East Side

There’s a new story on the local Minnesota beer front and it isn’t the Surly Brewery going up in Minneapolis. Flat Earth Brewing Co., part of the Twin Cities’ growing craft beer economy, plans to expand into several abandoned buildings at the old Hamm’s Brewery in the East Side neighborhood of St. Paul.

The microbrewer has won initial approval from the city for a $375,000 loan to spur the move from its current quarters on Benson Avenue. If and when the City Council approves the loan, Flat Earth will move its brewing operation into Building 8, which is the former Hamm’s keg-washing operation. Flat Earth is also looking at Buildings 7 and 9 for future use as a public tap/tasting room and maybe a beer garden.

The St. Paul-based microbrewer wants to increase production and expand its distribution network outside of Minnesota. Brews such as Angry Planet Pale Ale and Livid Planet Pale Ale and seasonal favorite Black Helicopter Coffee Stout are popular among Twin Cities beer-drinkers, but there hasn’t been room to produce more. Privately held Flat Earth produced 1,300 barrels of beer in 2012.

Flat Earth will be renovating and retrofitting buildings that have been part of St. Paul’s East Side for about 150 years. Building 9, a former carpentry shop that dates back to 1864 and 1867, is in bad shape, especially after a fire that occurred in 2005. Buildings 7 and 8, erected in...

Here is MLS # 4360646

This unassuming home located at 2018 Cottage Ave E in St. Paul, Minnesota.  It has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and 1,670-square-feet of space. The house is in the Greater East Side neighborhood of Saint Paul.

Built in 1921, this home has loads of character. Its features include a great front porch, hardwood floors, and an amusement room with a wet bar.

It’s in a nice quiet neighborhood. It’s on a treed lot so it feels a bit private, but yet it is still conveniently in the city.. Priced to sell, this Greater East Side home can be yours for $125,000!

Browse more Greater East Side St. Paul MN Real Estate
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As part of an effort to redevelop a 61-acre site in St. Paul's Dayton's Bluff, which includes an old 3M Co. campus, the St. Paul Port Authority is selling four buildings for $1 to the new Ironton Asset Fund. But there's a big hitch.

Jim Stolpestad, manager of the Ironton Asset Fund, is ready to take on the challenge. To get the buildings, Stolpestad and his group have to come up with a plan for how to reuse the buildings and get leases signed with tenants who agree to hire a certain number of workers depending on the size of the space. They have to make a good-faith effort to hire St. Paul residents and pay them at least $11 per hour plus benefits. And he has to do it in one year. A tall order, right?

The $1 package includes Building 21, 3M's former corporate headquarters, which was built in 1939 with restrained Moderne styling. Preservationists consider it significant. The buildings qualify for state and federal historic tax credits. Many other buildings on the site already have been demolished.

The Ironton Asset Fund is a $10 million fund with about 22 investors investing in distressed assets. The fund's first purchase was the old Chittenden & Eastman Building on University Avenue in St. Paul, which will be converted into market-rate apartments.

The Port Authority calls it the largest redevelopment project it's pursued in 20 years.

"It's certainly the most exciting thing on our plate right now," said Monte Hilleman, the Port Authority's vice president of redevelopment.

The clock is ticking. If the plan doesn't materialize, the future of the four buildings is in question. But as an East Side native, where the project is actually located, he could have a good shot at accomplishing his task.

Read more at the Star Tribune.

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Next week, forestry crews will start cutting down boulevard ash trees in selected areas of St. Paul as part of a broader strategy to slow the spread of emerald ash borers.

They expect to remove about 355 non-diseased but generally declining ashes over two months in wards 6 and 7 on the East Side. All the trees are on public property. Right now, the concentration will be on boulevard tries and in the future it may move to parks.

The work is being funded through a $722,600 state grant aimed at helping cities cope with invasive emerald ash borers. The insects were found last spring in the St. Anthony Park neighborhood. Ash borers will likely spread to many of Minnesota's estimated 940 million ash trees.

The work will be done away from the infested area on the west side of the city. Removing healthy trees in the infected areas would simply force hungry beetles elsewhere and would hasten their spread. In the spring, crews expect to focus their efforts on removing diseased trees in the infested area.

Ash trees make up about 30% of Saint Paul's tree canopy, with more than 30,000 of them just on boulevards. Last year, 83 diseased trees were found and removed in St. Paul and Falcon Heights.

The city is distributing pamphlets explaining the tree-removal process to affected area residents.

Related Links

• Saint Paul Takes Steps Against Emerald Ash Borer
• Emerald Ash Borer Found in Falcon Heights
• Ash-less Experiment in Saint Paul's Como Park Neighborhood

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The old 3M company headquarters on the East Side of St. Paul has a new name: Beacone Bluff. The St. Paul Port Authority also has a new Web site to market the former 3M campus to companies and lure jobs, BeaconBluff.com.

The property served as 3M's headquarters from 1910 to 1962. Over the past year, options for the land and reuse of the buildings have been discussed. Last month, the Port Authority closed on the purchase of the last remaining parcels of 3M's former campus.

Finding buyers might be a little difficult because there's a mix of vacant land and buildings with historic pasts. Officials want to see if the buildings can be sold for reuse first, rather than for demolition.

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Crews digging under Fourth Street in downtown St. Paul for the proposed Central Corridor light-rail line unearthed a piece of its 1800s predecessor, the cable car. Officials have decided to preserve the U-shaped "iron yoke" and upon completion of the 11-mile Central Corridor, display it at the proposed Union Depot station in St. Paul.

Unlike electric streetcars or modern light rail, cable cars had no internal power supply. Their systems consisted of narrow-gauge tracks split by an open groove. Under the groove, a single continuous cable ran the entire length of the line, constantly in motion. Cable car operators controlled a device that grabbed the cable, which pulled the car along. The iron yokes sat U-side-up a few inches beneath grade, protecting the cable.

Yes, St. Paul had a cable car system. Though they were invented in San Francisco in the 1870s, they exploded across the United States.  By 1889, St. Paul had two cable car lines operated by the St. Paul City Railway Co. One line ran along East Seventh Street from Wabasha Street downtown to Duluth Street on the city's East Side. The other ran along Fourth from Broadway to Seven Corners, climbed Selby Hill and followed Selby Avenue to Fairview Avenue.

There will likely be more artifacts found. Tracks from streetcars that ran along University Avenue remain and were simply submerged when the roadway was paved over years ago. If the light-rail project moves forward, those tracks are scheduled to be removed once the digging begins.

Cold facts: Cable cars were heated in the winter by small coal-burning stove.

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There are many programs available to first time home buyers throughout the City of Saint Paul and in some cases, specific St. Paul neighborhoods.

In particular, the CityLiving Home Program offered by the Saint Paul Home Loan Fund makes home ownership affordable. Through a joint effort shared with the City of Minneapolis, St. Paul offers mortgage loans and home improvement loans through the program. CityLiving loans offer homebuyers an opportunity to purchase St. Paul homes at an interest rate that historically has ranked well below market rates. This program has helped low- and moderate-income families for 20 years. More than 10,000 people have purchased a home through the CityLiving program. Read more information about Saint Paul's CityLiving Home Program.

There is also the Invest Saint Paul program. This collaborative effort is intended to strategically channel city government and private resources into revitalizing and redeveloping four key neighborhoods of St. Paul.  Those neighborhoods are Dayton’s Bluff, Frogtown, the East Side, and the North End.  The goal of Invest St. Paul is to turn the tide of foreclosures and entice new residents into buying real estate in these areas.

The Make it Possible Program, or MPP, is a second mortgage product provided by the Family Housing Fund (FHF).  Under the MPP, a 3% down payment is required of home buyers.  Borrowers who qualify for a first mortgage representing 80% or less of the appraised value of the property through a private mortgage lender will be able to receive the difference of up to 20% of the remaining value in a second mortgage loaned at 3.5% payable over a 15-year...

Dayton's Bluff is a neighborhood located on the east side of the Mississippi in the southeast part of the city of Saint Paul, Minnesota. The northern border of the neighborhood is Grove Street and the Burlington Northern Railroad. The southern border is Warner Road. To the west is Lafayette Road and Highway 3, and to the east is Highway 61. Dayton’s Bluff contains one of the widest varieties of history of any Twin Cities’ neighborhood.

The history of the area goes back over 1,000 years when the Hopewell Native Americans used the area as a sacred burial ground. On the edge of the southern and highest part of Dayton's Bluff today, a series of seven large aboriginal burial mounds remain in Indian Mounds Park, overlooking the Mississippi River and the central part of the city. The park features walking paths, playgrounds and a picnic area.

In 1857, Lyman Dayton, a well-known land and railroad speculator from Vermont, platted an "addition to St. Paul" on the Eastern border of the city. The area was separated from the early settlement along the river by a ravine, but this inaccessibility did not deter Dayton. A handful of other businessmen also built large and costly houses in the area. Farther to the south, beyond present day I-94 in the Mounds Park area, river-oriented residential development was also occurring. The earliest settlers had a spectacular view of the growth of the city at the Lower Levee and along E. Seventh Street. The area has since been referred to as Dayton’ Bluff, named after the man who built the first large home here.

Located on the east side of St. Paul, Dayton's Bluff has a particularly high concentration of 19th century homes within its boarders. In the early 1800's, Dayton's Bluff was one of St. Paul's first affluent suburbs, as is evidenced by the many Victorian, Italianate and Queen Anne styles of architecture. Overall, most of the homes in Dayton’s Bluff were built in...

On Wednesday, the Saint Paul city council will hold a public hearing and vote on changes to an outdated master plan for the Lilydale segment of Lilydale-Harriet Island Regional Park. Among the changes is the designation of an 8.5-acre area where dog owners could have an off-leash dog walking area.

Though off-leash dog parks are growing in popularity, St. Paul currently operates only one, in Arlington/Arkwright Park on the East Side.

The city's Parks Commission has signed off on the plan, and approval appears likely from the city council. Next, the Metropolitan Council will have to vote on it. ...

According to the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors’ Market Update for 100 Twin Cities Communities, new posted listings for homes in St. Paul MN, decreased in February.  There were 480 new listings in Saint Paul throughout the month, compared to the 602 homes put up on the market during February 2008.  That is a decline of -20.3%.  In contrast, there were 548 new listings in January 2009.  The Merriam Park neighborhood and West 7th neighborhood of St. Paul experienced increases in posted new listings, while rest saw their listings decrease.

For the year to date posted new listings in St. Paul, the picture looks just a little different. For February and January, there were 1,027 new listings, compared to the 1,164 during the same time frame of 2008. That’s a -11.8% reduction.  The Greater East Side, Merriam Park, and West 7th neighborhoods saw a rise in listings up to +17.4%; other Saint Paul neighborhood listings dropped.

There were many homes sold in Saint Paul in February compared to 2008.  There were 202 homes sold throughout the month, a full +27.0% increase over the 159 homes sold in February of 2008!  Rates at which homes were selling varied from neighborhood to neighborhood, with the biggest differences seen in West Side/Cherokee...

The first St. Paul real estate market analysis for the year of 2009! New posted listings for homes in St. Paul, Minnesota, decreased in January according to the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors’ Market Update for 100 Twin Cities Communities.  During the month, there were 548 new listings in Saint Paul, compared to the 562 homes put up on the market during January 2008.  That is a decrease of just -2.5%.  It was a mixed bag when the posted new listings are broken out by neighborhood, as some big increases while others saw decreases. Here is a breakdown of new listings by Saint Paul neighborhood:

The number of homes sold within St. Paul, Minnesota, in January 2009 is higher than the same month of 2008, a trend that has been running for a few months.  There were 170 homes sold throughout the month, a +7.6% increase over the 158 homes sold in January 2008.  Closed sales on homes for January 2009 in Saint Paul by neighborhood:

The prices of homes sold in St. Paul have continued to fall.  The average sales price of a home sold in January was $111,222, a negative change from the $205,897 of January2008.  That is a decrease of -46.0%. Only the West 7th neighborhood saw an increase in real estate prices in January. The percentage...

This is the final St. Paul real estate market analysis for the year of 2008.  According to the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors’ Market Update for 100 Twin Cities Communities, new posted listings for homes in St. Paul, Minnesota, increased in December.  There were 399 new listings in St. Paul, compared to the 351 homes put up on the market during the same month of 2007, which adds up to an increase of +13.7%.  Unlike November, lots of neighborhoods in Saint Paul saw increases in new listings.  The increase is a little unusual, because December is obviously a month full of holidays and most people don’t want the hassle of putting their house up on the market.

There were 6,859 new listings of homes for sale in St. Paul that were posted within the 2008 year.  That is a decline of -8.8% from the 7,520 homes listed throughout the year of 2007.  The neighborhoods of Mac-Groveland, St. Anthony / Midway, and West 7th experienced the greatest declines in new listings.  The Phalen and West Side / Cherokee neighborhoods have been the only St. Paul neighborhoods that saw boosts in new listings compared to 2007.

There was a higher number of homes sold within St. Paul, Minnesota, in December 2008 than in 2007.  There were 217 homes sold during the month, +5.9% more than the 205 homes sold during December of 2007.  There were 3,046 closed sales in Saint Paul...

New posted listings for homes in Saint Paul, Minnesota, decreased during November according to the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors’ Market Update for 100 Twin Cities Communities.  Throughout the month, there were 398 new listings in St. Paul.  In the previous year, there were 481 new listings during November.  That is a -17.3% reduction in new listings, comparatively.  The only neighborhoods of St. Paul which saw increases in posted new listings of homes for sale were Phalen and Merriam Park.  A drop off in new listings is to be expected now and over the next few months as the winter season really starts kicking up snow. 

Saint Paul’s new listings of homes for sale from for the year-to-date from January through November are at 6,460.  That is a decrease of -9.9% from last year’s 7,169 for the same time frame.  Southeast, St. Anthony / Midway, and West 7th neighborhoods are continuing to experience great declines in homes being listed for sale.  The Phalen and West Side / Cherokee areas have been the only Saint Paul neighborhoods to see boosts in new listings through the month of November.

And now the part that you’ve been waiting for: the good news.  The number of homes sold within St. Paul, Minnesota, during November...

New listings for homes in Saint Paul, Minnesota, fell again during October according to the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors’ Market Update for 100 Twin Cities Communities.  Throughout the month, there were 515 new listings in St. Paul.  During October of 2007, there were 603 new listings.  That is a decrease of about -14.6%.  Normally, I list the neighborhoods here that saw the greatest decreases in new listings, but there are many which saw decreases of 20% to over 45%.  The only neighborhoods which saw any significant increase of new listings were the Phalen and Merriam Park neighborhoods of Saint Paul. 

Posted new listings of Saint Paul real estate for the year to date were at 6,062 from January through October.  That is a decrease of -9.4% from last year’s 6,688 during the same time period.  Merriam Park, West 7th, and St. Anthony / Midway continue to experience great decreases in new listings.  The Phalen neighborhod and West Side / Cherokee neighborhoods are the only ones to have seen any increases in new listings for the year to date.

Now for a really good number: The amount of homes sold within Saint Paul, ...

The St. Paul Port Authority is in the process of buying much of the 45-acre 3M grouping of properties, which lie south of Phalen Boulevard and east of Arcade Street.  Ramsey County, meanwhile, wants its own piece of the pie.  The county is looking into buying some of the 3M land on St. Paul's East Side for $1 million.

The county wants a 6-acre piece at Arcade and East Minnehaha Avenue in order to build a $14.2 million office building on the site for county workers.  The idea is to build offices for about 275 county workers from a number of departments, including 125 Community Corrections workers.  The cost for the new building and moving workers combined is estimated at $17.8 million.

Ramsey County is floating this idea because it plans to move out of the former West Publishing Co. building on Kellogg Boulevard. A developer has eyes on West building and the county's other riverfront real estate in Downtown St. Paul.

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Changing from what has been happening in recent months, new listings of homes for sale in Saint Paul, Minnesota, rose during September according to the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors’ Market Update for 100 Twin Cities Communities.  During the month, there were 621 new listings in St. Paul.  Throughout September of last year, there were 602 new listings.  That is equal to an increase of about +3.2%!  The Phalen and Highland Park neighborhoods of St. Paul experienced the greatest increase in new listings during September at +44.3% and +32.4% respectively. On the contrary, the West 7th and Merriam Park neighborhoods saw declines in new listings of -45.0% and -50.0% respectively during September. 

Posted new Saint Paul real estate listings from January through September for the year to date were at 5,543.  That is a decrease of -8.9%.  The month of September’s rise in new listings helped to raise that number up a bit that from August’s -10.2%.  If the trend continues in October for new listings in Saint Paul, the real estate market might be on par with posted listings for last year.  Saint Paul's Merriam Park and St. Anthony / Midway had the most extreme decrease in new listings.  The Phalen and West Side / Cherokee neighborhoods have seen...

The Renaissance Box building on the edge of downtown St. Paul, which used to be an old shoe factory, is one step closer to being reinvented into affordable housing.  The building was awarded about $967,000 in federal low-income housing tax credits on Wednesday by the St. Paul Housing and Redevelopment Authority board (HRA).  The funds from the tax credits will help the nearly $16 million project get rolling. The project includes a renovation to provide 67 housing units.

Each year the federal government distributes the credits to individual states. The states in turn divide the money amongst worth projects. St. Paul has a ranking system it uses to decide which projects merit the credits.

How it works basically is that the credits are sold on the market to investors. The investors benefit by reducing their income tax liability, and affordable housing developers benefit from the cash they get in return. Developments that want to use the credits must follow strict guidelines, including restrictions on rent and tenant income for a specific amount of time.

The city will receive a total of about $969,000 in low-income housing tax credits for 2009. Nearly all of that amount will go to the Renaissance Box.

The remaining $2,000 will be split evenly between The Terraces and East Side Commons, existing affordable housing projects.

The HRA board also approved $731,000 of Invest St. Paul money to be used for projects. The Terraces will receive a $600,000 temporary loan to make crucial building repairs....

The Greater East Side of St. Paul is bordered on the north by Larpenteur Avenue, on the west by Hazelwood Street and Johnson Parkway, to the south by Minnehaha Avenue, and on the east by McKnight Road.  The Greater East Side is actually made up of three neighborhoods. Hayden Heights, Hazel Park and Hillcrest are all part of this northeast St. Paul Minnesota neighborhood.

This middle class neighborhood boasts reasonable home prices that are affordable for families and single professionals while situated in a pleasant neighborhood.  The area's young trees and mid-century era of the homes give it a suburban feel. Most of the residents in the neighborhood are young families or retirees.

The homes in Greater East Side are mostly larger, single family units with a few multi-family unites scattered throughout the neighborhood.  The majority of the homes in the neighborhood were built after 1940. Most of the homes are Cape Cods and ramblers. That isn’t to say that all of the homes here are older, as there are several new construction homes being built along Beaver...

St. Paul officials have put some money down on two new loan programs to help homeowners facing foreclosure and buyers unable to secure financing.  The city's Housing and Redevelopment Authority board has approved putting $625,000 into funds for two mortgage incentive programs that will leverage dollars from private organizations. The money will help current homeowners refinance out of bad mortgages and provide an incentive for people to purchase vacant or foreclosed properties in Saint Paul.

The $625,000 comes from the Invest St. Paul program, a $17 million initiative to improve four struggling neighborhoods.  Because of lowering property values, home vacancies, and mortgage foreclosures, the neighborhoods of Frogtown, North End, Lower East Side and Dayton's Bluff have been targeted for the project.  The money will unlock $15 million divided equally between the Make it Possible and Sustainable Home Ownership programs.  The Make It Possible program provides second mortgages, which eliminate the need for private mortgage insurance. The Sustainable Home Ownership program is a contract-for-deed program that gives buyers time to repair credit scores before moving into a conventional mortgage.  Both of these programs will be administered by Dayton's Bluff Neighborhood Housing Services. The Family Housing Fund and University Bank are contributing more than half of the $15 million.

It's just one more idea with which ...