Thanks to Fraidy Cats and Inver Grove Ford for their support.
The City of West St. Paul is asking for public comment on the proposed 150 Thompson redevelopment project. The former YMCA/Hy-Vee property has been slated for redevelopment for years and a project with the developer Greco has slowly been moving forward.
What: The proposed project includes 475 market-rate apartments in two four-story buildings, 27 townhome units, a restaurant/event center (in the former AutoZone), and park/open space areas with public amenities including an outdoor turf amphitheater.
When: The project will happen in phases, with phase one including one apartment building with up to 279 units, the townhomes, retail/event center, and park/open space areas. They’re proposing to begin construction in September 2025 and be completed by August 2027. Phase two would be the second apartment building with up to 196 units, and would potentially start in April of 2028 and be completed by October 2029.
Comment: State law requires an environmental assessment with a 30-day public comment period. The full Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW), a 537-page PDF (most of which is a traffic study) can be viewed online or at city hall. Comments can be submitted via email or in writing. At this point, the comments are mostly for environmental review and impact. Comments for the environmental review will be accepted through March 27, 2025.
Process: This project has already gone through multiple steps with opportunity for public input, and more will come as the project goes through the typical City Council process with a public hearing before the Planning Commission. The city has hired a landscape architect to design the park/open space areas of the project, and more details and opportunity for input for that will come later.
We keep the community informed thanks to the generous support of our members.
4 Responses
please, no more overpriced apartments!!!
Why can’t we just have a woodland park, or a much-needed hotel? We know what’s best for our area and can plan our own projects, thank you very much. No more mixed-use, mixed-income, high-density housing from the destructive Met Council! They don’t ask our opinions — this project is already fully planned and this effort to seek feedback is just a formality.
To lure all neighborhoods to join the metro, the Met Council waves federal grants (i.e., our tax money) for these projects which include pricey (i.e., unaffordable) and cumbersome transit projects that simply transport crime, bike lanes, roundabouts, same high-rise, high-density housing, same mixtures of people as have been installed in the metro area. But we don’t want to be the same as every place in the U.S.
Drive around the Cities to view the canyons of high-rise Met Council-approved apartments that no one wanted and note the increased crime and litter. Nearly all areas have suffered, finding too late that once construction is completed the resulting maintenance is far more costly than anyone imagined, and it’s permanent. Somehow crime always increases when the Met Council shows up yet it does not include a corresponding increase in police or fire/EMT. Such is the responsibility of each city, so that’s an extra cost.
And don’t forget that their formula always includes “art” that they select. Along University Avenue from the Midway area of St. Paul into Minneapolis, there are lots of ugly caged black rocks and jagged quarry rejects that supposedly represent and promote the beauty of the area. Forget the ugly art! We deserve better and should select our own with donations, not tax dollars.
Increased density forces us to crawl all over each other as a means of getting tax revenues for city and state leaders to spend. In the last 1-2 years more light rail lines have been discussed, and I guarantee that either WSP or SSP will eventually receive one that will connect DT St.Paul to Rochester over fertile farmland and natural drainage to the river = more loss of wildlife habitat in favor of humans who can be taxed. Despite preliminary feasibility studies that showed areas of problematic rock and soil, never fear, the Met Council will add it anyway. There was discussion of an extended underground subway from Union Station to Mayo Clinic costing $trillions despite there being a current shuttle bus. I advocate instead for banning the Met Council from our area and making our own decisions about our community.
More apartments and other housing improve the city’s tax base and expands the customer base for local businesses.
The Met Council is not mentioned in this article. And I’ve not heard of any requirement for art to be included.