Private terraces, quartz countertops and porcelain bathtubs in three-bedroom apartments that lease for as much as $4,200 per month.
If that sounds a bit like a luxury rental listing in Beverly Hills or New York City, guess again.
Like the Whole Foods grocery next door, the 210-unit Vintage on Selby apartment complex transformed the intersection of Selby and Snelling avenues in St. Paul when it opened in late 2015.
The complex, initially owned by the Ryan Cos. and the Excelsior Group until its sale to New York-based investors, overlooks a humbler St. Paul staple — O’Gara’s Bar and Grill.
Soon, the one-story, 1940s-era Irish tavern could undergo its own transformation of sorts, as will several other buildings nearby. A plan, again by the Ryan Cos. and Excelsior Group, calls for a smaller bar footprint and co-working space, with 163 new apartments overhead.
Alongside the Vintage, at least three major real-estate projects will bring more than 400 units of new or planned housing to the nine-block stretch of Snelling between Selby and University avenues.
Those aren’t the only visible changes ahead for the area, which is poised for some of the most significant movement it’s seen in decades.
Imagine taller buildings. More renters. Soccer fans. And a new Red’s Savoy Pizza franchise.
So much change is happening so fast, some business owners are still taking it all in.
Lula Bush is happy to see growth but concerned about the impact of increased traffic and night life on neighborhood children, and wondering how anyone will unravel the notorious backups at a Starbucks drive-through at Snelling and Marshall avenues.
“The changes that have occurred recently have been quite rapid,” said Bush, who has run Lula Vintage Wear at 1578 Selby Ave. since 1992.
“I think we’re due for some changes,” Bush said. “I don’t know if this much is the best thing, but it was somewhat inevitable, since it hadn’t occurred for so long. We do need some of this to happen to keep our city vibrant.”
Four blocks north of Selby Avenue, next to the Tires Plus near Carroll Avenue, two squat buildings at 304-308 N. Snelling Ave. already have been demolished to make room for the Gaughan Co.’s 60 market-rate apartments.
Meanwhile, across from Allianz Field, Wellington Management hopes to replace the one-story Bremer Bank building with 175 apartments over new bank space.
Even a former Dairy Queen near Selby and Snelling has been shuttered and could soon be torn down and replaced by a new commercial building, the future home of a Dunkin’ Donuts and Red’s Savoy pizza franchise.
“That is still in play. We’re dealing with final elevation drawings for the landowner to present to the city, and then we’ll start with new construction, I do believe,” said Reed Daniels, president of Red’s Savoy Pizza.
Traffic signals along Spruce Street and Snelling Avenue will be moved to Shields Avenue, which will be extended into the Midway Shopping Center through the site where Big Top Liquors sits now.
Sometime after Labor Day, the liquor store will move to a nearby building on University Avenue that had been a Perkins Restaurant.
None of those changes are quite as dramatic as what’s in store at the intersection of Snelling and University avenues, where some 20,000 fans could soon flock to a Major League Soccer stadium, scheduled to be completed by early 2019.
M.A. Mortenson Co., the same Golden Valley-based company constructing the $250 million stadium, was recently selected as the master developer for the 35 acres of land surrounding it.
It’s still unclear how quickly Mortenson will draw new tenants or relocate existing ones, but conceptual master planning documents have envisioned everything from hotel and residential space to a potential movie theater.
CITY COUNCIL INVITES GROWTH
Real estate interest in the nine-block stretch of Snelling Avenue that runs through St. Paul’s Midway isn’t just driven by the private sector.
In September, the St. Paul City Council voted to alter zoning throughout Snelling Avenue from Concordia Avenue to Ford Parkway, easing height restrictions to allow greater density at key intersections.
The city of St. Paul is drafting its 20-year planning vision — the 2040 Plan — that calls for heightened real estate density, improved transit access and other development amenities at 56 neighborhood intersections, or “nodes.”
The draft comprehensive plan identifies Snelling and University avenues as a node, as well as Snelling and Selby avenues. Farther north, Snelling and Como Avenue is the avenue’s third node.
Given demand for new housing, it’s no surprise that neighborhood residents are split over the sudden focus on their nine-block stretch of Snelling.
Aside from the usual questions about traffic and parking, some wonder whether new apartments will really help ease demand for rental housing, or draw upscale new tenants from outside the city who will price out the locals.
A recent neighborhood decision to support O’Gara’s request for a mixed residential and commercial building measuring up to 62 feet in height illustrates the division.
On Monday, the Union Park District Council’s land use and economic development committee voted 12-7 and 12-8 to support both a rezoning request and the conditional use permit for the added height, respectively.
“It’s sort of similar conversations you see elsewhere in the city,” said Brandon Long, executive director of the Union Park District Council. “Folks are concerned about the speed of changes. O’Gara’s, it doesn’t seem like folks are terribly upset about the fact that it’s being redeveloped. It’s mostly about massing and setbacks.
“There are definitely committee members on UPDC who were favorable to the Vintage, and used it as a comparison to what O’Gara’s is doing,” Long said. “With the 2040 Plan, people are really curious what ‘nodes’ are, what’s the definition of a node. Since that’s relatively new, people are reacting to these things. Change is coming, but what’s that mean?”
Dan Taylor, a Dayton Avenue resident who serves as president of the Union Park District Council, said there’s general excitement in the air about the many new developments on Snelling Avenue. But Taylor said he’s concerned that of the 600 new housing units, not a single one is designated affordable housing.
“These are all market-rate developments along Snelling,” he said. “If we’re disappointed about anything, it’s the lack of affordable housing coming into the area.”
Residents would also like to see more retail move in alongside the new residences, he said, and there’s always concern about traffic.
TRANSIT OPTIONS
Fans of higher-density construction say Snelling — a major transit corridor that many residents forget is also a state highway, Minnesota 51 — is a logical place for medium- to high-density construction to take root.
They note that the area offers modern public transit links that may inspire new residents to take more trips car-free, if not abandon car ownership altogether in the era of car-sharing such as Uber and Lyft.
Martha Gabler Lunde, who grew up on Selby Avenue, has moved Martha’s Gardens, her full-service flower shop, three times over the past 20 years. She welcomes the coming growth of her neighborhood. “Everyone is always so concerned about parking. I just say well, you know, it’s a big city. You might have to walk like a block, like Chicago,” said Gabler, whose shop sits near the corner of Selby and Snelling. “I’m glad to be here on Selby. We’re rocking and rolling.”
The Green Line light rail corridor — which stops at Snelling Avenue — began collecting passengers along University Avenue from downtown St. Paul to downtown Minneapolis in June 2014.
Two years later, Metro Transit’s A Line rapid bus began traveling most of Snelling Avenue in St. Paul, running from 46th Street Station in Minneapolis and through Highland Park to the Rosedale Mall.
Yet even some fans of the recent growth along Snelling acknowledge that an awkwardly-configured Starbucks drive-through at Snelling and Marshall has created lengthy back-ups into the intersection, putting drivers at odds with each other and with cyclists along the Marshall Avenue bike lane.
“I don’t think anyone realized what a problem the new Starbucks would be,” Bush said. “It’s unsafe.”
Ok. I've now experienced the Snelling coffee shop drive-in back-up for myself. This is not good… #Snelby #Blocking pic.twitter.com/uVQPn0bnPD
— Frederick Melo, Reporter (@FrederickMelo) September 4, 2017
OTHER CORNERS OF SNELLING
Beyond the Selby-to-University Avenue stretch, changes are coming to other corners of Snelling.
On Wednesday, the St. Paul City Council voted to support a six-story apartment-and-retail building at Snelling and St. Clair avenues. The LaValle Development structure will bring 118 apartments to the former site of the Rosemark Bakery and Sweeney’s Cleaners.
North of Snelling and University Avenues, developer MWF Properties has torn out the former “Garden of Poetry,” a private park along Thomas Avenue. The developer has begun construction of the Thomas Avenue Flats, a three-story, 51-unit complex consisting of one-, two- and three-bedroom affordable apartments.
