North End : Development News

A building that sat vacant for 30 years is now home to the real estate-focused Libby Law Office and the SPARC community development agency.

Last week, the groups held an open house at the century-old building, which underwent a thorough rehabbing after the law firm bought the place from SPARC in June.

The community group had owned the building for five years, according to Kirsten Libby, the law firm's principal.

She says that while it would have cost less to tear down the building, she wanted to contribute to the ongoing revitalization of Rice Street.

The $500,000 rehab “brought value to the neighborhood," she says. 

The law firm, which is on the first floor, has a reception area, offices, a kitchenette, and a conference room, while SPARC fills the second floor.  

In the past, the 1888 building had been a Romanian rooming house and a mattress and a magnet factory.

The long, narrow building, which has two stories, was gutted and reframed, she says. “There were a lot of structural issues that were worse than what we thought at first,” Libby says.

The building's windows, roof, and mechanical systems were replaced, while the original brick façade was preserved. The building also has energy-efficient stucco siding on its exterior.  

Inside, rich earth tones run throughout, complementing the red exposed bricks. Hardwood floors, 20-foot-high ceilings, granite walls, and a hand-painted sign create the feeling of an old-fashioned Main-Street-type law office.

“We tried to keep the old look,” she says. “It’s warm and inviting, all the things we had in mind when we put it together.”  

Source: Kirsten Libby, Libby Law Office
Writer: Anna Pratt

This summer, several wind turbines have been welded to the rooftop of the building at 1010 Dale Street North in St. Paul. Soon, a fourth one will go on a separate pole in the parking lot.

The installation will be the first urban wind farm in the country, according to building owner Tony Magnotta, who also heads several companies, including Minnesota Wind Technology, which is housed in the building.

Macalester College also has a wind turbine-system, but wind as a main power source is a new phenomenon in the city, St. Paul's Monitor reports. As such, getting the proper city approvals was a challenge.

Magnotta's building will be a kind of test that will help inform more detailed city policies on the subject further down the line, the Monitor reports.

Additionally, solar panels will also make the building "totally self-sufficient," energy-wise, Magnotta says.

The wind turbines that Magnotta is using are the product of a Taiwanese company that will soon be setting up shop in St. Paul, he says. "These are the only ones that are viable in an urban environment."

In fact, they're built to withstand wind speeds of up to 134 miles per hour, the Monitor reports. They move with the wind, not against it, and they shut down when the wind becomes too powerful, the story explains.  

At $20,000 for each wind turbine and $50,000 for the solar panels, it's a big investment. But between federal government incentives and long-term energy savings, he says, it's a good deal.

And, rising utility costs coupled with growing environmental concerns mean that soon enough "we'll all have to do this," he says.


Source: Tony Magnotta, CEO, Minnesota Wind Technology, LLC  
Writer: Anna Pratt

Just over a month ago, the North End Urban Farm broke ground and started food production on a three-acre parcel in the St. Paul neighborhood from which  it takes its name.

SPARC, a community development corporation, previously proposed a townhome complex on the site, but the idea was scratched in the economic downturn, according to business development manager Allison Sharkey. 

A future housing development is still planned for the site, but part of the farm will probably stay intact. "By then we will have tried different pilot projects and different methods and seen what works best and we'll incorporate that," she says. 

To make the farm happen, SPARC worked out a partnership with a handful of other groups, including the Association for the Advancement of Hmong Women in Minnesota, Community Table Cooperative, Pig's Eye Urban Farm, and Holistic Health Farms.

The University of Minnesota's Center for Urban and Regional Affairs contributed $10,000 to establish the farm, which has a $15,000 budget. Also, the Triscuit company provided supplies for a vegetable and flower demonstration garden, according to Sharkey.

The farm makes a huge difference in a neighborhood where there's no grocery store or farmers' market. "Our goal is to increase access to fresh produce," she says. "We've asked each grower to sell in the neighborhood as much as they can," and the farm is certified to participate in the WIC program, she adds.

With half-acre plots, the professional growers have been able to launch or expand their businesses, she says. One business owner even started a community-supported agriculture (CSA) program.  

Already, the growers have begun connecting with area restaurants and corner stores about providing fresh food. 

Later in the season a farmers' market will happen on-site, while each grower will have a produce stand, she says. Also, a you-pick farm program, which gives visitors the chance to pick food themselves, is in the works.

 
Source: Allison Sharkey, business development program manager, SPARC
Writer: Anna Pratt

J&J Distributing, a family-owned company that delivers fresh and dried produce from its warehouse on St. Paul's North End, is trying to grow in a sustainable way.

The company is in the middle of an $8.5 million expansion that involves energy-efficiency improvements; expanding its produce-cutting room, and building a greenhouse. All in all, it's adding 20,000 square feet to its existing 100,000-square-foot warehouse, according to project materials.  

Recently the company was recognized for its strides in the energy-efficiency and conservation area, with a 2011 Sustainable Saint Paul Award, through the city. The federal Department of Energy released a video this month about the company's green jobs creation.

Jim Hannigan, the company's president and CEO, says J&J made a commitment to going green in 2008. "Creating a negative carbon footprint is beneficial to the company and community," he says, adding that the energy-efficiency upgrades will help it reduce its energy consumption by about 40 percent every year.  

Considering that the agriculture business, in general, is an "energy hog," the company tries to be mindful of its fuel consumption. "Everything we touch has to do with energy in some manner," he says.

The J&J multiple-part project is one of the first to progress under the Rebuild St. Paul umbrella, which combines bonding, city, state, and federal funds, and private partnerships, "to get projects off the pages of planning books and into the ground," according to city information.  

A loan from the Saint Paul Port Authority's Trillion BTU program, which is geared toward energy efficiency, along with Xcel Energy rebates, enabled the company to change out its whole refrigeration system, according to project information on the city's website. J&J replaced 44 rooftop refrigeration units with three climate systems, city materials state.

It also revamped its lighting system, installing a combination of Light Emitting Diode (LED) and fluorescent fixtures, while it will also have a white roof that reflects heat, according to Dave Gontarek, a project manager for the city's planning and economic development division.  

Waste energy from a new, more energy-efficient chiller will heat the greenhouse and office spaces, Gontarek says. The greenhouse will yield 220,000 pounds of tomatoes and other produce each year, according to city information.  

Sources: Jim Hannigan, president and CEO, J&J Distributing and Dave Gontarek, a project manager for the city of St. Paul's planning and economic development division
Writer: Anna Pratt

To figure out the best transit solution for the Robert Street Corridor, the Dakota County Railroad Authority will undergo something called an "alternatives analysis."

The Robert Street corridor runs from downtown St. Paul to Rosemount, with Interstate 35E bounding it on the west and the Mississippi River forming its eastern edge.  

A $1.18 million grant from the federal Department of Transportation, which was announced last month, will jumpstart the analysis, according to Dakota County transit specialist Sam O'Connell.  

The "alternatives analysis" will help define those "areas that really demonstrate the transportation need and focus on solutions," she says.  

Through the 12-to-18-month-long analysis, the county will identify the "locally preferred alternative" for a route and transit type. Some of the options they'll look at are light rail, commuter rail, bus rapid transit, streetcars, and more, while Robert Street is only one possible route.

An early feasibility study that the county did underscored the need for more transit services, with longer hours and higher frequency, especially with state projections for increased population and employment, she explains.

Today, about 129,000 vehicles cross the Mississippi River at the Lafayette and Robert Street Bridges on a daily basis, which is important to know because "bridges are natural chokepoint," she says.   

But different areas throughout the corridor have varying levels of density, impacts to land use and communities, ridership and more. "You have to do a technical analysis of what will and won't serve the corridor," she says. "It allows you to focus on the best solutions," which the public will have the chance to provide feedback on along the way.  

Source: Sam O'Connell, Dakota County transit specialist
Writer: Anna Pratt