I’ve lived in the Midway – the part of Saint Paul halfway between the two downtowns – for 24 years, now. It’s a nice area; leave our short-sighted spendthrift government out of it, and it’s really just about the nicest part of the Twin Cities; there’s nothing wrong with the Midway that a Republican administration couldn’t fix in a few years.
But the City, the state, and the Met Council have been doing their best to fix that.
The Central Corridor, as we discussed last week, will tear up University Avenue for the next 3-4 years, and that’s if it’s the rare government project that comes in on time; only the most entrenched pollyanna believes it’ll come in anywhere near the current, already-bloated $1.4 billion price tag.
And that’s just up-front costs.
Businesses are already floundering; before an inch of track is laid in the Midway, businesses on the west side of the neighborhood are reporting freefalling customer visits, as the parking and the street barriers strangle access to their stores.
Several businesses have already closed – perhaps not entirely attributable to the rail construction, yet, but at the very least businesses whose fates were sealed by the oncoming traffic, parking and pedestrian nightmares and decided to cut their losses short.
Others – like the venerable Porky’s, the ancient burger joint at Uni by Prior – have decided to sell out. It’s gotta be hard to think about running a drive-in when nobody can drive in.
The big Borders store on Hamline closed because of Border’s ongoing financial meltdown – but given a choice between a store in a thriving area like Rosedale and one that’s going to be operating with a tiny, clunky little entrance from a side street due to construction, what do you think the company is going to do?
And the latest rumor – that the Midway Rainbow, the neighborhood’s main grocery store – is going to shut down, ostensibly for the duration of the construction.
It won’t leave the neighborhood without a big-box grocery store, of course; Midway Center has a SuperTarget, a not-s0-super WalMart, and a Cub between Snelling and Hamline, in addition to Rainbow.
But it’s telling that the market is responding to the external force – the imminent destruction of practical transportation into the area – by closing out one of four stores that have co-existed and thrived in that area for decades (the WalMart is the newest addition, replacing a K-Mart; between the two, they’ve been there for maybe ten years); we don’t yet know how Target and Cub will react to the construction, either.
We’ve been warning everyone for years that this rail line project is going to be a disaster for central Saint Paul. It’s happening now.
“But the City, the state, and the Met Council have been doing their best to fix that.”
Ship of fools! IIRC downtown Mpls was hemorrhaging business large and small, so the decision was made to build a mini-choo-choo routed to the biggest shopping mall in the country, in the suburbs. I wonder how many folks from Bloomington are riding the rail up to DT for the shopping experience?
The most entrenched pollyanna
Hello? Dog Gone? Hello?
Roundy’s of Milwaukee owns Rainbow and word on the street is that they have been dissapointed with their entire operation (not just the Rainbow stores, but their Wisc and Ill outlets also). The University location seems to be busy, but they have low prices. Perhaps too low in such a competitive business.
So speculation is that selected stores will be closed, leaving the stronger stores to be put up for sale as a package.
No R.I.N.O. hunter am I, but if ever there was a reason not to vote for Tim Pawlenty in a GOP Primary, this is it . . .
Scott;
I know damn well that I’m not. The only time that I take the train is when I have several sales calls downtown. Not that I matter, but that deprives some parking lot company of collecting fees for a car for a day.
Don’t think for a minute that Cub won’t consider closing if their business takes a downward spike. Probably unlikely if Rainbow closes, but from what I’ve seen in other areas where it’s a 3 horse race, the prices between them aren’t that great.
I have never ridden the light-rail choo choo. I do have the honor of paying for it out of my yearly property taxes. Isn’t that funny?
I’ve ridden it once just to see what it was like. If I ever meet you in person, Kermit, I’ll toss you a fiver to cover the publicly subsidized portion of my fare 🙂
Actually I ride the Hiawatha line quite regularly. School, Twins games, concerts, misc downtown events. Even to the MOA during Christmas shopping season. The suburb (wth big parking lots/ramp) to downtown concept works quite well (good enough for 32,000 riders a day on weekdays….16K each direction).
The central corridor is different. It doesn’t service major destinations like the existing line does. You don’t have the parking ramp and airport to downtown hotels and entertainment venues service lane.
Hiawatha can, hypothetically, work, and work for less; the right of way was largely bought and cleared in the sixties. And in another 25 or so years when the construction costs are amortized, it might become less of a cash soak, if maintenance doesn’t swell up to equal the amortization (like it is in DC right now).
But the CC? Stupid idea. May have been less stupid as a trolley, or built along existing right of way – but they did neither, choosing rather the most expensive and disruptive option of all. Just stupid.
‘choosing rather the most expensive and disruptive option of all”
Easy to do when they are spending someone else’s hard earned money.
“And in another 25 or so years when the construction costs are amortized, it might become less of a cash soak”
I’m thinking that might be a little too far a forward look for any private lender, especially given that the emphasis could be put on the “MIGHT” part.
Hell it might even be a nice feature if the ones that think they benefit from it pay for it out of their own pockets. Maybe the ones that rammed the CC boondoggle through should guarantee the solvency of all those that will be affected in the construction interim, with money out of their own pocket. Suggest it and watch the cowards run.
And in another 25 or so years we will be paying for 55 year old retired city workers pensions and caddilac health care plans.
I can’t wait for the MTC bus drivers to go on strike. That should be comedy gold.
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BP – that, and his green thumb.
For CC, what was wrong with regular electric 1 or 2-car trams sharing existing road?
The true cost of the Hiawatha Line may never be known. It was carefully spread over fed, state, county, city, Met Council sources. We also paid when the utilities lost in court and had to reroute their mains at their (our) expense. We have the same situation now in annual funding, the depreciation virtually unreported, the fare collection on the honor system, the funds comingled with bus operations via transfers. We have no idea what happened, what’s happening now, and what’s going to happen in 25 years or so when the line must undergo a major rebuild.
The Hiawatha is as good as LRT is going to get here. The Central Corridor will be the opposite. And if the Hiawatha had 5-6 fatalities though a largely industrial route, imagine what must almost certainly happen when the CC runs through the populous U of M and Midway areas.
They have been churning dirt in front of the Orville Freeman building for over six months now, and they aren’t done rearranging the under-street pipes yet. Yeah, sure, this will be coming in “under budget”. :-/