In the News

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Restaurant News: Time is right to rebrand University Avenue
By Kathie Jenkins, Pioneer Press
Updated: 03/18/2010 11:24:04 AM CDT

Several times a week, I drive on University Avenue in St. Paul, and each time I wonder why no one has come up with a catchy name for the blocks between Lexington Avenue and Rice Street. There are a lot of great restaurants and places to shop, but the area is such a hodgepodge that if you don't know what's behind the doors, there's no incentive to pull over.

A little marketing has done wonders on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis. After a 17-block stretch there was dubbed Eat Street, the area went from declining real estate to dining destination — a world of flavors on one bustling street.

The time for rebranding of University Avenue couldn't be better, with the Central Corridor Light Rail Project gearing up to link the two downtowns.

Turns out, I'm not the only one who thinks so. The Asian Economic Development Association is working on such a plan. The goal is to rebrand that area as the World Cultural Heritage District, with the Asian businesses calling themselves Little Mekong, after the river that runs through Southeast Asia.

The association's executive director, Va-Mejn Thoj (prounced va-ming taj), says that through rebranding, University Avenue will not only survive light rail construction but also become a thriving place to eat, shop and do business in the long run. Although the heavy light rail construction won't start on the east end of University until 2012, the group wants to get the name in place by year-end.

"We've talked to St. Paul Mayor Coleman and council members, and they like the idea. Our next step is to talk to the businesses and residents in the area," says Thoj. "We think it's an idea that's overdue."

NOW OPEN

The Harbor View Cafe doors are open for the season again — for now, only Friday through Sunday (until the weather warms up). The 30-year-old Pepin, Wis., restaurant with gorgeous river views, friendly service and chalkboard menu written twice daily is worth the 90-mile drive from the Twin Cities. Too bad they don't take reservations or accepted credit cards.

WHO'S ON FIRST?

It works for sports, so why not restaurants? On Friday night, W.A. Frost in St. Paul is throwing its first pre-season opener. The formerly stodgy Cathedral Hill spot is hauling out heaters and lighting the fire pit on the patio for one night and pretending it's July. Happy-hour prices will be in effect all night, and diners can register to win gift certificates, which include a chef's tasting table for four.

MATZO MEALS

In honor of Passover, Crave restaurant in St. Louis Park is serving matzo ball soup and a matzo cracker flatbread duo (portobello and pesto; grape and apple) served with a salad. Both menu items will be available March 30 through April 5. According to a news release, they are the restaurant's way of connecting more meaningfully with the community.

Pioneer Press restaurant critic Kathie Jenkins can be reached at 651-228-5585 or kjenkins@pioneerpress.com. Follow her on Twitter @ JenkinsCritic.

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City to Build Additional LRT Station between Rice, Snelling
City leaders find compromise to fulfill commitment to residents, preserve $5 million in funding 

SAINT PAUL – Assuming the responsibility to fulfill long-standing commitments to Central Corridor project partners and residents, Mayor Chris Coleman and Councilmembers Melvin Carter III and Russ Stark agreed that the City would assemble, from its own budget, the resources necessary to build the first of three additional stations on the light rail transit line between Rice and Lexington streets. 

The decision comes as a compromise with the Metropolitan Council, which in return for the city’s effort to build the station at Western Avenue, Hamline Avenue or Victoria Avenue, will assume responsibility for the acquisition of the diagonal right-of-way through the block bounded by 4th and 5th, Cedar and Minnesota.  It will further commit $1.5 million to improving the façade of the line’s Operations and Maintenance Facility in Lowertown.

With the decision, work moving utilities can begin.

“This is a huge milestone. The Central Corridor is the opportunity of a lifetime for Saint Paul, and we have always been focused on ensuring that everyone benefits from this development. Today, we are stepping up to the plate and making real our commitment to the people who live along the line and the neighborhoods that will prosper because of it,” Mayor Coleman said.

Intensive discussion to build the station began after it became clear that additional budget capacity created by an increase in the federal Cost Effectiveness Index would not be the best source of funding for the station. Through the complicated federal formulas that have governed construction along the line, the project would lose almost $5.5 million if the station was included in the project elements.

Losing over $5 million from an extremely tight project budget was not a reasonable choice for policy makers. 

Nonetheless, build out of the stations is a high priority for Mayor Coleman, the City Council and Ramsey County Board of Commissioners as well as a broad coalition of community interests.

“For those of us who live and work along University Avenue, this is great news,” Councilmember Carter said. “There certainly remains a great deal of work ahead, but today's decision is clearly one to celebrate, and I thank our partners around the table, especially County Commissioners Toni Carter and Jim McDonough, for their commitment to ensuring a project that serves the neighborhood.”

“The Central Corridor Management Committee’s decision today is a break-through for our entire community, affirming our commitment to the neighborhoods I represent and serve,” Commissioner Carter said. 

Through a community process, a decision will be made on which station to build first.
 
“We have the first station solidified, and this will help us secure the money for the second station along with streetscaping along the line,” Councilmember Stark said.

An agreement in principle adopted by the Central Corridor Management Committee (CCMC) went on to describe the Committee’s intent with respect to allocating future funding that may be released from the project’s contingency budget. Federal financing rules require the Metropolitan Council to carry a significant budget to cover the cost of unanticipated construction challenges or cost increases. As the project proceeds through the construction, the Metropolitan Council is allowed, at specified times, to reallocate the contingency budget to other project elements. 

The CCMC, which is advisory to the Metropolitan Council, agreed that, after essential project elements are paid for, any released contingency should be allocated between East Metro and West Metro priorities, with 70 percent going to the East Metro and 30 percent to the West Metro. Among the East Metro’s priorities are the build out of the remaining two stations and significant streetscape enhancements along University Avenue and in the downtown.

Construction on the light rail line is scheduled to begin in 2010, with work moving utility lines to accommodate Central Corridor already started in downtown Saint Paul. The first trains are expected to be running between the Union Depot and downtown Minneapolis along University Avenue in 2014.

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8.20.09 - St. Paul Ledger Capitol Report

St. Paul loan program to help Central Corridor LRT parking problems isn’t enough
By Brian Johnson, Staff Writer
August 20, 2009

Some University Avenue business owners say a new $1 million program to help alleviate Central Corridor-construction-related parking problems still leaves them in a tight spot.

Last week, St. Paul officials approved the Neighborhood Commercial Parking Pilot Program, which will offer $500,000 worth of forgivable loans to help University Avenue businesses and property owners improve their parking lots, increase parking capacity and work out shared parking arrangements.

Overall, the city is spending $1 million on the program, which also includes stormwater management improvements in alleys, residential buffers and other upgrades along the corridor.

University Avenue will lose 85 percent of its street parking to the 11-mile Central Corridor light rail project, which will connect the downtowns of St. Paul and Minneapolis; construction is slated to begin next year and LRT service is set to start in 2014.

The estimated price for the Central Corridor project now sits at $914 million, though Peter Bell, head of the Metropolitan Council, which is overseeing the project, has repeatedly said the price tag needs to come down in order for the project to qualify for vital federal dollars.

All University Avenue businesses are eligible to compete for the loans, but the program will give priority to businesses in 11 “critical areas” most affected by parking losses, according to a city news release.

Under the new program, eligible businesses can apply for as much as $25,000 for parking lot improvements if their business is the sole user of the lot. For shared parking agreements, there is no limit to what they can apply for.

“Basically, we are trying to incentivize the people to share the parking,” said Samantha Henningson, a spokeswoman for St. Paul City Councilmember Russ Stark of the 4th Ward. Stark and 1st Ward City Councilmember Melvin Carter joined Mayor Chris Coleman in announcing the new program.

Shared parking will be fine for some people, but it won’t come close to replacing the 1,000 or so street parking spaces that will be eliminated, according to Jack McCann, a University Avenue business owner and president of the board of the University Avenue Business Association. Moreover, some businesses rely on the direct access that on-street parking provides, he said.

The new program will make some people happy, but the city is “not addressing the problem that has everybody freaking out,” which is the lack of on-street parking, said McCann, who owns the Midtown Commons, just east of Hwy. 280 near Raymond and University avenues, and stands to lose 12 street parking spaces.

“Throwing money at that problem doesn’t solve the main problem.”

Recommendations and reaction

The loan program stems from a joint St. Paul/Met Council report called “Mitigating the Loss of Parking in the Central Corridor.” Released in April, the report calls for improved management of on-street parking, new technology, better signage and forgivable loans to improve parking lots.

Under terms of the forgivable loan deal, the business would not have to pay the money back as long as it keeps the parking in place for at least seven years, according to Henningson.

It’s not clear now many off-street parking spaces could be added through the program. But in some of the critical areas it would be possible to have a “net addition of spots above and beyond the spots lost on the street,” according to city officials.

Some parking lots can gain spaces by making simple changes, such as sharing a trash bin or removing curb cuts, Henningson said.

“I talked to a business owner who figured out he could gain five or six spaces at his business just by rearranging things,” she said.

Linda Winsor, a spokeswoman for the University Avenue Business Association, said the loan program is a “positive step in the right direction.”

Earlier this year, UABA released a “position statement” calling for a plan and money for “off-street parking solutions,” followed by an origin-destination study to monitor traffic flow “before, during and after” light rail construction.

UABA’s statement also supports a “re-evaluation of the street programming,” based on the origin-destination study, and “goals for supporting a multi-modal, pedestrian-friendly corridor.”

Shared parking arrangements aren’t as easy as they may seem. On some parts of University Avenue there’s ample off-street parking, but owners are reluctant to share spaces unless there is shared responsibility for maintaining the spaces.

“There is no such thing as free parking,” said Winsor, whose group has been working with Council members Stark and Carter and other officials on parking concerns. “Hard and fast shared parking means that you figure out different peak times and figure out shared prices to pay for it.”

Utility relocation crews are already at work in parts of downtown St. Paul, setting the stage for next year’s kick-off of the Central Corridor construction.

© Copyright 2009 Finance & Commerce, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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