MINNEAPOLIS — A Minneapolis City Council committee voted Tuesday against the selection of a violence prevention group to redevelop a former gas station across the street from where George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police.

Their decision means the process of deciding what to do with the former Speedway gas station, which was destroyed during the 2020 riots, could drag on longer than the six years it’s already taken.

In 2023, the city of Minneapolis bought the Speedway property after a man was found dead inside, his body set on fire. In 2024, the city began the process of finding a redeveloper for the site near E. 38th Street and Chicago Avenue.

City staff recently recommended that a group called Minnesota Agape Movement be chosen to redevelop the space, but the City Council would have to sign off on the deal. Known as a “violence-interruption” group, Agape employs former gang members to defuse tension before it spills over into violence.

But a council committee voted Tuesday against giving the project to Agape, citing concerns about the group’s financial acumen and development experience. The issue goes to the full council for a vote on June 11.

Originally, Agape proposed a six-story commercial building with restaurants, a museum, a music studio and rooftop garden at a total cost of up to $35 million, but city officials said Tuesday that Agape officials realized it was too ambitious and scaled it back.

After Agape was announced as the city’s preferred option last month, the group immediately ran into roadblocks: Victoria Yepez , an emerging developer working with Agape, told the Star Tribune that she hadn’t heard any updates about the project in months and would have to “re-engage” with Agape.

Another developer listed in Agape’s proposal, Landon Group, has distanced itself from the project. Landon Group Principal Sarah Larson said in a statement, “We were not involved in the submission process. We have reached out to the City to address this and to ensure accurate representation in all future materials.”

An Agape spokesperson declined to comment Tuesday, but Miles Mercer, manager of business development for the city’s Community Planning and Economic Development, or CPED, said some of the partners originally listed on projects have changed, which is “totally understandable” since it’s been a lengthy process. He said Landon has “not been part of” the Agape team.

After the city solicited pitches from the community to redevelop the gas station site, four finalists presented their ideas to the public early last year.

In the end, two groups ended up vying for the project: Agape and an activist nonprofit called Rise and Remember, which proposed a memorial garden and greenhouse for an estimated $2.5 million. The nonprofit reported nearly $1 million in revenue in 2023 and $272,000 in 2024.

Rise and Remember is led by Floyd family members Angela Harrelson and Paris Stevens, and activist Jeanelle Austin. The group is connected to the protesters who took over George Floyd Square for about a year, maintained a memorial in the area, and frequently criticize the mayor.

A city-commissioned 2023 survey found most people in the neighborhood supported the Rise and Remember proposal. But city staffers recommended Agape be chosen for a two-year agreement, with a possible one-year extension, to finalize the terms of the sale of the property and its redevelopment. Frey accepted their recommendation, he said.

Council Member Soren Stevenson, who represents the area and had been in discussions with Frey on how to move forward with a developer, said the weak local support for Agape helped push him to come out against the group Tuesday.

“Listening to the community is critical here,” he said.

After the vote, Frey released a statement saying: “Voting down the selection and returning to the drawing board is the council’s prerogative. My goal is to stop the delay and achieve forward progress at George Floyd Square.”

Agape has been divisive ever since its LLC was hired by the Frey administration in 2021 to help reopen and regain control of 38th and Chicago, where protesters created an “autonomous zone” with concrete barricades, sculptures and checkpoints that they vowed to keep in place until a long list of police reforms were made.

Police stayed away from the area and crime spiraled, businesses closed and finally the Frey administration gave Agape a no-bid $359,000 contract to help clear the area, as the city increasingly tapped community groups like Agape to avoid confrontations between police and activists.

It’s been a tumultuous transition. A federal prosecutor claimed two years ago that active gang members helped start Agape and paid “tens of thousands of dollars” to active gang members, including a man convicted for a 2020 killing. Agape leaders denied the allegation, and the prosecutor never proved that point in a racketeering trial of gang members.

Agape became a tax-exempt nonprofit in 2021, lost its status in 2023, then had it reinstated in 2024. Agape filed 990 tax forms in 2023 and 2025 showing it took in less than $50,000 each of those years.

Mercer told the council committee that neither of the groups would have the skills to pull off “any sort of development,” and Agape would admit they don’t have experience with real estate development, but they partnered with others who do.

“Is it the best that we would have liked to see? No,” he said. “But it is what we have.”

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Susan Du of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story.

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