Not too long ago, I made my first visit to Saint Paul's downtown. It's certainly not one of the most vibrant, but some new spots have popped up and makes this small but dense downtown feel a good deal more lively: once you head inside one of them that is. It seems like the sidewalks are pretty empty, but I think that's because everyone's already hanging out at their destination. There are over 7,000 residents in this downtown after all, so hopefully the influx of destinations will encourage them and others to support a more energetic downtown. As it stands, there are a decent number of places to head out on a weekend.
More downtown retail: in vinyl form.
Tracks for the Mpls-St Paul light-rail line due in 2 years.
A dingy downtown metal bar: who would have guessed?
Station U/C.
Black Dog Cafe Bar: got my caffeine and alcohol fix covered.
Mears Park.
Back to Amsterdam for $2 Amstels, frites, and...
a filling greasy sandwich with house-made sausage and aioli under $4.
Downtown St Paul had 6,604 residents as of 2010, so I'm guessing it's a couple hundred higher by now, nearing 7,000. The increase was 18% while in Mpls it was 32%, so St Paul could likewise use a higher boost. West of Downtown is where you have well-established and more vibrant areas with more to do, but it looks like the area should be at the tipping point for increased vibrancy and it seems quite a few places Downtown just opened in a past few years: Amsterdam just opened towards the end of last year.
With how small Downtown is, 1 mile east-west and 1/2 mile north south and seeing that sweet Hoboken thread I had to compare the two, since Hoboken is apparently only 2 sq miles and has 50,000 residents. If we're looking at nightspots for as a metric for vibrancy, Hoboken has 66 and St Paul 25, which really isn't bad considering how it only has over 1/10th of Hoboken's population (and based on the two spots I went plus the metal bar I've yet to visit it looks like St Paul is more of my kind of place).
I think the fact that it has been ignored for the last half century will eventually work to its' advantage. In Minneapolis most of the old buildings were torn down to build shiny new things, but St Paul still has theirs. Eventually that is an asset that will pay big dividends, but it isn't quite there yet. It is likely St Paul is going to see a construction boom once the Central Corridor LRT is done. Because of the way the route is planned and the way the Twin Cities are structured I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes one of the biggest TOD success stories in the country.
Nice tour. I've always found downtown St. Paul to be a mixed bag. Not as active as Mpls, but a bit quainter and more attractive. I think the Central Corridor is going to be a game changer for both downtowns.
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Originally Posted by Columbusite
With how small Downtown is, 1 mile east-west and 1/2 mile north south and seeing that sweet Hoboken thread I had to compare the two, since Hoboken is apparently only 2 sq miles and has 50,000 residents.
Hoboken is only 1 sq. mile. It's known as the Mile Square City.
Figures when I googled Hoboken the figure that pops up didn't mention that about half of those two sq miles is water. I agree with all your points on St Paul's downtown vs Mpls'.
^^^Chef, what about all of this development just adjacent to Downtown south of Shepard Rd? Looks like it's all 7 blocks of dense residential, but I don't know how much of an influence it has on Downtown. Might be what's getting more new businesses to open. And as you mentioned, St Paul has a very intact downtown, so I'm guessing instead of new build residential buildings we'll be seeing more office to apartment conversions? Although I did just notice that the NE side has a decent amount of empty space and around 9th and Temperance there are two newer apartment buildings.
Great tour of downtown St Paul's edges, which is the most photogenic part anyway. Like Minneapolis, St Paul also destroyed a lot of its historic urban fabric back in the 1960s with the Capital City Urban Renewal District. This covered about a 9 or 12 square block area between Wabasha and Robert Street, north of 5th Street). This is now home to a very boring collection of boxy buildings (Macy's is one that is featured here, but Town Square, EcoLab, AgriBank, Wells Fargo Center, et al are others). Once you get south of 5th Street, however, there are many interesting buildings in the core--such as First National Bank (with its iconic "1st" looming over the skyline), Pioneer Endicott, and the Empire. Downtown St. Paul does have a richness of character that Minneapolis lacks. The compactness of the downtown also makes it easier to get around.
As with Minneapolis, photos of the downtown make it appear deader than it is due to the skyways (though St Paul's downtown still can't be considered very vibrant). The new Lund's grocery store (as part of the Penfield Apts development) should definitely help make downtown a more attractive place to live, but the city ticked off many private developers by developing it themselves (as well as the Farmers Market Lofts).
Anyway, didn't mean to ramble on, but thanks for posting the tour!
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It's looks to be a fairly solid downtown. I'm glad to see the progress on the Central Corridor, and am curious--is the new Lunds Grocery store downtown still a go?
Nice bunch of building stock, just need to add people.
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