This story began with a KSTP news video someone forwarded to me. I found it bewildering that an event venue could be permitted in the heart of Kenwood. It is not, according to the city.
You know the house. Trolleys of sightseers still roll past it, and strangers pull over just to take its picture. It’s where Mary Richards lived, at least in the opening credits of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”
Now it’s for rent. Overnight stays, yes. But it’s also being marketed for weddings, galas and receptions of up to 130 people. Under its short-term rental license, the city says, the house can hold no more than 10 people, and its zoning does not permit an event venue.
In recent weeks, I put questions to the city, spoke with Bernie Reisberg, whose wife, Michelle Reisberg, owns the house, and heard from the firm that manages it.
A Private Residence
The Queen Anne house was designed by architect Edward Somerby Stebbins and built in 1892 for S.E. Davis. Its exterior stood in for Mary Richards’ fictional address, 119 North Weatherly, on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” which aired from 1970 to 1977. Moore never lived there.
In September 2017, the Arrowhead Revocable Land Trust bought the house for $1.45 million, the Star Tribune reported. Bernie Reisberg, described then as a Twin Cities businessman affiliated with the buyers, told the paper the home would be a private residence for “a family living there from time to time.”
Kate Wall, the buyers’ real estate agent, said then that they “have no interest in opening the house to the public or bringing any more attention to the residence.”
Hennepin County property records now list Michelle M. Reisberg as the owner. Bernie Reisberg told me the couple took the house out of the trust because “there was no accounting reason to have it in the trust.”
Online marketing for 2104 Kenwood Parkway, promoted as The Moore House, includes its website (“Iconic Exterior. Exceptional Inside.”), an Airbnb listing for “16+ guests” and wedding photography on its stairs. Bigger Picture Solutions manages the house.
(Images: The Moore House Minneapolis, Airbnb, Catherine Brinker Photography)
Open for Stays and Events
The Reisbergs moved to the western suburbs about a year ago, Bernie Reisberg said, “just to be closer to some friends and folks.” He said the family turned to short-term rentals to keep the house from being turned into a fourplex or multi-unit building. “We’d be delighted to sell it, but we don’t want to see it carved up,” he said. Reisberg confirmed the family did not try to sell the house before turning it into a short-term rental.
“ For this property, the maximum is 10 people.”
— City of Minneapolis Spokesperson
Yet he also said, “Obviously, everything is for sale.” And if the house were someday divided like other properties along Kenwood Parkway, he said: “Ultimately, if that’s what’s best for the city, that’s fine.”
There’s an irony here. On TV, the house was already carved up. Mary Richards lived in an upstairs apartment.
According to a July 28 Mpls.St.Paul Magazine story, the house opened as an event space and vacation rental in late 2025. Reisberg said the family has been renting it out since early spring 2026.
Bigger Picture Solutions, a venue consulting and management firm run by Jessica Barrett and Kastina Morrison, manages the house and markets it as The Moore House. The home’s own website and its Airbnb listing say, “We specialize in event and vacation rentals, and can combine the two for something truly one of a kind.”
Meet Minneapolis, the city’s tourism agency, and other sources list the house among the city’s landmarks. That “doesn’t make it as conducive to being a family home, but does create an opportunity to share a special space with people visiting Minnesota,” Barrett wrote in an email. “The City of Minneapolis and Meet Minneapolis were extremely supportive of using this property as a vacation rental.”
A Meet Minneapolis spokesperson disagreed. “To say that Meet Minneapolis is supportive of that wouldn’t really be accurate,” the spokesperson said.
Two Calls to Police
Police records show two calls to the house this summer.
On the morning of July 26, Morrison called police for help evicting guests who, according to the incident report, had held an unauthorized party and were refusing to leave after their reservation was canceled. Officers made sure “the unwanted party was out of the residence,” the report says.
Reisberg and Barrett each described one problem rental this summer that ended in an eviction the next morning. Those renters “were noisy and they broke the law,” Reisberg said. “We haven’t had any issues since.” Barrett wrote that the guests “did not comply with our rules, had too many guests on site, and became a nuisance to our neighbors.”
Two days after the eviction, the Mpls.St.Paul Magazine story named D’Amico as a catering partner. “You could do a welcome dinner with 100 people, at the high end, and then the wedding party or family has a place to stay,” Barrett told the magazine.
The second call came about 1:30 a.m. on Aug. 8, when a caller reported a loud party at the house. About 20 minutes later, the caller called back to say the party was getting louder. No officers were sent. A police sergeant advised that the call could be deactivated because of the time it had been pending, according to the report, and it was canceled at 5:36 a.m.
A License for 10
On Aug. 19, months after Reisberg said the family began renting the house, the city issued it a short-term rental license. It is the only license the house holds, a city spokesperson said in written answers to my questions.
Occupancy caps for short-term rentals are based on a property’s square footage, according to the city. “For this property, the maximum is 10 people,” the spokesperson said.
An Airbnb listing for “Moore House Minneapolis” displays the license number, STR-426982, and advertises eight bedrooms, 11 beds and room for “16+” guests. Reisberg said groups of “really 12 to 15 people” stay at the house. He said he understood the limit to be “based on beds.”
Asked whether neighbors received the notice required as part of the license application, he said, “it should have been all sent out.” He said the family has not met with the Kenwood Neighborhood Organization.
The City Issues Orders
Since Jan. 1, 311 has received two reports about the property: one asking whether it complied with short-term rental regulations and a second asking about its zoning.
“ You could do a welcome dinner with 100 people, at the high end, and then the wedding party or family has a place to stay.”
— Jessica Barrett, to Mpls.St.Paul Magazine
On Sept. 18, the city’s zoning office issued orders on the property. The house is in the UN2 Urban Neighborhood District, with a BFI2 Interior 2 built-form overlay. “A reception/meeting hall is not a permitted use in this zoning district,” the city spokesperson said. The house has no conditional use permit or other city approval for events.
After issuing the orders, the city’s lead zoning inspector spoke with one of the owners of Bigger Picture Solutions. The city has not said what the orders require. Reisberg told me they essentially mean the house cannot be used as a reception hall. “We’re not trying to skirt the zoning ordinance here, but there seems to be some difference in opinion as to some of what is,” he said.
Six days after the orders, on Sept. 24, KSTP published the video that started this story, titled “Mary Tyler Moore House now available for events and rentals.” In it, Morrison said, “We’ll be donating a percentage of any profit we do make to her foundation.” The video had more than 54,000 views on YouTube as of Oct. 26. Neither KSTP nor the magazine mentioned the 10-person limit or the zoning.
Still Marketed for 130
I contacted Bigger Picture Solutions on Oct. 25 through The Moore House’s online inquiry form. A reply the same day said the firm would “love to be in the issue” but was “just wrapping up a busy event season,” and asked to talk after my Oct. 28 deadline.
That night, Reisberg said, the house hosted a church fundraiser that lasted about three hours, which he said “has nothing to do with the business of short-term rental.”
When we spoke on Oct. 26, Reisberg said the house is meant for overnight stays. “The house is not there for a frat party. It’s not there for receptions. It’s there for people to use it to stay overnight,” he said. He agreed that the zoning does not allow a reception hall. “They can’t have a 60-person reception,” he said.
He said the capacity figures in the marketing were something the managers “did incorrectly” and that they “should be taken off.”
That day, the firm’s listing still read, “Capacity: 3–130 (depending on use),” with an “Event capacity: 30–100 for cocktail-style receptions.” Uses it recommends include “weekend wedding hubs,” rehearsal dinners, fundraising evenings and galas.
A listing on the event site PartySlate gives a capacity of 45 seated and 110 standing, with a four-hour minimum and a $1,400 minimum spend.
Barrett answered my written questions by email on Oct. 27. “To date, we haven’t had a contracted event on site,” she wrote. Historic homes in Kenwood, she wrote, have “a long tradition of hosting intimate events, such as political or nonprofit fundraisers, birthday parties, or other small gatherings.”
She described the firm’s goals for the house as “making it an accessible Minneapolis landmark where vacation rental guests can create some great memories” and partnering with Meet Minneapolis and other city organizations. She did not address the zoning orders, the 10-person limit, the capacity figures in the firm’s marketing or the foundation donation.
Online marketing images for The Moore House Minneapolis.
(Images: Catherine Brinker Photography)
What Comes Next
A city spokesperson confirmed that the restrictions are in place and enforceable. The Sept. 18 orders are on hold while the zoning inspector talks with the owner.
“We are working with the owner and he has said he intends it as a short-term rental — not a rental hall,” the spokesperson said. The city plans to keep working with the owner on how to avoid further problems and to make sure guests know events are not permitted.
Zoning treats the house as a dwelling. Residents of a dwelling can host events or parties “like normal,” the spokesperson said, but not on a regular basis, and “a paid event would not be allowed at a dwelling in this zoning district.” A reception hall “is not allowed by zoning,” and no one has applied for a conditional use permit, variance or other approval.
If events continue, “orders and citations would be issued for non-compliance,” the spokesperson said.
The 10-person cap applies to overnight guests. The house holds a short-term rental registration, the type for a homesteaded property whose owner leaves while it is rented, and the city has not inspected it. The application included a management plan and a neighborhood notification letter, the city said.
Occupancy limits are harder to enforce. Enforcement “can be challenging simply because the occupant may no longer be at the property when an Inspector follows up on a complaint,” the spokesperson said. “However, if we obtain sufficient evidence of over-occupancy, the City issues a notice of the violation to the owner, which could result in citations and/or the property being vacated.”
Craig Wilson is the editor of the Hill & Lake Press. He lives in Lowry Hill
