“Quick in-n-out, need to go back here again before it gets sealed,” reads the caption on a TikTok video one urban explorer filmed inside a condemned building in northeast Minneapolis: “#abandoned #nursing home.”
In the video, a flashlight glances from graffitied walls to piles of broken glass and breaker panels hanging ajar in a dank basement.
The former nursing home at 2309 Hayes St. NE. has long vexed neighbors who have watched its post-pandemic decline up close. Known as Bethany Care Center, then Twin City Gardens Nursing Home, the facility traded hands among a series of private equity owners while being investigated by the state, leading to its closure in 2022.
Now it sits empty, a magnet for squatters, thrill-seeking TikTokers, copper wire pilfering, illegal dumping, late-night parties and graffiti.
Neighbor Laura Gurda organized a cleanup earlier this month to make the property slightly less unsightly for nearby Pillsbury Elementary School’s summer festival. It was a positive event that activated the block around the shared eyesore, she said, but as soon as they were done, somebody went back and spray-painted a large lewd image.
“The thing that makes this property stand out is that it’s right next to a school, and it’s right next to a park,” Gurda said. “Northeast is a vibrant neighborhood, but then there’s this little space that’s so dangerous.”

Limitations of city intervention
The building also happens to be right up the street from where residents vote.
City Council President Elliott Payne said the festering problem of 2309 Hayes has dogged his entire term in office, with residents rightly upset with its deterioration.