The intersection of Snelling and University avenues was once an important commercial nexus for St. Paul, bringing together two major business corridors known in decades past for their car dealerships, banks, bars, hotels and eateries.

An Applebee’s restaurant that had been a fixture in the moss-green Spruce Tree Centre office building since its construction in 1988 closed in 2007, followed years later by a bank building demolished at the intersection’s southeast corner.

The Green Line light rail, which launched in 2014, was supposed to reactivate economic development in an area that had seen more than its share of commercial departures.

Instead, much of the commercial energy at the intersection is long gone.

The large CVS store that anchors the northwest corner has been fully shuttered since April 2022 following the pharmacy chain’s national consolidation in urban areas. The site, which city officials say may soon be fenced in, drew some 40 loiterers last Tuesday. It’s also drawn attention from city inspectors, and the Snelling light-rail station and nearby bus stops are no less known for attracting panhandlers. On July 27, a man riding an electric bicycle was shot and robbed in broad daylight by the bus shelter outside Spruce Tree Centre.

Still, comfortable new residences like the Pitch and Pivot apartment buildings have opened just south of the intersection, with views overlooking the professional soccer stadium, and the owner of Minnesota United is installing a giant loon statue at the intersection’s southeast corner near Allianz Field, cementing the team’s presence and commitment to the neighborhood. Some small businesses like the Midway Saloon have expanded offerings, even as others like Fasika Ethiopian around the corner have closed.

For five hours on a Thursday afternoon in early August, the Pioneer Press sent a reporter and four student interns to talk to residents, bar patrons, business owners, police, panhandlers, outreach workers and others who spend time in and around the intersection. Most people agreed that the pandemic had taken an especially difficult toll on this corner of the Midway. The riots of 2020 that followed the murder of George Floyd heavily impacted small businesses here.

Opinions split over the impact of the light rail, crime trends, city and police response, as well as public and private sector investment at a challenging time for brick-and-mortar retail nationally.

Charles (Cowboy), street corner panhandler

Charles, who goes by the nickname “Cowboy,” has been living in St. Paul for more than 30 years. Dressed in a cowboy hat, boots and spurs with a wheelchair next to him filled with all of his belongings, he can often be seen sitting out in front of Allianz Field on the southeast corner, sometimes hanging out with multiple people.

Out of all the street corners in the city, this one is his favorite because there’s always activity and something to see. To Charles, University and Snelling is like “watching a movie.” He recalled once seeing a man running around totally nude. The intersection has its supporters and detractors. He sees both sides.

“There’s lots of good people but also a lot of idiots,” Charles said.

— Samantha Wurm

The Rev. Kirsten Fryer, Bethlehem Lutheran Church

The Rev. Kirsten Fryer has led Bethlehem Lutheran Church in the Midway since 2019 and has lived in the neighborhood since 2020. She said she was drawn to how community members cared for one another following the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder.

The Rev. Kirsten Fryer, left, and parishioner Steve Hendricks spent their Thursday morning on June 20, 2024, cleaning up the grounds of St. Paul’s Bethlehem Lutheran Church in the Midway in preparation for the “Guns to Garden Tools” event taking place there on Saturday, June 22, 2024. Hendricks has been attending the church for around 44 years and played an active role in helping Fryer plan and prepare for the event. (Devanie Andre / Pioneer Press)

“We have a great neighborhood of people who really watch out for each other and go out of their way to welcome neighbors and create community,” Fryer said.

During the summer months, Fryer said drug use and homelessness become increasingly visible around the Snelling and University intersection. Most people she’s spoken with say they’re focused on how to help people get access to the resources they need.

“We all thrive when that happens,” Fryer said.

Bethlehem translates to “the house of bread,” and Fryer said food is one of the avenues the church has used to support community needs. The church works with Open Hands Midway and Shobi’s Table, a pay-as-you-can food truck, to provide meals to those in need. Zion Lutheran in the Midway provides free meals on Thursdays, as well.

The church partners with the Hamline Midway Coalition and other groups to host a “community conversations” series on local issues, and it held a recent “Guns to Garden Tools” gardening event, which used metal from guns surrendered in Madison, Wis., as material for gardening implements. “We do better when we’re talking to each other and listening to one another,” Fryer said.

— Talia McWright

Kathy Stransky, Midway Used and Rare Books

After 40 years operating Midway Used and Rare Books with her family, Kathy Stransky’s tipping point came when an unruly guest chased her around the store with a metal bar. On another occasion, an unwelcome visitor threw soda on a collection of pricey leather-bound classics, all of which had to be thrown out.

As of this year, she’s kept the shop’s front door locked, buzzing in guests on a customer-by-customer basis.

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“The last five years have been the worst,” said Stransky, who said she has lost customers to the public drunkenness, urination, open drug dealing and panhandling that unfolds daily on the street corner just outside her door. She points to Kimball Court, a nearby housing development for the very poor, owned by Beacon Interfaith. Despite near-daily police calls in recent years, the property owner has hopes to expand.

Her husband, Tom, vocally opposed the arrival of the Green Line in 2014. “The light rail was the start of it going downhill,” said Stransky, also noting the forced departure of a Chinese restaurant, a bowling alley and most other commercial storefronts within the Midway Shopping Center across University Avenue for new development that has yet to be built. More than once, she’s seen trespassers living or scavenging inside the vacant CVS.

Aside from a pair of new apartment buildings and the city-owned soccer stadium, the promises of transit-driven economic development have yet to materialize. Stransky had hoped Minnesota United, which manages Allianz Field on behalf of the city, would do more to support local businesses. She planted flowers in the store’s outdoor planter several times a year, only to see them quickly ripped up by passersby. Team representatives seemed disinterested in funding replanting.

A simple solution to public urination? Public restrooms. She’d like to see them installed along the light-rail stations. When she approached the city, the city attorney’s office encouraged her to fund one herself, she said. That’s not in the cards.

Instead of support from the city, Stransky said, she’s received warnings. After the shop was tagged with heavy graffiti, “the next day, we got a call from the city saying we were going to get charged if we didn’t get it off,” she said.

The area is “a nice, safe place while there’s a soccer game going on. We’ve got security galore,” Stransky said. Otherwise, “I dread coming to work some days.”

— Frederick Melo

David Tolchiner, Midway Saloon

David Tolchiner purchased what was formerly “Big V’s” dive bar and transformed it into the Midway Saloon in 2019 with the expectation that the densely populated area around Snelling and University avenues would soon be ripe for redevelopment.

Dave Tolchiner, the owner of Midway Saloon, talks about his large selection of whiskeys he offers at his bar in St. Paul on Thursday, May 27, 2021. (Craig Lassig / Special to the Pioneer Press)

“We were focused on bringing live music back and creating more of an entertainment district in St. Paul because the area was about to explode at that time, I just could see it,” Tolchiner said.

But what Tolchiner hadn’t foreseen was how the pandemic and uprising would affect surrounding businesses. Some closed or relocated. The Midway Saloon, which was heavily looted, has persevered, continuing to draw crowds for free live music and other event nights.

“If we learned anything through the pandemic it’s that people need socialization,” he said.

Tolchiner said he still believes in the area and is optimistic that “cultural innovation” like added housing, a planned sculpture garden near Allianz Field and the newly constructed “all abilities” playground next to the soccer stadium will draw foot traffic. What’s become a substantial roadblock for further development, he said, is the Green Line, which opened in 2014.

“I don’t think that there’s any secret that drug use is rampant and if you’re someone that doesn’t have a place to go, the train becomes one of the places to go,” Tolchiner said.

When Tolchiner first heard about the light rail, he thought it was a great idea as the city needed public transportation in an area with limited parking. It’d be the perfect way for families to ride to sports events together, for college students to explore the neighborhood and for people from all areas of Minnesota to travel within the Twin Cities. Instead of meeting his expectations, he said it’s become one of the city’s biggest safety concerns.

“My mother should feel comfortable to ride the light rail,” Tolchiner said.

He said he doesn’t know how to run public transit, but he knows he’d do things differently.

“I think the light rail can be a positive thing,” he said. “It needs attention from the people that can make decisions in maintaining their multi-billion dollar investment.”

— Talia McWright

Afeworki Bein, Snelling Cafe

Afeworki Bein is the longtime proprietor of Snelling Cafe, a cafe and restaurant on Snelling, four blocks north of the intersection with University Avenue. The cafe, which opened in 2003, specializes in East African cuisine, making it one of the longest-running immigrant eateries in a cultural corridor some have dubbed “Little Africa.”

Afeworki Bein, owner of the Snelling Cafe at Snelling and LaFond avenues, says his restaurant fills up during World Cup games and other televised soccer championships. He supported the proposed professional soccer stadium in the Midway. (Photo courtesy of Afeworki Bein.)

After more than 20 years in the area, he’s witnessed some troubling trends. “I see a lot of health problems,” said Bein, “mental and physical.”

Bein noticed a clear difference after the first Green Line cars rolled out in 2014. “As soon as the light rail got placed, things went downhill,” he said.

He said more should be done to keep businesses around Snelling and University open, as many businesses have left or closed.

— Angeline Patrick Pacheco

St. Paul City Council President Mitra Jalali

Mitra Jalali lives within walking distance of the boarded-up CVS pharmacy building that anchors the street corner, and she sees the issues unfolding there firsthand, as do her constituents. Jalali, who represents the neighborhood on the St. Paul City Council, where she serves as president, looked into the building’s ownership and found it was in the hands of “a company owned by a company owned by a company owned by CVS.”

St. Paul Council member Mitra Jalali, center, during a swearing in ceremony for Police Chief Axel Henry in the Council Chambers on Nov. 16, 2022. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

“It’s under blight investigation, so the city is there almost daily,” Jalali said. “(The St. Paul Department of Safety and Inspections) documents issues and says ‘You need to clean this up and this up.’ (The property owner has) committed to installing a fence and motion sensor lighting. There’s activity underway to make the property safer. The best use for that site is active use, not just maintaining empty space.”

“When there’s active use, the other issues dissipate. Right across from there is the Spruce Tree Centre, where there’s active office tenants, and you don’t see quite as many issues or they have nothing to do with the building. Right opposite that corner was a fenced-off lot that just collected trash, and now it’s going to be a sculpture plaza. Beyond that, there’s a hotel, office building and two restaurant pavilions planned near Allianz Field.”

“There’s a couple things that could help with that CVS site. We’re looking at updating the vacant building fee for larger commercial buildings like this, which right now are treated the same as empty single-family homes, and those buildings are not the same. The schedule of fees for these much-bigger corporate-owned properties needs to be different.”

“I do think there’s an opportunity to convene community members and see what they want to see at the site. I think it takes a mix of actual financial incentive and community engagement. It could be housing with retail on the ground floor.”

— Frederick Melo

Nick Schabert, bar regular

Years after tending bar at the Turf Club and Dubliner pub, Frogtown resident Nick Schabert still calls the Midway neighborhood a favored haunt. Schabert, who relocated from Hastings to St. Paul more than 20 years ago, shoots pool at the Midway Saloon, visits the Black Hart bar on University Avenue and recently took in his first Minnesota United game at Allianz Field.

The days when a local could walk from watering hole to watering hole for most of the night are over, but the handful of bars that have survived are making smart choices around security, entertainment and whiskey, he said. Not counting the Black Hart to the east, “there’s only two bars,” Schabert said. “And even the Turf Club is not really a bar anymore. It’s a venue. The Midway Saloon is the only one that’s open seven days a week.”

Still, he’s optimistic about the area’s future, even as he’s witnessed its ups and down since the pandemic.

“People want things to happen overnight,” Schabert said. “Give it time. A lot of people, once that stadium went in, they thought it was going to immediately change. You have to be patient. Look at (the intersection of) Selby/Dale, how bad that was in ’70s and ’80s. It’s not going to change overnight.”

“I like the Midway. I want to see it thrive. And I know it’s going to take time for other people to invest in it. At the same time, the city has to do their part, and you have to work together to clean the Midway up. That abandoned CVS, that is such an eyesore, and obviously something needs to be done about that.”

“You want the diversity (in the area) to stay the same, but at the same time, you want it to grow and change, without it becoming gentrified. You don’t want to price people out of that neighborhood. I’m optimistic for it. … You always want to see things get better. If you’re pessimistic, you’re never going to see positive changes.”

— Frederick Melo

Andy Baseman, outreach worker

Andy Baseman, a recovering addict who does outreach work on the Green Line, said the city is bearing witness to a severe public mental health crisis in which people are using substances to mask and self-medicate their mental illness.

Baseman, who is employed by the St. Paul-based nonprofit Mental Health Minnesota, said University and Snelling’s busy atmosphere draws in part from the corner serving as the juncture of Metro Transit’s A-line bus rapid transit corridor and the Green Line. Substance users will hang out on public transit because there are cameras and safety in numbers. If someone overdoses, cameras will capture it and people will be there to help, he said.

Baseman knows that substance use on the streets will never go away, but things can be done to mitigate it. Change needs to happen from the ground up, not from people in positions of privilege, according to Baseman — that’s why he goes out and tells people that the same effort they’re putting into getting high can be put into getting healthy.

“You can’t just throw money at the situation and hope it works,” Baseman said.

Some transit riders object to substance abusers on the train, but he said the general public’s reaction can escalate a situation quickly. Those who are unhoused or using substances prefer to be left alone.

“The problem with taking a verbal stand, especially with those who are under the influence, is that you have become an aggressor,” Baseman said.

— Samantha Wurm

St. Paul Police Commander Dave McCabe

Snelling Avenue is officially a state highway — Minnesota 51 — that carries or intersects two major public transit corridors (the Green Line and A-line) at University Avenue. That feeds a lot of people into one intersection. St. Paul Police Patrol Commander Dave McCabe, who oversees St. Paul’s Western District, said the crossing is marked by behavior related to mental health and substance abuse issues, behavior that isn’t necessarily violent but is still uncomfortable for many passersby to see or be around — especially if they aren’t from the area.

St. Paul Police Sgt. David McCabe held a press conference outside police headquarters about a homicide on Oct. 11, 2022, near Thomas Avenue and Grotto Street. (Mara H. Gottfried / Pioneer Press)

McCabe said statistics show violent crime and gun violence going down in St. Paul as well as nationally, though some community members still feel unsafe. “I think the crux of it is the perception of what is taking place at those intersections,” McCabe said.

Different individuals view the intersection of University and Snelling differently, he said, but it’s the police department’s job to acknowledge and respect all points of view.

To improve perception, the police department tries to work with other city departments and stakeholders — such as the St. Paul Department of Safety and Inspections, Metro Transit, business owners and residents, he said. The city, for instance, hosted a volunteer-driven litter clean-up on Aug. 19, a Monday morning, that focused on three busy locations along University Avenue, including its intersection with Snelling.

— Samantha Wurm

Grammy winner Pat Donahue

Grammy-winning guitar fingerpicker Pat Donahue has been singing the blues in St. Paul bars and performance venues since the 1970s. Donahue, who has hosted a regular Wednesday night blues residency, “Pat Donahue and Friends,” on the “unpretentious” Midway Saloon stage for three years, said he’s drawn to the area because it’s home.

“I’m a St. Paul boy, born and raised,” Donahue said. “I still don’t live all that far from here and I think it’s a great example of an old, great St. Paul bar.”

Spaces like the Midway Saloon are important, he said, because they foster community.

“This is mostly people that are on my radar and like whatever it is that I’m doing. I love them. In fact, over the years some friendships have been made in the audience here, too, so it is kind of a community in a way. It’s important to me because it gives me a chance to play music with my friends and have other people hopefully like it and listen to it. I just think it’s great to have a place to go that’s not a big concert, and listen to some really good music, have a cold beer and relax.”

— Talia McWright

Justin Lewandowski, Hamline-Midway Coalition

Justin Lewandowski fell in love with the Hamline-Midway neighborhood after visiting from St. Cloud while participating in a diaper drive at the Bethlehem Lutheran Church. He and his wife decided to call the neighborhood home in 2020, but the community is not the one he once knew, as evidenced by a boarded-up business that has become a magnet for trouble.

“That CVS on the corner has been a problem,” Lewandowski said.

As the organizing director for the Hamline Midway Coalition, Lewandowski and the council regularly brainstorm ideas and initiatives intended to help address community issues and create a thriving neighborhood. Lewandowski said that though the community bands together to support one another, the amount of drug use and dealing that happens by the CVS — as well as in the general area and on the Green Line — is heartbreaking and has become a public health crisis.

“We need to continue to hold pressure to the city about solutions for the CVS,” Lewandowski said. “We’re really looking at a holistic view of how do we not only look at that intersection but the larger community issues that are happening because of it.”

From Sept. 9 to Sept. 14, the Hamline Midway Coalition will host community events training neighbors on how to save lives with Narcan, creating renter’s rights awareness, helping seniors recycle and more. The coalition is also hosting a town hall meeting in October for the neighborhood to meet with representatives from the city, county and state to discuss concerns.

“HMC really believes that we are on the cusp of some really good and hopeful things, but it’s going to take all of us working together from the neighborhood district council, all the way to our elected leaders down at the state capital because it is a crisis,” he added. “I’ve never seen anything quite like it.”

— Talia McWright

Four hours in the afternoon at Snelling and University avenues on Thursday, Aug. 8

1 p.m.: It’s relatively quiet despite some loiterers at the street corners. The Green Line rolls through and passengers get off at the station stops. A woman selling fruit to passing drivers stands in the street median. Someone begins dancing on the train tracks as if they are under the influence, moving erratically. Someone else stumbles out into the intersection before the pedestrian signal flashes, angering drivers, but no one is injured.

2 p.m.: Fruit sellers have taken up at least two of the four corners of the intersection. A police officer stopped at the stoplight yells at a pedestrian to get off the train tracks. Some passengers getting off the train ask for cash.

3 p.m.: A small group of people have congregated without incident at the intersection’s southeast corner, closest to Allianz Field.

4 p.m.: The street is quiet and light on foot traffic except when the Green Line rolls through. Someone takes a half-hidden posture by the vacant CVS trying to light something up. A group of people by the CVS parking lot exchange money.

5 p.m.: Both traffic and pedestrian activity have picked up. More people begin congregating on the sidewalk. Someone walks along the sidewalk picking up trash.

— Samantha Wurm

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