Following toddler swim lessons and his son’s inaugural light rail ride on the Green Line, Jonas Dubin hoisted young Miles Dubin onto the base of the new giant loon sculpture overlooking Snelling and University Avenues in St. Paul. Could the world’s largest loon statue help reinvigorate the corner and boost the surrounding United Village development, or at least drive interest in the state’s professional soccer team?
“It might be another selling point,” mused Dubin, of Highland Park, expressing cautious optimism. “The more art we can have around the city the better.”
Spanning 89 feet from wingtip to wingtip, the welded stainless steel loon that appears on the verge of taking flight from the intersection’s new sculpture park hosts 50,000 individually cut metal feathers. “The Calling,” as the statue was named by famed international sculptor Andy Scott, stands more than 32 feet tall, a testament in the eyes of Minnesota United team owner Dr. Bill McGuire to “a sense of pride and aspiration … and the notion that we are always going to strive to be better.”
Dedication
McGuire joined St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, state Sen. Sandy Pappas, City Council President Mitra Jalali, Council Member Anika Bowie and others from the community on Thursday in dedicating “The Calling,” which is believed to be the tallest loon statue anywhere. The 25-ton installation was commissioned by the McGuire Family Foundation, with additional funding for the sculpture park coming from the state’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and Snelling-Midway Redevelopment, LLC.
A loon sculpture, created by Scottish artist Andy Scott in Los Angeles, after assembly near Allianz Field on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
South of Detroit Lakes, Minn., Vergas Park in Otter Tail County hosts a loon statue near the banks of Long Lake that stands 20 feet tall. A floating loon in Virginia, Minn. stands nine feet tall, tethered to the bottom of Silver Lake by a cable. Mercer, Wis. is home to a giant “talking” loon statue, about 16 feet tall, that allows visitors to activate a variety of loon calls by pressing a button.
“People are looking at Allianz Field from across the globe,” Carter said. “People are looking at our loon from across the globe.”
McGuire and others acknowledged that the corner of University and Snelling avenues has suffered some challenging times, even as Allianz Field, the city’s 19,000-seat soccer stadium, has drawn upwards of 400,000 visitors annually since opening in 2019.
A ‘Stabilize Snelling and University’ townhall
In a brief interview, McGuire said he had spent the morning looking at plans for a new hotel, one of four buildings he expects to break ground in the next 12 months along University Avenue. The walk-up and drive-through McDonald’s will close in early December and be demolished to make room for the hotel, an adjoining parking facility, an office building and two restaurant pavilions.
“They’ll all break ground long before a year’s up,” said McGuire, while noting obtaining financing in the current lending climate has not been easy. “By the middle of 2026, we’ll be finished with these, and hopefully on to some more.”
The Hamline-Midway Coalition was scheduled Wednesday evening to host a public townhall on the challenges facing the area, which has seen an uptick in loitering and rashes of car and garage break-ins on top of the departure of businesses such as CVS, Fasika Ethiopian and the At Home furniture store.
The townhall was expected to draw upwards of 300 attendees, including Jalali and other elected officials to be presented with a list of priorities from the neighborhood group’s new “Stabilize Snelling and University” campaign. The list includes requests for more resources around the Green Line’s Snelling Avenue light rail station, a frequent site of loitering, and expedited response from the city’s Department of Safety and Inspections when graffiti and other issues arise at problem vacant properties such as the shuttered CVS.
Addressing a sizable noontime crowd of spectators, state Sen. Sandy Pappas said the area needed both public and private investment to flourish.
“The state and the city also need to step up and look at the development that needs to happen here,” said Pappas, standing in front of the giant statue. “We can’t let this be the only thing that happens here in this Hamline-Midway neighborhood.”
McGuire, whose family foundation unveiled PK’s Place, a playground adjoining Allianz Field this June, said he looked forward to better times ahead.
“I am dead sure this will be the next step in a significant enhancement to the community,” McGuire told the crowd.
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