urbanMSP

Pioneer Press says 600 "luxury" and affordable senior units over three buildings.

http://www.twincities.com/2016/06/30/ma ... hony-park/

Sabrini Green

was that a freudian slip? heh...

Well played... *facepalm*

Just out of curiosity, what kind of environmental cleanup will have to occur at the site? Any possibility of them is starting on "phase 1" this year? Hopefully we also see some ground floor retail. With all the apartment units already existing in the area, I think ground floor retail would do well.


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So, any suggestions for adaptive reuse of the Wabash Ave railroad bridge over MN-280? Or would that simply be torn down?

Hopefully they can utilize that ROW and make it into a cycle track that connect the property with the new St Paul Grand Rounds on Pelham. I ride Wabash daily, it's not that bad all things considered. But how inviting it would it be for someone living there to just jump on their bike and cruise right into the new grand rounds. Or the opposite, if you were on the cycle track just follow the ROW from the abandoned tracks right to the heart of the development and then Franklin is right there (is the city of Mpls doing something with Franklin & bikes soon)?
Could there possibly be the chance for some retail in this development? Could be a great place for a bike/ coffee shop combo.

My guess is that it won't happen be utilized, since St Paul is so conservative with it's development & thinking outside of the box with respect to roads and cycle tracks.

prospectPete - I have been thinking the same thing. I would love to see a dedicated bike lane both sides of Franklin Avenue, from Hennepin ave all the way over the river.


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This could connect to the new trail Minneapolis is building on the ex-Milwaukee Road bridge over I-94 between Huron and Franklin, by way of Sharon Ave, and a short Franklin connection (which will have bike lanes this summer).

Franklin is getting lanes next year.

Franklin is getting lanes next year.

Franklin east of the river is getting bike lanes this summer; CenterPoint has been doing utility work and replacing some sidewalks, and at some point they'll repave the road and add bike lanes.

It'll match Franklin in St. Paul, which was reconstructed with bike lanes last year.

'Tracks not in use' signs went up yesterday on the Wabash ROW. Now to put some pressure on MN Comm. RR to sell sell sell.

I live nearby, and neighbors involved in some sort of community planning group say that the developer is planning to start with two buildings on the north side, and that the units would be largely marketed to seniors and affordable housing. Apparently there is negotiation with the city about putting in park space. There's also discussion about extending some of the streets that they old industrial complex cut off.

That's good news. It would require a new (and probably difficult) new bridge over 280, but a new bike route on Sharon Ave SE and Myrtle Ave would be an excellent connection between the Franklin Bridge area and the Pelham/Raymond grand rounds. It would be much less steep than Franklin, for one thing.

The city has purchased a chunk of this land for new parkland and road/bike connections.

St. Paul Makes Major Park Land Purchase in South SAP

"In a collaboration between developers, the City of St. Paul, St. Anthony Park, and Prospect Park, the City of St. Paul made a bid that was accepted by the developers of the Weyerhauser site to purchase roughly 2.25 acres of park land at their location in South St. Anthony Park. The working group formed by SAPCC's Land Use Committee to work closely with developers and the City of St. Paul has closely watched the Weyerhauser development in South St. Anthony Park throughout its process. Formerly an industrial site, the developer Dominium purchased the land several months ago with the intention of turning the space into something more residential. The working group convened to have discussions with the developers early on to urge a community-orientation for the project. The members, made up of appointees from the SAPCC Land Use Committee and representatives of Prospect Park, the neighborhood which borders the property, continued to meet together and with City of St. Paul planners and legislative aides to plan for the site.

After identifying neighborhood interests on the site including, bike and pedestrian connections to and through the property, contiguous parks, gathering spaces, a connection to Franklin, and stormwater reduction as well as re-establishing a grid and connectivity to the broader neighborhood, SAPCC submitted a letter to Councilmember Russ Stark and representatives at Dominium. Since then, there has been significant progress on two of the neighborhood interests identified in the letter: contiguous park land and the street grid. The City of St. Paul and Dominium reached a sale agreement formalized by a unanimous City Council vote on February 22 to approve the purchase as set aside as contiguous park land. Dominium also agreed to donate additional land for new streets on the land. The City of St. Paul will hire a consultant to design a plan for the park property, and SAPCC plans to be an integral part of the planning as it moves forward.

With plans for workforce housing, senior housing, and potential plans down the line for more development on the second half of the site, we are excited about the progress being made here and we are excited to continue our involvement in the planning. Thank you to each of our volunteer members of the working group. We would not have had a voice in the process without the hours they have dedicated already."

I assume this will be an extension of Sharon Ave? Too bad the massive Case Industrial Warehouse is being converted to offices. There could have been a lot of momentum here...

According to someone on Nextdoor who has proven to be pretty on top of this development, the plan is to run Myrtle Avenue east/west from Emerald to the property line. This road would become Sharon Avenue in Minneapolis.

Similarly, Berry Street would be extended south to connect with the new Myrtle.

Might be nice to try to extend the primary alignment of Wabash (not its weird frontage road extension) up along the old rail alignment and then have it curve up into Berry.

What was the source for the City acquisition?

A neighborhood newsletter. I don't have access to the original where I am right now but can try to find it when I get back to the computer.

I'm new to forums - but live in this neighborhood so wanted to pass on what I know, as an update on this Weyerhaeuser site

It looks like street grid will be largely established (re-established?).

Berry Ave will be extended to the south of Franklin. Dominium will be developing the northern part of the site for now, with one 4 or 5 story building of family (workforce?) housing to east of the new Berry and two buildings of senior housing between the new Berry and Emerald.

South of those buildings, the City will be putting in east/west Myrtle in, possibly all the way to Curfew (which involves Sunrise Banks parking lot) or possibly just to property edge. The new Myrtle has similar alignment as Sharon Ave on Mpls side of Emerald.

St. Paul has also purchased about 2 acres of land from Dominion for a future park. About of 1 acre of that oark land is a rectangle just south of the new Myrtle and planned Dominion buildings, basically flat area. Berry would be extend further north through the east edge of this part of park, and a new east/west street built to along the south boundary of the park. There is another segment of Dominion-owned property to south the new road and the park land, the new road. Dominion may build more residences there at a future time.

The rest of the park land purchased runs along the curved railroad spur alignment formerly used by Weyerhaeuser, that land to goes south and east along RR alignment, sloping down hill towards Wabash and Eustis (the frontage road above sunken 280). There is still some small piece of land between that park land and Wabash, that the City doesn't own - but this potential bike and pedestrian trail land St. Paul already has gets tantalizingly close to the new bike lane going in on Pelham this summer, as a part of the St. Paul Grand Rounds. It would great if somehow the City could acquire the other small piece of land and the RR bridge over 280, to complete the connection to Pelham. I think the RR is done with it, but with such a bridge would come maintenance costs.

I saw some of the planning ideas for the whole Weyerhaeuser site and area surrounding it, at a community meeting St. Paul arranged with the design firm they have hired. Connecting the trail to West Gate LRT via bike lanes on Curfew and using Berry as pedestrian access, were discussed. Making the part of Berry street that goes through park land something that slowed car traffic, was at same grade as park, and could be shut down and made part of park use for events (or on weekends?) was discussed.

St. Paul staff and design firm also met with local commercial building owners/developers like Sunrise Banks, Suntide that owns Court International and who is working to re-do empty warehouses along Eustis (Case) for office space and possibly retail/restaurant. Apparently Sunrise Banks is planning a second building on their property, few years out, which would be right next to park, and there is also a indoor climbing place moving into a building south (and at a lower grade) of the Dominion/Weyerhaeuser site, right on frontage road.

So if all this can be tied together well, and trail connections can be made, could really make this more like a good old-fashioned neighborhood with lots of businesses and offices, along with lots of residences, instead of just a bunch of big, pretty empty buildings, and lots of asphalt parking lots.

Welcome to the board, Karen, and thanks for the update! The potential for this part of St. Paul is pretty exciting.