Housing, Park & Restaurant Form City Center as Part of Former YMCA Redevelopment

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A redevelopment plan for market rate apartments, townhouses, a sit-down restaurant, and park space at the former YMCA/Hy-Vee site in West St. Paul is finally moving forward.

Why it matters: A major redevelopment opportunity, the project pulls together several vacant properties and creates a public city center space on the River-to-River Greenway trail with the library nearby. Park space and the restaurant are part of the project thanks to the city purchasing the property and having a hand in redevelopment.

What’s Proposed: The Redevelopment Plan

The City of West St. Paul is working with Greco on the current iteration of the plan, known as 150 Thompson. Here are the details:

• Where: Located at 150 Thompson Avenue East, the project stretches from Thompson Avenue south to Crawford Drive. It includes the former AutoZone building on Robert Street and abuts the River-to-River Greenway trail and pond next to Wentworth Library.
• What: The redevelopment plan covers 11 acres with two phases and multiple moving parts. Phase one will include the northern apartment buildings, plus the townhomes, restaurant, and park space. Phase two will be the southern apartment buildings.
  • Apartments: Phase one includes a total of 272 market rate apartment units (81 studio units, 136 one-bedrooms, 41 two-bedrooms, and 14 three-bedrooms). Phase two includes 189 market rate units (53 studio units, 85 one-bedrooms, 42 two-bedrooms, and nine three-bedrooms). Rent prices are not yet known. Both buildings are five stories, though only four stories are visible from the west due to the slope of the land.
  • Townhomes: 21 units of rental townhouses will be added to the existing townhouse development on Crawford Drive. This will complete that development, including finishing touches such as the final lift of asphalt on those streets.
  • Restaurant: The 7,100-square-foot former AutoZone building will be rehabbed as a sit-down restaurant as part of this project. No restaurant has been identified yet and the specific renovation plans will likely come forward as a separate project for approval.
  • Park: The city is in the process of designing a new 2.48-acre public park space as part of this project. Located in the southeast corner with views of the pond, it’s envisioned as a community gathering space with an amphitheater.
  • Parking: This project will include 620 parking spaces for the apartment (598 underground and 22 surface stalls), 33 spaces for the restaurant (potentially more depending on the patio design), plus street parking on the east-west portion of Crawford Drive and along the east side of the phase one apartment building. The park space will have its own parking that hasn’t been determined yet, though the city is already looking at potentially sharing parking with the library for events.
  • Trees: 156 quality trees will be cut down for construction, to be replaced with 177 deciduous and evergreen trees, plus 40 ornamental trees (for a total of 217). The current plans do not meet the city requirements for total caliper inches required, so the Environmental Committee will give recommendations for adding additional trees or the size of the trees planted can be increased to meet the requirement.
• When: If approved, site work is expected to begin before the end of the year, with phase one completed by 2027. Phase two would start in 2027 to be completed by 2029.
• How much: Total project cost is around $145 million. The city is contributing through tax increment financing (TIF), though the final terms are not yet available. The city is expecting about $8-9 million to go to infrastructure improvements and the new park space. The city will recoup the cost of buying the land from Hy-Vee.
• What’s not included: Earlier proposals included more commercial space, though the restaurant is the only commercial space in the current plans.
• What’s next: The proposal comes before the Environmental Committee on July 2, with a public hearing before Planning Commission on July 15 August 19, and City Council review slated for July 28 August 25 and August 11 September 8. However, current revisions to the plans could push those approval meetings back a month or so.

Project History

Here’s a timeline of this property since the original sale of the YMCA back in 2018:

• Late 2018 – Hy-Vee finalizes purchase agreement with YMCA, sale closes in early 2019.
• October 2019 – YMCA’s original building closes.
• 2020 – YMCA building demolished.
• April 2022 – Hy-Vee abandons redevelopment plans.
• June 2022 – City reviews conceptual plans and makes an offer for Hy-Vee land.
• August 2022 – EDA approves purchase agreement with Hy-Vee (though plan is to transfer purchase to a developer) with detailed conceptual plan.
• September 2022 – Developer presents preliminary proposal.
• December 2022 – When the city couldn’t finalize a developer agreement in time, the city bought the Hy-Vee/YMCA land to control development.
• May 2023 – State gives TIF approval, an issue that was holding up redevelopment.
• June 2023 – Preliminary development agreement approved.
• October 2023 – Project update for City Council.
• November 2023 – Public open house and survey results.
• January 2024 – Preliminary development agreement extended.
• April 2024 – Project update for City Council.
• July 2024 – Preliminary development agreement extended.
• February 2025 – Environmental review and public comment.
• March 2025 – Development agreement extended.
• May 2025 – Parks open house and update for City Council.
• June 2025 – Park survey and open house.

Why did YMCA close?: This entire project started after the YMCA decided to sell their aging building in the midst of an evolving approach to community services.

July 7, 2025 Update: Approval Meetings Pushed Back

The City of West St. Paul and Greco pushed back the approval process by a month to allow for revisions to the project. The public hearing will now be August 19.

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