samuel
S. Clyman of Clyman Investments in Hopkins. Since about 1985
it has been owned by Ronald E. Clark, North Coast Partners,
Edina. In February 1983 there was a fire at the building
that caused $300,000 in damages.
There have been many tenants in the building over the years.
One of the most colorful was Kimiko’s Sauna. The
predominantly Vietnamese masseuses had a bad habit of
getting arrested for prostitution, and the City wanted them
– and others like them – out of town. The Council discussed
the issue at length and finally passed an ordinance in 1981.
Some other tenants include:
Lakes Employment Service
Park Salon of Beauty, run by Jackie Morehouse
Glick Chiropractic Farmer’s Insurance (1959)
Jeanne Nadal Cosmetics (1959)
Sealomatic Aluminum Ware (1959)
King Rodgers (?) (1959)
B&R Drapery and Home Furnishings (1983)
International School of Bartending (1983)
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