The new mural at Qahwah House, 1851 Central Ave. NE. Gustavo Lira and Xilam Balm repainted the wall after their first mural was covered over in May 2024. (Josh Blanc)
On November 24, 2025, Gustavo Lira and Xilam Balm completed a new mural at Qahwah House, 1851 Central Ave. NE. It replaces “Flor de Piña,” a mural they created in 2022. That mural adorned the wall of Half Fancy, a restaurant on Central Avenue.
A few months later, Half Fancy went out of business, and the building sat empty for around a year. A new tenant moved into the building, and shortly after, on May 8, 2024, workers painted over the mural.
The Minneapolis Great Streets community (a city program that offers “grants and loans to support business district revitalization,” according to the city’s website) funded the original mural, which was administered by the Northeast Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce. Lira and crew spent around 200 hours over three months creating the mural. They were shocked, as they were never notified it would be painted over.
Upon the mural’s erasure, it was unclear who, precisely, was at fault. There was confusion between the new tenant and the building owner, Tryg Truelson, of the Truelson restaurant family that used to run Porky’s; the city had no response to address the issue. Everyone pointed fingers at everyone else; no one took responsibility.
The Arts District convened a meeting with the Minneapolis Arts and Cultural Affairs department and Minneapolis Arts Commission member Lana Aylesworth, who heads the commission’s policy group. The District’s members discussed the situation surrounding the destruction of a number of murals at the time. The members also developed solutions to mitigate the impact and to provide more artists with tools before and after an incident.
Mary Altman, an public arts administrator with the Arts & Cultural Affairs Department, and her team worked to update the city’s public art program. The Arts District received a copy of the revised program on November 18, 2025: “Bringing Murals to Minneapolis: A guide for artists, community groups, and businesses.” The document can be read here: https://bit.ly/NortheastMurals.
This document centralizes information about public art murals, giving artists and businesses more precise guidance on commissioning them. If followed, it may help educate and ensure that public art, once installed, is protected. It also outlines what to do if a mural is damaged or destroyed.
Lira said Qahwah House reached out to him and wanted to make the situation right. In conversation with the Chamber of Commerce, they found a grant to help pay for a new mural with funds from the coffee shop, too.
Lira and Balm went to work on the latest mural in mid-August. They finished the mural on November 24, 2025. Lira said the new mural is called “Highlands,” named for where Qahwah House’s coffee comes from. The altitude and latitude where they grow the coffee are unique, and they wanted the mural to reflect its origins. The artists said he was “very satisfied with being able to remake the mural.”