Former NHL player’s Minneapolis house with Bde Maka Ska views listed at $5.25M

John Johannson wanted a traditional home set in a charming, walkable, urban neighborhood.

But he also wanted conveniences more commonly found in suburban houses, like big closets and a garage large enough to accommodate a Chevrolet Suburban and a Cadillac Escalade.

He and his then-wife “wanted to have that heritage feeling, but we wanted the modern design,” Johannson said.

He found a property on a dead-end street nestled between Bde Mka Ska and Minikahda Club’s golf course, with views of both. The historic 1880s Tudor was attractive, he said, but didn’t have those contemporary touches.

So he razed it, and in its place, luxury homebuilder Charles Cudd constructed a stately house of almost 12,000 square feet. Johannson’s family moved in to the traditional exterior, roomy interior home in 2008.

Now divorced and with his four children grown, Johannson doesn’t need all that space and has listed the Minneapolis house at $5.25 million.

The six-bedroom, nine-bathroom home stands on a half-acre lot within a mile or two of a plethora of restaurants. It shares a fence line with Minikahda, which has a pool and tennis courts.

“There’s 120 days in the summer where you literally don’t have to go anywhere,” said Johannson, a former University of Wisconsin hockey player who suited up for the NHL’s New Jersey Devils in the 1980s.

And that’s not just because of the neighborhood amenities. The house provides a lot of entertainment on its own.

A high-ceilinged athletic court is perfect for basketball and volleyball, said Johannson, who works in commercial real estate. Among the home’s dozens of rooms, there’s one for exercise, games and recreation. On the third floor, a 900-square-foot play room.

For refreshments after all that fun, head to the wet bar or wine cellar.

Other features include a walk-in pantry off the kitchen, a family room, two dining rooms (formal and informal), four fireplaces (including one in the primary bedroom) and an office (as well as a study, plus a studio).

For outdoor living, the home has a screened porch and multiple open porches and balconies, including a patio with a pergola and fireplace.

Classic materials finish those present-day comforts: walnut flooring, custom cabinetry, marble and granite.

The home’s architect was the late Charlie Ainsworth, who worked with his wife, Penny Ainsworth, as project coordinator. She added details to her husband’s larger vision, such as making sure the stone exterior looked natural and not “matchy-matchy,” she said.

The Ainsworths incorporated design ideas they’d picked up when traveling, such as arched doorways and windows the shape of the kitchen cabinets also echo. The leaded- and stained-glass doors of the formal dining room’s cabinets are “inspired by a hotel in Florence,” she said.

“We’d traveled a lot, seen a lot, done a lot,” said Penny Ainsworth, who has worked on houses only occasionally since her husband died in 2022.

The house has an elevator, a fairly common feature in high-end homes these days, according to Laura Hartmann. She and sister Nancy Hedlund own Access Lifts in Burnsville, which installed the elevators in Johannson’s home 17 years ago.

“I feel like if you’re building a home that is over a million dollars, you’re automatically going to have an elevator planned in it,” Hartmann said, adding that includes homes around Minnesota. “... Seems like everyone that’s building a new house on a lake is putting in an elevator.”

Zoning laws at the time of construction restricted second structures on residential lots, but the property had a grandfathered-in old carriage house. Johannson also demolished that and built a new structure. The upper level is for lodging, and in the basement, there’s a golf simulator. A finished, heated garage — in addition to the main house’s four-car attached garage — completed what Johannson called the family’s “party headquarters.”

The original carriage house had a classic stone door surround, carved with the home’s street address. Johannson made sure to carefully remove it piece by piece to re-install it around the new structure’s entrance.

“You can’t replace the craftsmanship,” he said. “It’s really charming.”

Matt Baker (612-860-4222, mbaker@cbburnet.com) and Ellyn Wolfenson (612-644-3033, ejwolfenson@cbrealty.com) have the $5,250,000 listing.