Study: Conversions could help revitalize downtown St. Paul

Source:
Finance & Commerce
https://finance-commerce.com/2024/03/study-conversions-could-help-revitalize-downtown-st-paul/

Author:
Brian Johnson

Article Excerpt:
Looking in part at the past to create a roadmap for the future, downtown St. Paul boosters are counting on office-to-housing conversions like the Pioneer Endicott project to create a more vibrant central business district.

In 2011, PAK Properties and Halverson and Blaiser Group Ltd. paid $1.1 million for the 1889-vintage, 350,000-square-foot Pioneer Endicott complex at 141 E. Fourth St. in downtown St. Paul and spent to $42 million turn the former offices into 234 apartments.

With office building owners struggling to find tenants in the post-pandemic era, conversions are fashionable again — and downtown St. Paul is in a good place to capitalize on that trend, according to a new report from the Downtown Saint Paul Alliance.

The Downtown Investment Strategy report — which was based on market analysis, community input, stakeholder feedback and an economic impact analysis — cites public realm improvements and robust predevelopment efforts as keys to improving downtown…