St. Paul moves forward with plans to expand downtown's Pedro Park

Downtown St. Paul residents are one step closer to the expansion of Pedro Park they have long desired after the City Council voted Wednesday to demolish a vacant city building.

The city is expected to use $1.4 million in federal grants to tear down its former public safety annex at 100 E. 10th St., creating space that would allow the tiny park to nearly double in size.

Officials hope to start demolition work in late January, with plans to level out the land and plant grass by next summer. Fundraising and design planning would happen in the following months, though city staff say they don't have a specific timeline.

"Parks are really the jewels of downtown St. Paul, and from an economic development perspective oftentimes spark a lot of activity," said Travis Bistodeau, St. Paul's deputy director of planning and economic development. He added that the annex, which has been empty since 2018, is in poor condition and costs the city roughly $100,000 annually to maintain.

Andy Rodriguez, Parks and Recreation Department director, said "this specific pocket of downtown is lacking in amenities."

"It's only going to add to the vibrancy of what downtown is, and we're excited about it," he said.

The Pedro family donated the 0.45 acres that house the park in 2009, and the city drew up designs to expand the green space into the public safety annex lot in subsequent years. But in 2017, officials suddenly shifted their plans, offering the building to a developer that wanted to turn it into office and retail space.

That decision drew outrage — and a lawsuit — from neighbors who said the city was violating ordinances and breaking promises.

But in early 2021, citing the COVID-19 pandemic, the developer backed out of the purchase, putting site planning efforts back at square one. A work group headed by the Capitol River Council met from May to November of last year to discuss how the city might proceed.

"This is just wonderful news," Rod Halvorson, who has owned a condo near Pedro Park for 20 years, said of the council's vote. Many neighbors will be "very, very happy" to hear about the decision, he said.

The work group's report described how residents "lost faith" in the city after initial plans for a park were abandoned despite years of community engagement.

"This is a property that's so loved by this neighborhood," said Julie Printz, who led the work group. "This sad, little deficient park has just been embraced by the community."

Rodriguez said funding for the park will likely come from a mix of public and private funds. Neighbors have expressed interest in helping raise money to build the largest park possible.

The city had some early conversations with adjacent property owners on the block, Bistodeau said, but has no plans to expand the park beyond the annex land.

The work group report points out that a larger park could help downtown retain workers, improve residents' quality of life and raise the property tax values of nearby buildings. After the pandemic dampened desire for office space and St. Paul's new rent control law caused uncertainty for housing development, the park expansion "seemed like the clear best path forward," Printz said.

After renting for four years, she and her husband recently bought a condo downtown — something Printz said they might not have done were it not for plans to expand the park.

"It makes you think, 'Maybe there's a future for residents downtown, if the city's going to listen to us,' " she said.