Abandoned Midway CVS set for Tuesday demolition after delays
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The vacant CVS in St. Paul's Midway neighborhood is set for demolition Tuesday morning, according to the demolition company.
Veit Construction originally planned to take down the building March 9, but they pushed it back a week.
The company delayed it one more day after a blizzard engulfed the Twin Cities over the weekend.
The abandoned pharmacy, at the corner of University and Snelling Avenues, has been closed since the spring of 2022. It has become symbolic of the stymied growth — or even urban decay — of the Midway neighborhood.
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Local residents and business owners say people leave trash, use drugs and vandalize the abandoned pharmacy. There have been reports of unhoused people loitering in the area.
Neighbors and businesses say they feel unsafe.
“Look what they're doing to the area,” said Kathy Stransky, owner of Midway Used and Rare Books just across the street from the dilapidated, boarded up behemoth. “Look at all the businesses that have been forced out,” Stransky said. “I mean, even CVS, who is so huge, couldn't make it here. The Cub grocery store can't make it.”
The demolition won't help with long-standing issues, Stransky said. The city and county need to do more.
“Help us out. Have some of these places for lower rents so people can can move into them, not everything being subsidized,” Stransky said. “Help people that want to start a business.”
She said any up-and-coming businesses are “pushed out of the way” by high rents and the slow decline of businesses in the area. Stransky also blames the light rail.
But Stransky says she's hopeful about Mayor Kaohly Her, who promised to turn the area around.
Ward 4 City Councilmember Molly Coleman represents the Midway neighborhood and lives there as well. She sponsored a resolution calling for the property’s razing and removal within 15 days of Nov. 5, 2025, the day it passed unanimously by council.
When she won a special election in August last year, she told Minnesota Now the CVS property was probably the most discussed building in the city.
“It’s unacceptable to have a vacant building at the most important intersection in our city and to have had that be vacant for three years,” Coleman said. “We have to think creatively about what are the tools that we have, and how do we invest in what is working in Midway.”
There’s chatter around the neighborhood that a fast food restaurant is interested in the corner, but Robinn Bloom, co-owner of The Midway Saloon, has another idea.
Bloom said many people in the area rely on transit and ridesharing services to get groceries. But for some, getting to the Target is out of the question.
“So having a grocery store on a corner where there is some parking available, I think that would be great for the neighborhood,” she said.
