What a Downtown Should Feel Like
Last month, I spent a few days in Toronto with other local leaders as part of the Chamber of Commerce’s Inter-City Leadership Visit. Walking around the streets of downtown Toronto, one thought kept running through my mind: This is what a downtown should feel like.
Toronto is a city of 2.7 million people in an area of close to 6 million people. Civic boosters told us they have more construction cranes in the air than a dozen other large North American cities combined. The streets are full of people and stores, sidewalks are wide and well-maintained and the city embraces its position on the shores of Lake Ontario with an active waterfront, boat tours, and even artificial beaches. The city has its challenges too - we saw people sleeping on the sidewalk, tents set up under bridges - but the sheer number of other people and the bustle of activity made things feel vibrant and safe.
I’ve been thinking a lot about what we can learn from Toronto as we work to revitalize our own downtown. St. Paul is a smaller city in a different country, but the takeaway from Toronto was still relevant: a downtown is healthy when it’s full of lots of people doing lots of different things.
What has made our downtown feel so different lately is the lack of those people. Fewer people on the street and in the skyway makes downtown feel less safe and leads to empty storefronts as businesses close. A large number of commercial buildings are for sale, and others are in the midst of transitions to new uses, like housing.
This emptying-out is one of the lasting effects of the pandemic, and it’s being experienced by cities across the country. But knowing it’s a shared problem doesn’t make it less unsettling to see this much change in an area as beloved and important as downtown, and people rightfully want to know what is being done to make it better. Specifically, I’ve been hearing two basic but critical questions: what’s the plan and where’s the leadership?
The plan is the Downtown Investment Strategy, created by the Downtown Alliance during the pandemic in anticipation of the kind of market shift we’re seeing now. The strategy identifies three tactics to revitalize downtown: (1) repurpose excess commercial real estate to reduce the number of vacant buildings and make room for more residents, (2) enliven our streets and green spaces so people are encouraged to walk through downtown, and (2) advance key redevelopments at Central Station, RiversEdge and the Xcel Energy Center.
The leadership includes people from across downtown, including elected, business, nonprofit and resident leaders who are engaged in moving the plan’s tactics forward. As part of the Downtown Investment Strategy, I am co-chairing the commercial real estate committee with Securian CEO Chris Hilger, and our team includes leaders from the City, the Port Authority and the St. Paul and Bush Foundations. We are currently analyzing 20 downtown commercial buildings to determine their ideal use - which ones should remain commercial, which should convert to residential or other uses, and which may need to come down to make way for other buildings or public spaces. Once the analysis is complete, this information will be available to the public and to developers and investors interested in downtown.
At the same time, we are raising $2 million to launch a downtown redevelopment corporation that will spearhead public-private partnerships and catalyze redevelopment downtown. (A similar effort, the Lowertown Redevelopment Corporation, was launched in 1979 and led to 10 times greater investment in Lowertown, the creation of hundreds of units of artist housing, the Farmers Market and other beloved parts of the neighborhood.) Finally, the City is launching an office-to-residential conversion incentive program which will waive permit fees for developers looking to convert underused vacant commercial buildings to housing. Two such projects are already: the conversion of Landmark Towers and Galtier Plaza to housing will bring hundreds of new residents downtown.
This work will take time, and results won’t be visible right away. In the meantime, we need to make sure downtown restaurants, bars and other small businesses are supported. (I’m working on an idea for a community-wide Lowertown Happy Hour to support local businesses - stay tuned for more on that.) We need to keep our focus on public safety by continuing our police presence downtown, enhancing our partnership with Metro Transit police and consistently enforcing the law. We need to continue investing in infrastructure by reconstructing streets and adding new green space at Pedro Park. We need to amplify our Homeless Assistance Response Team (HART) efforts to engage those who are experiencing homelessness and help them find long-term housing. And we need to let people know about the plan and the work that’s going on and solicit input.
I’m working on all of these fronts, and I’m especially trying to do better at communicating about the plan and soliciting feedback. In the absence of information, it can feel like nothing is happening and at a time of transition like this one, that feeling can increase anxiety and exacerbate our challenges.
I will be hosting meetings for real estate brokers who market downtown properties and for downtown business owners to discuss the work underway. In partnership with the Downtown Alliance and the CapitolRiver Council, I am also hosting four opportunities for downtown residents to learn more and voice their ideas and concerns (see the dates in this newsletter and on my social media pages).
Ultimately, I believe this time of transition is a tremendous opportunity for renewal. We can seize this moment to address some of our most persistent downtown challenges and spark a new period of growth and flourishing downtown. I look forward to doing that work with you over the months ahead.
October, 2024