Midway : Development News

The innovative developer that brought Minneapolis such imaginative properties as The Broadway, Aria and Icehouse Plaza is taking on its biggest project yet with its first venture into St. Paul. First & First is moving ahead with the redevelopment of a 5.5-acre, multi-structure property at 550 Vandalia Street in the Creative Enterprise Zone to be known as Vandalia Tower—a nod to the old water tower that will become a focal point of the property.

Founder and head visionary Peter Remes says he plans to transform the property into a dynamic campus housing an array of creative tenants from woodworkers to graphic designers, artists, architects and more. He says negotiations are also underway with potential craft brewers and restaurants. One of the defining features of the campus will be what Remes describes as a “secret garden” courtyard in the center of the complex.

“It’s a big campus, a big project by almost anyone’s standards,” says Remes, who grew up less than two miles from the site—a fact he says gives the project particular personal significance.

The 205,000-square-foot property sits one block north of I-94 and two blocks south of University Avenue where the new Metro Transit Light Rail Green Line will start running June 14.  In many ways, the location speaks to another of First & First’s defining missions—to connect a place’s past, present and future; preserving it’s heritage while breaking transformational new ground.

The Midway area of St. Paul has a rich history as both an industrial center and transportation hub dating back to the end of the 19th century when James J. Hill imagined the area as a central connection point for the Great Northern Railway.

More recently, the Vandalia Tower property embodied the industrial past of the area as home to the King Koil Mattress factory. Remes plans to keep that history close to the surface as he reinvents the property as a modern mixed-use centerpiece to a neighborhood already gaining recognition as a center of creative activity and commerce.

“That’s when the magic occurs, in terms of being able to honor that past and let that history breathe, and yet infuse it with modern day amenities…and just really have this juxtaposition that occurs when you walk in that can be very thought provoking,” Remes says.

The main building is currently home to around 30 tenants including a growing community of woodworkers, artists, and other creative entrepreneurs. Some have worked out of the crumbling building for years, while others are newly recruited tenants.

Nordeast Makers moved into the building last fall. Hundreds of members use the large shared workspace—and its collection of top-of-the-line equipment—to tinker, build and create everything from art and furniture to innovative software and technologies.

Remes says these are the types of tenants he hopes to attract and cater to at Vandalia Tower. “What they bring to the table is that energy we hope to continue to build upon and to grow,” he says.

First & First hosted a meeting with current tenants last month, many of whom are worried the lofty development plans will increase rents that would price them out of their spaces. Remes says that while modest rent increases are likely, the goal is to keep as many of the creative tenants already there as possible.

“We want these people to prosper, we want them to do well, and that goes for the neighboring businesses, as well,” he said.

 

The grand opening of Sunrise Creative Gourmet Market on Saturday, March 8, continues a 100-year-long tradition for the Forti family of bringing hard working Minnesotans authentic Italian cuisine. The new venture at 865 Pierce Butler Route in Saint Paul includes a retail location, factory outlet, and large-scale cooperative commercial kitchen with dedicated gluten-free space.

Fourth generation owner Tom Forti is building on the foundation laid by his great grandfather in 1913, when he opened the original Sunrise Bakery in Hibbing. Guilio Forti emigrated from Rome in the early 1900s to work in the mines of southern Minnesota. Already in his 50s, he soon decided to leave the mine and return to his former craft—baking artisan Italian breads.

Sunrise Creative Gourmet holds its Italian heritage close while bringing age-old recipes into the modern age. Many of the recipes used today have been passed down from generation to generation, according to Forti. Using imported Italian equipment along with locally sourced ingredients maintains another level of authenticity while incorporating modern flare.

“It’s an emotional investment in the product,” Forti says.  “We’re a very prideful family and we take great pleasure in knowing people like our food.”

That pride was reaffirmed Saturday. With more than 500 customers stopping in to sample both classic and new fare from Sunrise, the small market was bustling from open to close. “It’s great for a little shop like this…we had no idea what to expect,” Forti says. “It was a pleasant surprise.”

Forti’s father started his own spinoff of Sunrise Bakery when he opened Sunrise Deli in Hibbing, incorporating fresh pastas, Italian meats, and more to the family’s line of baked goods. He and Tom’s mother own and operate the deli today, while his aunt and cousin run the original Sunrise Bakery, both in Hibbing.

Tom Forti is now bringing a new perspective to the family business. After graduating from the University of Saint Thomas in 2001, he went to work in the food industry, spending three years working retail and restaurants in Idaho. He moved back to Hibbing in 2004 to bring a wholesaling aspect to the family business. For the past nine years he has been working for Trudeau Distributing, a specialty grocery distribution company.

Through that role, he’s formed important relationships with Twin Cities’ grocers and co-ops, he says. He’s also become a familiar sight at area farmers’ markets, where he staffs the family stand.

While the Saint Paul retail expansion is an exciting development for the family business, it’s the cooperative commercial kitchen component that has Forti’s passion cooking.

“This building is going to service as retail, but really, we’re here to produce gluten-free pasta and hopefully gluten-free entrees,” he says.

With half the space dedicated for gluten-free production, Forti is looking forward to bringing in up to 12 other small- to medium-size businesses to use the space and sell their products in the marketplace up front.

The Sunrise Market will carry products from all the family’s related businesses including, fresh, frozen and dried pastas, sauces and porketta, as well as signature potica, biscotti, and other baked goods.

Source: Tom Forti
Writer: Kyle Mianulli

One year ago, the former Midway Chevrolet car dealership at 1333 University Avenue was yet another vacant lot along the Central Corridor—a remnant from a previous era when car dealerships dominated the Midway area of Saint Paul. Today, the lot stands as a colorful, artistic sign of things to come.

Over the past year, artist/organizer Oskar Ly has been working on a large-scale public art project at the site dubbed “ARTIFY—Bringing the Arts to Hamline Station.” Her project aims to create a renewed sense of place around the site ahead of a 108-unit affordable housing development, which Project for Pride in Living plans to break ground on this spring.

Ly brought community members and more than two-dozen local artists together to create 20 public art installments and 11 performances at the lot—all based on the theme “Home is…” She says the goal is to signify the transformation of an abandoned business to a place people would soon call home.

ARTIFY capped-off its yearlong project with a final celebration, “Midway is Home,” last Saturday. Artists reflected on their work, while spectators toured the grounds to view the various installments. Poetry for Thought, a local effort to inspire community dialogue through spoken word performances, organized area poets to present original works and spark discussion of what “home” means.

Janell Repp, a Saint Paul native, has lived all over the world, most recently in India. For her, home is often changing, she says. She once purchased a car at the Midway Chevrolet dealership. “I sat in this office and signed the papers,” she said. “It’s funny how time changes…you make your home where you are… and you keep moving through time.”

The most visible installation to passerby is a large mural painted at the Saint Paul Open Streets event last summer. It depicts a row of colorful houses over the façade of the old dealership with the words “Home is Hamline Midway” printed across the top. Another piece involves 108 house-shaped wood cutouts decorated by area youth with their own ideas of what “home” is.

Mischa Keagan and Witt Siasoco held several workshops at the Hamline Midway and Rondo libraries where people traced places they considered home on large green canvases that are now on display at the site. “All along people talked about their family, their kids, their homes, and their dogs…it was a really nice way to get to know people in the community,” Keagan said.

Most of the art installments will remain on display till demolition begins this spring. Ly says she has at least one more project planned. She hopes to hang large photos on the fence surrounding the construction site this summer. “I want to create a façade that helps create an environment that’s more community-oriented than if it was just a construction site,” she said.

The future PPL development will feature a public plaza to display art, thanks in part to the ARTIFY project, according to Ly.

ARTIFY is supported by Irrigate Arts, an artist-led creative placemaking initiative that seeks to foster a new sense of place through public art along the Central Corridor. Irrigate is made possible through a partnership between the City of Saint Paul, Twin Cities Local Initiatives Support Corporation, and Springboard for the Arts.

Sources: Oskar Ly, Janell Repp, Mischa Keagan
Writer: Kyle Mianulli

Last week, Megabus, which offers low-cost intercity travel by bus, rolled out a St. Paul bus stop.  

The stop, which can be found in the Midway Shopping Center’s parking lot, is only blocks away from the coming Central Corridor light rail transit station on Snelling Avenue.

Mike Alvich, the vice president of marketing and public relations for Megabus and Coach USA, says St. Paul is a natural connection for the bus service. “We always felt that St. Paul was a place where we should have service,” though the company began conservatively, he says.

Megabus, which began in Britain and expanded into the U.S. in 2006, also has a downtown Minneapolis bus stop, near the Metrodome and a Hiawatha light rail transit station.

Megabus operates in 100 U.S. cities out of a dozen hubs nationwide, with Chicago being its first. “It’s been very exciting,” Alvich says, adding that the company just reached a milestone of 25 million customers.

In general, Megabus attracts an interesting mix of people, including small groups taking day trips, businesspeople and seniors, with students and young professionals accounting for the largest group of riders. “St. Paul fits the mold for us,” he says, adding, “The community fits the demographic.”  Additionally, Greyhound buses have discontinued service in St. Paul, he says.

While the Megabus service helps connect the city to other areas across the Midwest, “For those traveling into the city, it adds to the city’s economy,” he says. Part of the draw of Megabus is that fares can be as low as $1, while the buses are “state-of-the-art double-decker buses with wifi outlets and electrical outlets.".

Something he’s found from the company’s social networking activity is that “we provide more than just transportation. We provide the ability for people to do the things they love."


Source: Mike Alvich, vice president of marketing and public relations for Megabus and Coach USA
Writer: Anna Pratt

 Groundswell Coffee in St. Paul is looking to create a groundswell of ideas.

Its co-owners, Seth McCoy and Tim Gilbert, want to get the community involved in the coffee shop’s expansion.

McCoy and Gilbert, who bought the neighborhood cafe in 2009, have been able to make the business break even, but in the economic downturn, “It’s been limping along,” McCoy says.  

To turn it around, they've tried to restore “the feeling of a neighborhood place," which it had when it first opened. But their efforts thus far "have not been enough,” he says.

After giving it some serious thought, “We agreed that being on that corner was important and we needed to find ways to accentuate that,” he says. That, they knew, would take some creative problem solving.

That’s when they learned that the next-door Borealis Yarn shop was closing. They got the idea to take over the space to create a full-service kitchen, beer and wine bar, along with an art consignment shop. Today they’re trying to secure financing for the $150,000 project.

To raise up to half of that, they’re looking at crowdfunding or community-based capital.

Crowdfunding allows community members to purchase a small stake in the company, he explains. At Northbound Smokehouse in Minneapolis, for example, “At a certain investment level, people could get free beer for life,” he says.

Similarly, Groundswell wants to offer a founders’ club membership for $1,000 apiece. A founding member could then get a free drink every day, he says.  

In line with the owners' community values, the place will serve locally sourced food and drink and highlight artists and musicians from the area. “The Twin Cities has a vibrant local economy and we want to tap into that wherever we can,” McCoy says.

With the coming Central Corridor Light Rail Transit line, and in the absence of many commercial buildings of this sort in the neighborhood, “We hope to be a place where neighbors can get together,” one that’s also family-friendly, he says.

Groundswell plans to have a grand opening in May.


Source: Seth McCoy, co-owner, Groundswell Coffee  
Writer: Anna Pratt

Mosaic on a Stick, an art studio in St. Paul that centers on mosaic making, has outgrown its longtime home on Snelling Avenue.  

As such, the studio is planning to expand operations this fall within the nearby Hamline Park Playground building.

It’s a big upgrade for the studio, informally known as "the Stick," which will go from 2,000 square feet to 3,500, according to owner and artist Lori Greene.

Securing more space means that the studio will be able to offer additional classes, have more open workspace, and host formal gallery shows and other community events. “The benefits are huge for both the Stick and the community,” she says.

Greene also needs more room for a new nonprofit organization that she’s starting, called the Urban Mosaic Collaborative, which is about introducing youth to art and community work.

Often, the Stick collaborates with local teens on mosaic-style murals. Recently, Greene led a group of teens from the COMPAS program in the creation of a mural for Canvas at the Hancock Recreation Center.

Separately, soon her handiwork will be visible at the in-progress Café 180 and Holistic Health Farms, according to a St. Paul Monitor story.
 
Since it opened in 2004, the Stick has become a neighborhood hub and something of a local recycling center. “People bring me their old plates and dishes and old tiles and plastic containers for reuse,” she says, adding that the items pour in weekly. “Most people tell me they would rather give it to me than throw it away.”   

In the move, the place will retain its colorful, bright, and welcoming aesthetic, with mosaics everywhere, she says.  

At the same time, the Stick will work with the city to preserve the building’s historic character.

“We’ve already made a difference and want to continue to be in the Midway Hamline Park Neighborhood so we can do more of what we’ve been doing,” she wrote in her application for the new space.

Source: Lori Greene, Mosaic on a Stick
Writer: Anna Pratt

An old industrial complex in St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood could become a hub for creative workers under a multimillion redevelopment plan from First and First principal Peter Remes.

The 5.6-acre site near the Central Corridor light rail transit line consists of nine buildings, along with a watertower, hence the project’s name, “Watertower Place," according to the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.

Amy Sparks, executive director of the nearby Saint Anthony Park Community Council, says that although the group hasn’t officially weighed in on the project, it’s generally supportive of the plan at this early stage.

In many ways, it’s in keeping with the neighborhood group’s efforts to formalize the area’s brand as a Creative Enterprise Zone. The neighborhood has long been home to artists and other creative types.

“Some of the folks involved in the Creative Enterprise Zone heard about it and are excited about the potential,” and the same goes for the group’s land use committee, she says.

The plan includes installing working elevators, exposing boarded-up windows, and bringing light into the hallways, among other upgrades, she says. Her understanding is that Remes wants to introduce nonindustrial uses, such as a theater, into the place.

Besides the usual development hurdles, the city is evaluating some of its zoning ordinances related to industry, which could have an impact on the development's direction, she says.

“The question is, do we want this to be the Creative Enterprise Zone or to be more of a traditional industrial zone? Hopefully it’ll be a melding of the two,” she says. “The two uses, art and industry, have coexisted pretty comfortably in the area for the past 30 years and we hope to see that continue.”  
 
Right now, the building has 60 tenants, and whether they’ll be able to stay is up in the air. “We want to make sure everything is done to keep some of the remaining tenants and to keep the building in the spirit of the Creative Enterprise Zone,” she says. “We want creative uses in the area.”

Source: Amy Sparks, executive director, Saint Anthony Park Community Council
Writer: Anna Pratt

This past winter, over 200 artists trained to do collaborative public art projects as a part of Irrigate.

It's a creative placemaking initiative for the coming Central Corridor light rail transit line. 
 
The workshops have seen more than double the level of participation that was anticipated for their first year by Springboard for the Arts, which is administering the initiative, according to Laura Zabel, who leads the organization.
 
“It’s a demonstration of the demand and interest in artists engaging the community,” she says, adding that emerging and established artists from a wide variety of disciplines have gotten involved.
 
Once artists go through the training, they can apply for grant money to do collaborative projects along the Central Corridor. Already, a number of mural projects have come out of the project, along with a concert series and more. “We’re really starting to feel the momentum,” she says.
 
For example, Leonardo’s Basement in Minneapolis is working with the Avalon School in St. Paul to create something it’s calling “sculptural mobile units,” which will travel to various events. 
 
A new business at Frogtown Square in St. Paul, which isn’t ready to go public yet, worked with Irrigate to organize a workshop called, “Make it Mysterious.” Artists designed temporary murals for the space. It led to “really cool visual pieces that animate that corner,” and the business is building on it, says Zabel. 
 
The various art events draw people to the corridor, which is especially important as construction is ramping up again, she says.
 
Irrigate is open to suggestions; on its website, it has a map where people can identify spots where art is needed. “I’ve seen people saying, here’s this ugly wall or huge dead tree, or available green space,” she says. “People know that artists think of all those things as opportunities.”
 
Source: Laura Zabel, Executive Director, Springboard for the Arts
Writer: Anna Pratt

When St. Paul artists Giesla Hoelscher and Karl Johnson set out to find a new gallery space, they happened upon a vintage brick building at 795 Raymond Avenue, through a friend-connection.

They were drawn to the location in part for the foot traffic, along with its thriving artist community and the fact that it was close to home, according to Hoelscher.

Since they opened Studio @ 795 in the space a year ago, however, the two artists, like many of their neighboring business owners, found it was a challenge to compete with the nearby construction for the Central Corridor light rail line.

But with her surroundings as inspiration, Giesla found a creative solution: At the St. Paul Art Crawl in April, she started offering historic walking tours of the neighborhood, which includes the University/Raymond Historic Commercial District.

She got interested in the history when work on a neighbor's building required preserving certain details. She started doing some research on the area. After she sifted through various history reports, "The research just kind of snowballed from there and I used city directories to learn what each of the spaces had been in previous lives," she says.

The West Midway area was once the city's largest industrial district, according to Studio @ 795 information. Its architecture "reflects everything from the railroad era up to the trucking industry that developed with the growth of the interstate highway system," a prepared statement about the tours reads. 

She decided to continue the tours well after the art crawl.

On the tour, people get a glimpse of the district's 22-plus historic buildings, which testify to various aspects of the area's commercial and non-commercial background.

"Before, so many people were opposed to coming in because the area was so torn up," she says.    

For the studio, "We thought we'd take advantage of it," she says. "We wanted to bring people in, to show that it's more than a space to avoid. There's some really interesting history here."  

"I think the history is in the small architectural details and is a bit hidden unless you're on foot," she says. It's something that she hopes doesn't get lost once light rail comes.

Hoelscher and other business owners also collaborated on RaymondOntheRail.com, as another way to promote the intersection's shops, restaurants, salons, and other amenities.

It expands on the similar but larger Discover Central Corridor "buy local" initiative, says Hoelscher.

Source: Giesla Hoelscher, Studio at 795
Writer: Anna Pratt

St. Paul may be the smaller of the Twin Cities, but it surpasses Minneapolis by one measure that some of its citizens lament:  population of billboards. According to Scenic Saint Paul, an anti-billboard group, Minnesota's capital city has by far the greatest number of billboards of any city in the state--505 at last count.

It's a number that has dropped slightly as outdoor advertising companies trade existing, traditional-format signs for the right, under a 2007 ordinance, to erect digital billboards elsewhere. A 1990s moratorium on new billboards in St. Paul remains in force but didn't translate into victory for a 1999 initiative to remove half the city's stock.

Battles over billboard have gone on in St. Paul for more than a century, by Scenic Saint Paul's reckoning. The latest salvo came last month when, as The Line noted, a federal appeals court sided with the outdoor industry, nullifying St. Paul's 2006 ban on billboard extensions--those attention-grabbing protrusions the companies sometimes build out from their boards' ordinary flat rectangles.

The St. Paul group has extended its campaign to rein in outdoor ads from the main battleground of the capital city through the formation of another group, Scenic Minnesota, which in turn is an affiliate organization of the national organization Scenic America.

Within St. Paul, the group's volunteers have mapped an uneven distribution of billboards. "If you don't have billboards in your neighborhood, you don't think it's a problem," says communications director Gerald Mischke. He said even with fewer billboards to regulate, city staff in Minneapolis seemed daunted by the group's offer to create a similar map there.

The groups assert that outdoor advertising companies don't have the right to profit off public "viewsheds" or what people see when they simply look around: "Billboard companies are selling something they do not own--the public's collective field of vision."

Source: Gerald Mischke, Scenic Minnesota
Writer: Chris Steller

Saint Paul mayor Chris Coleman hit the key notes: preparing businesses for the coming Central Corridor so they can survive the construction period and thrive once trains begin running down University Avenue.

To do that, he said, Ready for Rail has "an overall strategy" of mitigation steps, technical assistance, and financial aid to offer businesses in need.

Drawing most attention was a planned loan program to provide direct assistance to impacted businesses. Eligible borrowers would pay no interest on the loans and make no payments until after the light-rail line is complete.

Some loans or portions of loans may be forgiven; that is one of the details, along with precise eligibility criteria and which consulting organization will administer the fund, that remain to be decided. "I'd rather do it right than quick," Bell said.

The $1.5 million loan-fund pool consists of $1 million from the Met Council and $500,000 from the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative. Coleman termed it "a small safety net," emphasizing that its effectiveness would come from being part of an overall strategy.

"I'll readily concede that it's not an adequate fund, but it's a start," said Bell. He suggested--but was careful not to promise--that the size of the loan fund could grow.

How might that happen? A Met Council spokesman told The Line it's not likely that that agency would contribute more to the pool. Nancy Homans, Coleman's policy director, says some prospective local funders have already contributed via the Funders Collaborative. But she says that a higher national profile for the project could attract other funders from further afield. And if parts of the project come in under budget that could free up funds that might increase the pool.

Here is a video of the Ready for Rail news conference, prepared by Coleman's office:


Source: Nancy Homans, St. Paul Mayor's Office
Writer: Chris Steller

Minnesota's population became much more diverse from 1970 to 2000, but over that time most of the people working in development in communities of color had one thing in common: They were white.

People from within those communities could use a leg up to join and diversify the local professional-development ranks. That was the impetus behind a yearlong training program that Local Initiatives Support Corp. (LISC) began in 1997. Since then 110 developers have graduated from the Careership program, with as many as three-quarters going on to work in the field of community development.

This year, 12 people are taking part in the program; as many as 70 apply annually. They earn a stipend $12,000 while putting in 15 hours each week at a sponsoring organizatio --usually a nonprofit but sometimes a government agency or a for-profit developer. There, and at monthly seminars and consultations with an executive coach, they learn the ropes of building community through development work.

For about 35 percent of the participants, that development work is the bricks-and-mortar sort, says senior program officer Barbara Jeanetta. Housing and commercial development has remained a core activity for students and graduates of the program. But people from communities of color and immigrant groups understood that "it was not just about physical development," Jeanetta says. "They innately knew it was much more integrated." That means that many work on building more intangible kinds of community assets--employee training, youth development, and home-buying, for example.

Careership is especially helpful for people who lack a college degree and have "spotty" work records due to time spent caring for a parent or child, Jeanetta says. These people often don't have a professional network, but they start to build one over their year at the Careership program.

Source: Barbara Jeanetta, LISC
Writer: Chris Steller

You can think of the Energy Innovation Corridor as a second set of tracks running parallel to the Central Corridor light-rail transit line and taking the Twin Cities to an important destination.

The Energy Innovation Corridor is not an actual transit line but a group effort by businesses, government agencies and nonprofit organizations to promote energy efficiencies along the Central Corridor, from downtown St. Paul to downtown Minneapolis.

The Central Corridor line itself is "doing about 60 percent of what needs to be done," says Brian McMahon, executive director of University UNITED, a coalition of business people along University Avenue, which will carry the light-rail trains for most of their route.

Light-rail transit already achieves many environmental goals by getting people out of cars and encouraging more efficient high-density development. But as the Central Corridor project gained steam several years ago, University UNITED convened environmental groups to discuss how to ensure that anticipated transit-oriented development along the route went the rest of the way toward sustainability.

Among the concepts getting a push by the Energy Innovation Corridor are green building, better stormwater management, and solar and thermal energy generation. Retrofitting existing buildings and taking advantage of more energy-efficient land use along the Central Corridor are also priorities.

McMahon wants to make the Central Corridor a model for a holistic approach to transforming an urban environment. "Virtually everything the world is trying to do, we could show along University Avenue," he says.

Source: Brian McMahon, University UNITED
Writer: Chris Steller