Closure of Midway Cub Foods puts damper on neighborhood revitalization efforts

[MUSIC PLAYING] NINA MOINI: Another grocery store is leaving St. Paul. Cub Foods in the Hamline Midway neighborhood announced it will close on August 2. The closure leaves just one major grocer nearby, Target. There is an Aldi and other smaller grocery stores in the neighborhood focused on international ingredients, but now there's an additional vacancy in a neighborhood that's working to revitalize.

Joining me now to talk about the future of the neighborhood is interim St. Paul City Council Member Matt Privratsky, who represents part of the Hamline Midway area. Thanks for being with us, council member.

MATT PRIVRATSKY: Thanks for having me, Nina.

NINA MOINI: Also very happy to have Dawn Einwalter, President of the Hamline Midway Coalition. Thank you so much for your time as well, Dawn.

DAWN EINWALTER: Happy to be here too.

NINA MOINI: Council Member Privratsky, I want to start with you, if I could. So the Midway Cub, it's not in your ward, but it's nearby. Residents that you serve likely shop there. What was your reaction when you heard about this closure? Is it something you were expecting?

MATT PRIVRATSKY: I don't that folks were necessarily shocked by the news. A lot of the conversation around this location has been muddied and frustrating. I think more than anything, it's just a really disappointing piece of news for the nearly 100 workers there and all of the families they help support in our part of town. It's just the most recent example where local ownership really does matter.

I think Cub is such a well-known Minnesota brand, and people probably still associate it with its Minnesota roots. But it's no longer locally owned. It's no longer owned by that Minnesota-based rooted system. And so I think it's really unfortunate. It's unfortunate that the workers were given such short notice. It's unfortunate that we're seeing this at a time where, to be honest, there's really strong potential in this location.

We're seeing the new hotel, office buildings, retail and restaurants built right across the street at United Village, which is a huge point of progress for the neighborhood. Folks have been waiting for that for so long. And I think that new development is going to do a lot to drive foot traffic, even the next phase of proposed development on that site with a possible music venue, with so many amenities that are going to really bring a lot of folks to the neighborhood to support local businesses. It's disappointing to hear of the timing for sure.

NINA MOINI: Dawn, what was your reaction?

DAWN EINWALTER: My reaction was similar. And I would also add that we have some public safety concerns for that site as well because we've had to deal with the vacant CVS now for several years, and that has been an ongoing challenge. We have that under control, I would say. But the idea that there would be another vacancy that could potentially result in issues that we have to deal with in terms of crime and drug use is just really a lot for us to consider.

NINA MOINI: I see what you're saying.

MATT PRIVRATSKY: However, I do want to say that we have good systems in place, and we have a good relationship with the St. Paul Police Department and Metro Transit, and I feel that we can get a handle on it pretty quickly.

NINA MOINI: Thanks for that, Dawn. Council Member Privratsky, you mentioned in your last response talk about this area has been going on for a long time about how to get it to where residents really want it to be. It's on University Avenue, right along the green line. Can you give our listeners who are not from this area or don't travel there just an idea of the importance of this corridor for the city at large?

MATT PRIVRATSKY: Yeah, absolutely. I live nearby. Dawn and I obviously both live in Midway. And I think for folks who don't spend a lot of time in this part of town, I think one dynamic at play is when the stadium got announced, a lot of folks were expecting new development--

NINA MOINI: Allianz, Allianz Field.

MATT PRIVRATSKY: --Allianz Field, excuse me, got built, it created a lot of excitement about the possibility of what it could mean to transform some of these empty lots or underdeveloped sites. And some of the challenges there, like Dawn mentioned, the CVS or even the former Walmart and former At Home building, is a lot of these sites are owned by one entity but leased by another. And even when the leasing entity, such as Walmart, leaves that building, they're still paying rent.

And so the challenge is some of these ownership groups don't have much motivation to try and transform their space because they're already receiving the same income they would when the business was open. And that's the fear with a closure like this, where Cub didn't own this building. They were a lease tenant. And so the issue is we really strongly need to make sure some of these spaces are leased back up.

But to the broader dynamics, with these vacant lots, the city is sometimes ill equipped with the tools it has to try and drive action here. And that's where the frustration comes in the neighborhood, both because the ownership doesn't have much motivation but also for the lack of enforcement tools on the city's side. Right now, we're undergoing a top to bottom analysis of our vacant building program, for instance, to see if any changes could be made there.

But even things like administrative citations, which gives the city another tool to use, that's on the ballot this fall for voters to either vote up or down. But that would be another enforcement tool in a situation like this-. Things like the land value tax, which allows you to encourage development and full use of sites on transit corridors like this, that would require a state-level change. And that's something the city and myself personally have been pushing for.

But there really is still tremendous potential. I mean, I think the new hotel and those new developments going on around the stadium, I think people are really underappreciating what a big, big boost that's going to be for the neighborhood. Neighbors have been dealing with these vacant lots for a decade or so. And so I'm still optimistic about this area in general, but a site like this certainly requires some attention.

NINA MOINI: Dawn, do you share that optimism? From your perspective, what does your group want to see happen?

DAWN EINWALTER: Yeah, I do share that optimism. And I have to admit that there is probably going to be a bit of excitement about this because we have been watching that area for several years in terms of the Hamline Midway Coalition's Development Committee. Because it's large enough to accommodate some really interesting development, I think what needs to happen is a visioning process for not just the Cub site but the entire superblock in the same way that Union Park was re-envisioned-- I mean, not Union Park, Union Village.

I don't want to say that we're trying to follow Union Village as a model but simply that when you have a larger piece of land, you have more options of what you can do with it. And I'm pretty sure that what people are going to be looking for there is housing, green space, and I would say walkable, bikeable connections that get you all the way across that set of superblocks in a pleasant and safe way.

NINA MOINI: Mm-hmm.

DAWN EINWALTER: And I just want to-- go ahead.

NINA MOINI: No, no. I'm sorry. Go ahead.

DAWN EINWALTER: I just want to make a shout out for the Snelling & University Alliance, which is a coalition of organizations that includes the two district councils that are nearby. That's the Hamline Midway Coalition and Union Park District Council. It also includes the Midway Chamber of Commerce and the African Economic Development Solutions. And these four organizations are collaborating to come up with development options for that area.

NINA MOINI: OK, and you feel community members will have a real say in what might come there. But I'm also wondering, Dawn, from your perspective, and, council member, you could answer as well, are there still enough options to go to the store? Because when the Lunds-- there was a Lunds in downtown St. Paul that closed, leaving essentially no grocery stores. What is it going to be like getting around? Are you confident it's going to be able to serve the need of people, Dawn?

DAWN EINWALTER: No, I think that that's something that needs to be included in any re-envisioning of this area. There aren't enough options. The problem with losing Cub was that it was a full service grocery store, and that need is not met in our neighborhood. And frequently, people have to drive somewhere else to meet all their grocery needs. So, yeah, I would love to see that as part of the future, but not the auto-oriented mega store but something that is more suitable for the kind of development that we need in the Midway.

NINA MOINI: And I'll give you the last question, Council Member Privratsky. Do you want to see a grocery store go in there necessarily?

MATT PRIVRATSKY: I think this situation-- Midway is not in a food desert in the traditional sense. As Dawn mentioned, we do have multiple grocery options. I think the reason this hits so hard is that at a time when Target is a place where plenty of people in the neighborhood are less excited to shop at, given their recent stances publicly, I think losing a union grocer is a big deal because folks in this neighborhood want to be able to shop their values and to be able to get the full service that Dawn spoke to.

So I think for folks in this part of town, there are still options somewhat nearby, like the Kowalski's is union staffed by UFCW, places like Mississippi Market, et cetera, even the Cub to the north up in Roseville. But I think we do want to make sure there are options that are meeting the local needs right in our neighborhood. So I think the way Dawn put it is something I would echo.

NINA MOINI: All right. Well, I appreciate both of you coming on and look forward to seeing what does happen moving forward in that location. Thank you so much.

MATT PRIVRATSKY: Thank you.

DAWN EINWALTER: Thank you for the opportunity to chat about this.

NINA MOINI: Thank you. That was St. Paul City Council Member Matt Privratsky and Dawn Einwalter, the President of the Hamline Midway Coalition.