Walking along the Street: Marshall-Lake

This is the first of what I hope will eventually become a series of street tours around the Twin Cities area. The idea is to simply pick a stretch of a certain street, walk along the length of it, and take photos of whatever looks interesting.


This is a street tour from Cleveland Avenue and Marshall Ave in Saint Paul, MN, to Lake Street and the Minnehaha Center plaza in Minneapolis, MN. This was taken on August 17th, 2017.



Starting off at Cleveland and Marshall, we have a two story mixed-use building in the southeast corner of the intersection. The ground floor is home to Choo Choo Bob's Train Store, a Martial Arts studio, and a few other businesses, with apartments located on the upper level. This building likely dates back to streetcar era days.


Heading west, some new curb cuts and bus stop pads are seen. This is part of a street improvement project along Marshall Ave to bring curb cuts up to current accessibility standards.


Continuing along, a Minnoco gas station and service center is spotted. This used to be a BP station judging by the logos. Minnoco stands for Minnesota Independent Oil Company for those who may be curious. (Link)


Now after a couple of blocks we get to the bridge, this is the connection between Marshall Avenue in Saint Paul and Lake Street in Minneapolis. It is also the northernmost bridge on the Mississippi River to connect the cities. (The Franklin Avenue bridge is next, and has Minneapolis on both ends)


The Mississippi River viewed looking north towards downtown Minneapolis and the University of MN Minneapolis campuses.


Now in Minneapolis, one of the first changes seen are the custom Lake street branding banners on the bus stop shelters. These were installed as a corridor branding attempt around 10 years ago (give or take).


Lake Street also has a noticeably commercial vibe to it compared to the short stretch of Marshall just observed. In the next couple blocks a bustling SuperAmerica convenience store...


... the American Rug Laundry Building...


... and the imported Hi-Lo diner are seen.


One of the more creative bike rack designs I've seen, this was outside a dentist office.


Now an example of some recent development, this building was at one point some type of machinery dealer or factory from what I could tell. Now it is home to Longfellow Market, a local grocery store:


A very industrial looking sign for the Don's Leather Cleaning service building. I'm not certain if this has always been Don's or if it was originally something different.


Further along a strip of retail storefronts is seen at 36th and Lake. River Lake True Value Hardware is seen front and center. Neighborhood hardware stores are not an easy thing to find any more with the proliferation of the national big-box home improvement chains in the suburbs. I think the lettering over the white sign for the store states "Since 1947" but I can't quite tell as there are numbers missing.


Across the street a new Tim Hortons location has been opened this summer as part of the chain's expansion into the Twin Cities market. This replaced a former White Castle.


Continuing along, a former movie and/or performance theater is now home to a church:


Here we see a non-nondescript strip plaza with a laundomat and coffee. Not sure what this would have been before, perhaps a video rental store or some other obsolete retail use.


Walgreens Pharmacy has just completed their move into a new location, right next door to their former store! This makes for a nice comparison however in the evolution of design and sidewalk access. First we see the old store with small windows, a tight sidewalk entry, and bland exterior.


Next is the new location with a more welcoming walkway and plaza, bigger windows, and more buffer space between the sidewalk and parking lot.


Looking across the street now, there is the old East Lake branch library building, currently home to a merchandising business. A plaque noting the building history can be seen in this photo.


Continuing on, the street has a more suburban look. This US Bank branch uses up a whole block with a building and parking lot. I have to wonder if they even use the whole building anymore.


And finally we will end with a couple parting photos at the Minnehaha Plaza shopping center. A former Rainbow Foods is now home to a charter academy of some type, a 1990's look Wendy's sitting in a sea of asphalt, and Cub Foods appears to be getting a facelift.
     

Long term I would expect that some of the plaza area here will be converted to new development with apartments.

That brings us to the end of this street tour!

New Sidewalks for Highland Village

Highland Village is the retail area that centers around the intersection of Ford Parkway and Cleveland Avenue in Saint Paul, MN. It is a fairly diverse area, with both new and older retail serving a variety of needs. Recently the area started to undergo a major reconstruction project involving the public sidewalks. As a frequent visitor of the area I thought it would be interesting to document the changes, so here are some photos:

First a couple of photos showing the original concrete and red brick sidewalks. This design was incorporated in the 1980s if I recall correctly:




Next are a couple of shots showing some of the completed and somewhat completed sidewalks so far:




Finally, one section that will be interesting to watch, the future site of the northbound/eastbound A-Line bus station/stop on Ford Parkway at Finn Street. I recall some mention of roughing in station elements with the sidewalk rebuilding, however there has also been mention of station construction occurring next year when Ford Parkway is being repaved/rebuilt. How much is being done now vs. later at this spot is unknown to me. However it is nice to see that the A-Line station is being taken into account. I'd rather see a temporary asphalt or concrete pad in place for now, rather than have a complete new sidewalk and curb ripped out next summer. Of course the best thing would be to pre-build part of the platform ahead of time so as to minimize pedestrian interference.

Looking west at the station site:


East view:


A mark on the Highland Bank plaza noting where the BRT section cutoff is:

Saint Paul Union Depot (SPUD)

The Saint Paul Union Depot was officially reopened to the public on Saturday December 8th, 2012 after months of careful restoration and reconstruction. A few years ago it was somewhat of a eyesore in the Lowertown district of downtown Saint Paul. Most recently, transport based activity from the depot site was in the form of semis hauling mail.

Today SPUD is once again a proper multi-modal transportation hub. While it is not officially multi-modal as of this writing, it will begin serving Amtrak and Jefferson Lines passengers in 2013. In 2014 Metro Green service will serve a station in front of the depot. Regional rail lines are also expected to serve the depot in future years.

In the meantime select Metro Transit and St. Paul bound Minnesota Valley Transit routes serve the depot, providing riders with an attractive location to wait for their ride.

In 2011 I had the opportunity to photograph SPUD during the reconstruction period. Here are some comparative photos:

 Concourse interior on grand opening day:



Concourse interior in 2011:


Exterior stairwell current and 2011:
 


Main platform area, current and 2011 (Note: viewed from opposite directions):



Gate cabinets:



While these few comparative photos can hardly cover the remarkable transformation, I hope folks can appreciate all the hard work and detail that went into restoring this historic building and site.