ST PAUL, Minn. — The City of St. Paul has the potential of adding nearly 4,000 new apartment/condo units in the coming years without breaking any new ground. That’s according to a new report that scored 20 downtown properties based on their compatibility for residential conversion.

The Saint Paul Downtown Alliance commissioned the new Office to Residential Conversion Study, which was completed by Gensler, an international architecture and design firm that has handled conversion projects worldwide.

It found that half of those properties, 10 total, are prime targets for conversion.

“We’ve always speculated that there’s some unique features to St Paul architecture that would be a competitive advantage for us,” said Joe Spencer, President of the Saint Paul Downtown Alliance, which commissioned the study. “What the report did, was really verify that. Gensler has done this type of analysis for 1400 buildings across North America. On average, 30% of their buildings will score as a strong conversion candidate.”

“Fully half of ours were scoring as a strong conversion candidate and then another 30% were medium candidates for conversion and only 20% were really poor.”

Residential conversion projects aren’t new to downtown St. Paul, but at a time when many large office buildings have been losing value and vacancies have grown, the report hopes to help provide a guide to potential developers.

“In downtown St. Paul, we’ve got two (conversions) under construction right now, the one right behind me (in the Ecolab University building) and Landmark Tower just a couple blocks that way,” Spencer said.  “We’re hopeful that by providing this report to the market, we’re going to help accelerate that conversion.”

The buildings based on factors like the size of the floor plate and accessibility to windows, how easily the shape can be divided up into units and several other factors like accessibility to parking, plumbing and electrical.

If all 10 of the suitable properties were to be completed, the report estimated that nearly 4,000 new residential units could be added downtown St. Paul.

Spencer: “When you have that mix of users, where you have residents and workers and visitors all in one place, that’s what makes for an exciting and vibrant downtown.” 

Kent Erdahl: “I’ve talked to developers who have said that it’s not that easy because of how much money this costs in order to convert buildings. How do you get from, on paper, this can happen to a developer coming in and actually making that happen?” 

Spencer: “So there’s no question none of these are easy projects. That being said, what this report shows us is our buildings are actually more efficient to convert. We also know that there’s going to be a (cost) gap on top of that. One of the big tools that we’re looking for from the state is the (Conversion of Underutilized Buildings tax credit) what we call the CUB credit. It’s an additional tax credit, a subsidy, that helps close that gap so that we can accelerate the conversions.”

Building prices could also make the conversions more realistic. At a time when downtown office real estate has plummeted in value in the Twin Cities, five of the 20 St Paul properties are owned by Madison Equities, and have already been sitting on the market for months.

“Those buildings are going to fall in value until, at some point, the price is right and buyers are going to come in,” Spencer said. “We’ve had that part of downtown, where Madison Equities properties are clustered – struggling – kind of in the center of downtown for a while. This moment is, I believe, our greatest opportunity for transformation in the last 100 years.”

In the meantime, prices aren’t the only thing that could come crashing down.

Erdahl: “Will there be, in your opinion, buildings that disappear from the skyline?” 

Spencer: “That may well be a possibility. I think, certainly, over the course of time, certain buildings may have proved to out live their useful existence.” 

ST PAUL, Minn. — This is the first school year St. Paul Public Schools is offering an innovative Junior Achievement program called 3DE.

So far, the 3DE curriculum is available to all ninth graders at Washington Technology Magnet and Como Park Senior High School. District and program leaders says it’s designed to connect the freshmen with professionals from high-demand industries, and provide project-based learning opportunities both in the classroom and out in the field.

“Yes, it is very, very important,” said Isaac Kreis, who attends Washington Tech. “I got this opportunity through my first-year focus class.”

This week, the schools visited Cargill at its Wayzata headquarters. 

Leading up to their field trips, the nearly 175-year-old, international agriculture producer and distributor asked students to help find a nonprofit with similar goals as Cargill. Washington Tech students presented their findings Thursday to a judges panel of Cargill employees, who then provided positive feedback.

“3DE was founded in Atlanta at Banneker High School, and they saw dramatic results,” said Kumar Balasubrahmanyan, who facilitates 3DE programming for Junior Achievement North. “The students matriculated in the college at much higher rates. Teachers were saying that they were much more satisfied in their work and engagement went up.”

Over the years, Cargill and the Cargill Foundation have provided more than $2 million to support Junior Achievement North programming, including a $450,000 grant to bring 3DE programming to Minnesota.

“It’s not just dollars,” said JB Scherpelz, global employee engagement manager of Cargill’s corporate responsibility team. “We have a number of volunteers that make it possible, and in the past five years we’ve had more than 200 volunteers spend time with Junior Achievement North, impacting more than 5,000 students.

“There’s a chance for students to learn about what could it look like to work in a place like Cargill and not just Cargill, but to envision themselves in a career.”

Already, the few hours spent on site seemed to have made a lasting impression on Kreis.

“Before this, I wanted to be a biomedical engineer, which is a type of engineering looking into technology, helping people who have lost their limbs get it back through prosthetics, and Cargill is pretty broad in engineering and technology so I think I am very interested into getting into Cargill now that I’ve been here,” the ninth grader said.

SPPS announced 3DE programming in October last year at an event including celebratory remarks by Mayor Melvin Carter.

SAINT PAUL, Minn. — St. Paul officials are asking for the public’s help after a recent surge in violent crime. 

In the last two months there have been nine homicides in the city and three shootings involving St. Paul police officers.

A group of police, city, and church leaders leaders, as well as community advocates gathered in front of media Thursday at SPPD headquarters. The main message from police, the mayor, and community advocates was a plea from residents to speak up and help them tackle gun violence. And that in order to tackle gun violence residents need to speak up. 

Chief Axel Henry was among them and didn’t take questions about those specific instances because the BCA is investigating. Axel did say those three cases involved homicide suspects with firearms. 

“We don’t want people being shot in our city,” said Henry. “Most of our weapons offenders, some of someone in their lives knew they had access to a gun or had a gun.”

“There are so many people that are on your side, young people,” said Senior Pastor Melvin Miller of Progressive Baptist Church. “If you find a young person that is stressed and is challenged and is about to make a bad choice, please reach out.”

Advocates are also calling for more resources for youth. 

Despite this uptick in crime in St. Paul, the city is on track to see fewer killings than 2023. Police also pointed to the recovery of more than 550 guns this year.