CVS Pharmacy has gradually retrenched from urban areas across the country, closing more than 1,000 storefronts between 2021 and the end of last year. In 2022, two of those closures landed in St. Paul, shuttering the store at Maryland Avenue and Arcade Street and another at Snelling and University avenues.

Both sites have since deteriorated into eyesore properties and remain boarded and fenced following break-ins, loitering and other types of code violations. For neighborhood residents, the properties have become symbols of disinvestment and neglect, drawing growing calls for city government to intervene.

Now, they’re both slated for demolition.

“When potential investors see CVS, that is a nuisance for all of the other businesses that are trying to raise funds,” said Jack Byers, executive director of the Payne-Phalen Community Council, addressing the St. Paul City Council on Wednesday.

March 1 deadline for Maryland Avenue site

Members of the city council say they’re equally frustrated. On Wednesday, they voted 6-0 to give the property owner until March 1 to raze and remove the building at 810 Maryland Ave. East.

Adam Niblick, an attorney for CVS, told the city council that the corporation had no qualms about exiting the site, where they still technically remain a lease-holder, though they had hoped for a four-month window before building demolition so as not to complicate the site’s transfer to the next tenant.

The property owner has indicated to the city he’s lined up a future McDonald’s restaurant to take the place of CVS, and said he wanted to delay demolition to May 7 at the latest.

“This is really a property that I’ve been hearing over and over about from the community, not just being an eyesore but a loss of opportunity,” said Council Member Nelsie Yang. “I didn’t hear anything that really justified a four-month extension.”

Legislative hearing officer Marcia Moermond recommended a 15-day window.

“In this case, there’s not a shared understanding about rehab, but a shared understanding about demolition,” she said. “It’s a question of when, not a question of if.”

Snelling-University property

CVS has been less forthcoming with regard to its unwanted presence at Snelling and University avenues, a property so notorious for open-air drug transactions, loitering and garbage that it entered into mayoral debates leading up to the Nov. 4 election in which Kaohly Her unseated Mayor Melvin Carter. Moermond, in dealings with the city council, had likened the interior to a trash bin, gutted of valuables.

On Nov. 5, the day after the election, the city council ordered the razing and removal of the CVS building at 499 Snelling Ave. N. within 15 days. That deadline has come and gone with no visible progress on the order. The CVS still stands.

As a result, the city has hired demolition contractor Veit Construction, and will assess the costs to the property owner, which is identified in city records as a limited liability corporation of vague title. The demolition process, which includes site inspections to assess for flammable materials, could ramp up at any moment, Moermond said. Utilities are scheduled to be cut mid-January.

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“I’ve been a member of this body for four months, and this is the second time that we are dealing with a CVS property that is a nuisance property, that is causing immense harm in our community,” said Council Member Molly Coleman, who represents the Hamline-Midway neighborhood where the Snelling-University CVS is located.

“This is a large corporation that is repeatedly now being shown to have caused harm to the city of St. Paul,” Coleman added.