St. Paul’s Downtown Improvement District is poised to double in size, adding all of Lowertown and residential properties in an effort to fund more litter pick-up, graffiti removal, street greeters, bicycle patrols and other support services downtown.

The St. Paul City Council held a public hearing Wednesday on the proposed district expansion, which has been promoted by a coalition of businesses through the St. Paul Downtown Alliance and drew a long line of supporters to council chambers, including developers like Rich Pakonen and Sherman Associates. A final vote is likely next Wednesday.

“We really, really appreciate your engagement, and will rely on that in the months and years ahead,” said Joe Spencer, president of the Downtown Alliance, addressing the residents, property owners and business owners in the room.

Several supporters said they were downtown condo owners who had seen an uptick in homelessness downtown since the outset of the pandemic and felt that calling police was not always the right solution when problems occur.

“If it’s the way that it’s currently working, where people have been assisted with the support they need, that will be a huge help for the low income, both for residents and for the people who need help,” said Subir Chatterjee, a downtown resident who serves on the board of the Downtown Alliance.

Quality-of-life issues

Among potential initiatives, alliance members have even floated the idea of funding a community prosecutor in the city attorney’s office to focus on quality-of-life issues downtown, a proposal that appears to have received mixed reviews from City Hall.

Downtown Alliance members say that since the launch of the city’s Downtown Improvement District in 2021, quality-of-life calls to police have fallen by 40% within the district’s boundaries, even as they increased in other parts of downtown. When the DID launched, St. Paul was believed to be the largest city in the nation without a downtown improvement district.

“In our experience, the services provided by the downtown improvement district have (added to) a really positive perception of safety and vitality in the district,” said Alyssa Schlander, a senior director for public affairs with Securian Financial. “We believe that the program is a practical and effective way to supplement city services to ensure that appropriate attention is paid to our public environment in downtown.”

If the district expands as planned, its annual budget would grow from $1.3 million to about $2.75 million. St. Paul would pay in $439,000 and Ramsey County would pay in $243,000. The rest would be covered by the private sector.

After a 40% discount for residential properties compared to commercial buildings, the average annual payment for condo owners will be $65, according to organizers.

Objections

During Wednesday’s council meeting, longtime city resident Paul Pfeiffer objected to the prospect of potentially creating more interactions between law enforcement and the homeless.

“I’m disappointed by the lack of empathy displayed by both the council and the Downtown Alliance because expanding enforcement and prosecution … will likely impact one of our most vulnerable populations, who frequently have nowhere left to go,” Pfeiffer said.

Some property owners have balked at the prospect of adding new fees to support services they say the city could and should be providing anyway, like bike patrols. They’ve called the added costs detrimental to efforts to add more housing downtown.

An attorney for the property owners behind the U.S. Bank Center on Fifth Street, Alliance Center on 6th Street, the Degree of Honor building on Cedar Street, 375 Jackson Street and a dozen other downtown locations submitted a formal letter of objection last week to the city council.

Attorney Kelly Hadac noted the departure of storied St. Paul engineering firm TKDA from downtown, the recent decision by Lunds & Byerlys to reduce its hours and the decision of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to leave U.S. Bank Center as evidence of downtown’s challenges.

“There is rampant homelessness and drug use. Restaurants have gone out of business,” Hadac wrote. “Businesses have gone bankrupt. Large buildings are vacant. … This is not a time to increase the financial demands upon the owners of real property in downtown St. Paul. … The property owners already pay millions in taxes.”

Raising the possibility of legal action, downtown building owner Dave Brooks called the DID expansion “a waste of money and energy (during) some very hard times for our city.”

“The building owners pick up their own trash, power wash the gum off the sidewalks, get rid of the graffiti, move along the homeless,” said Brooks, in a recent email. “If there is a problem there’s 10 cell phones that are calling the police. We supply that service. We don’t need to have the Downtown Alliance … tax (us) approximately $3 million.”

Addressing the council on Wednesday, Brooks expressed concern that burgeoning efforts to convert empty office buildings downtown into residences may be hampered by new fees.

“St. Paul right now is in a very delicate situation,” he wrote. “Buildings are empty. Plan is to try to get more housing in downtown St. Paul, but then they will be taxing the renters. … I think the Downtown Alliance has to step back, let the city heal a little bit for a couple years and see which way we’re going and revisit what needs to be done.”

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The building that housed the south metro’s last remaining Kowalski’s grocery store, which closed earlier this year, is poised to become a place of worship despite concerns from some Eagan residents.

River Valley Church intends to move its operations to 1646 Diffley Road, where it will provide worship services, Sunday School programs and weekly Bible studies after a conditional use permit was approved by the Eagan City Council earlier this month.

The nearly 39,000-square-foot building is to be owned and managed by commercial real estate firm Hempel Real Estate, with River Valley Church acting as the tenant.

According to the proposal, the building will have a maximum occupancy of 400 people and will include a 1,000-square-foot café to be open to the public and a 6,000-square-foot commissary kitchen that will be used to prepare food “for off-site distribution primarily to local schools and operated by the same restaurateur as the café.”

The area, located at the corner of Diffley Road and Johnny Cake Ridge Road, is zoned for “neighborhood business” and includes a gas station, drug store, gym, nail salon and banks.

Community concerns

Prior to the approval, Eagan residents wrote to city council members with concerns that ranged from traffic and noise pollution to objections over a religious institution where they would prefer additional retail.

A petition organized by nearby residents said, “We believe that maintaining the former Kowalski’s storefront as a retail space aligns with the best interests of our community and ensures the continued economic growth and cultural richness of our neighborhood.” The petition included over 140 signatures.

Some residents who wrote in emphasized the potential strain on traffic and how it could affect other businesses in the area.

“This proposal will lead to potentially 400 people attempting to enter and exit this location all at the same time and will create unsafe traffic conditions on Diffley Road and major congestion on Johnny Cake Ridge Road,” wrote Margaret Jacot. “This will also prevent people from patronizing the other businesses at this site.”

Other community members wrote in with concerns about River Valley Church, which is a part of the Assemblies of God denomination, due to their beliefs.

“My family and our neighbors appreciate the quiet and inclusive community we have created and do not want outside organizations known for their non-inclusive opinions and policies,” wrote Beth Bishop.

“Churches can definitely be a positive part of a neighborhood. But this church is not shy about their very negative stance on LGBTQ+ people,” wrote Eagan resident Rebecca Ruddy.

According to the position papers of the Assemblies of God, “Sexual acts outside of marriage are prohibited as sinful.” The statement goes on to define sexual acts outside of marriage to include “adultery, fornication, incest, bestiality, pornography, prostitution, voyeurism, pedophilia, exhibitionism, sodomy, polygamy, polyamory or same-sex sexual acts.”

River Valley Church did not respond to a request for comment.

Founded in 1995, River Valley has 11 church locations near the Twin Cities including Apple Valley, Lakeville, Minneapolis and Woodbury.

“I think a lot of people would prefer to see a grocery store or restaurant,” said Councilmember Gary Hansen at the July 2 city council meeting.

“Philosophically, I have some concerns,” Hansen said. “To give voice to the concerns that have been expressed, I am going to vote no.”

The other four members of the council voted in favor of the permit.

Shifting addresses

With approval for the new location, the church plans to leave its current Eagan building at 875 Blue Gentian Road, where it was operating under an Interim Use Permit which expired this month, according to the proposal.

The Kowalski’s store, which opened in 2008, closed Feb. 24 of this year “after seeing disappointing sales after numerous grocery stores opened in Eagan,” according to a letter submitted to Eagan city officials from Hempel Real Estate.

“We do not take this decision lightly,” said Kris Kowalski-Christiansen, CEO of the grocer, about the closure in February. “We have done business in and partnered with the wonderful Eagan community for 16 years.”

Now the nearest Kowalski’s for south metro residents is 11 miles away on St. Paul’s Grand Avenue.

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A St. Paul man was sentenced to 15 years in prison Wednesday for fatally shooting a man in the head outside a University Avenue bar in 2019.

Devante Lattrele Jennings, 29, pleaded guilty in May to the murder of 33-year-old Michael Gray of St. Paul at the now-closed Johnny Baby’s at University Avenue and Chatsworth Street. Jennings was charged in April 2023 while incarcerated on an earlier firearms conviction out of Ramsey County.

Devante Lattrele Jennings (Courtesy of the Minnesota Department of Corrections)

According to the criminal complaint, St. Paul police responded to reports of a shooting outside Johnny Baby’s about 2 a.m. on May 4, 2019, where they found Gray lying in the parking lot with gunshot wounds to the back of his head and an arm. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police recovered four bullet casings, all fired from the same gun.

A witness told police that Gray had been by a silver sedan that was occupied by three people. The witness said it looked like Gray was trying to get into the rear passenger side seat when the front passenger leaned out of the car and shot him.

Investigators learned a Kia sedan with Wisconsin license plates was at the scene when the shooting occurred and traced it to a man identified in court documents by the initials TC, who knew the car’s owner. They also found a cigarette butt in the vehicle with Jennings’ DNA on it.

Jennings initially told investigators in July 2019 he had bought drugs from TC months earlier and smoked a cigarette in the front seat, but denied being at Johnny Baby’s at the time of the shooting.

Surveillance footage

Surveillance footage outside Johnny Baby’s captured the shooting.

Jennings, TC and a third man arrived at the bar in the Kia sedan about 1:30 a.m. The third man, identified in court documents as WB, got out of the car and walked into the bar, bumping into Gray on his way inside, the complaint says.

A family photo of Michael Gray. (Mara H. Gottfried / Pioneer Press)

WB walked back out to the parking lot about 1:42 a.m. and remained there with Jennings and TC until about 2 a.m., when the three men got back into the Kia. Gray approached the Kia and appeared to speak with Jennings, who was in the front passenger seat, before backing away and walking toward the back of the car. Jennings then leaned out of the front passenger window and shot Gray.

WB was killed in September 2019 near the St. Paul Saloon by friends of Gray, the complaint says.

In March 2023, while interviewing Jennings at the Moose Lake prison, investigators showed him still frames from Johnny Baby’s surveillance footage. They told Jennings they had identified him as the person in the footage.

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“Jennings looked at the photos and sighed,” the complaint says. “Jennings did not deny he was the person in the photos. Jennings then said he would wait to talk to the investigator at the Ramsey County jail with an attorney.”

Jennings, whose first name is also spelled Devonte in court records, was convicted of second-degree unintentional murder while committing a felony. In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to dismiss a second-degree intentional murder charge at sentencing.

Johnny Baby’s, which had been the site of several shootings in recent years, closed in March 2020 and was renovated into a retail establishment.