{ Development Roundup } February 2021

Johnny’s Bar to be torn down
A longtime Frogtown bar will be torn down and replaced with a three-story commercial building, under plans submitted to city officials. The former Herges and Johnny Baby’s Bar at 981 University Ave. would make way for the development by Suntide Commercial Real Estate.
The St. Paul Planning Commission Zoning Committee will review a request for a conditional use permit for the development, at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 11. The permit is to allow a building height of 42’9”. That height is more than the site’s traditional neighborhood zoning allows.
Suntide, which is housed at Court International in St. Paul, purchased the .36-acre property in March 2020. There has been a bar at 981 University Ave. since 1916. Johnny Baby’s, the most recent occupant, closed in early 2020. While the bar was a fixture in Frogtown it also was the scene of violent incidents, including a fatal shooting Jan. 1, 2020.
The city took sanctions against the bar in the past, even closing it for a time.
Suntide initially announced plans to renovate the building for retail use, to add new windows, landscaping and other features. A March 2020 company press released quoted Suntide CEO Barb Schuba, “We think this is a great opportunity for Suntide to improve the neighborhood and add service retail.” Since then the decision was made to raze the old bar and build something new.

State property eyed for change
A long-vacant, state-owned property at Snelling and St. Anthony avenues could be transformed with 44 parking spaces, a stormwater retention system and landscaped public area, if developer Wellington Management and owner Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) can reach agreement. The interim use plan, reviewed Jan. 25 by the Union Park District (UPDC) land use committee, met a mixed reaction.
Wellington Management would like to pursue an interim lease with MnDOT and install 44 surface parking spaces at the north end of the state property, for use by its residents at the Pitch.
The Pitch, a six-story mixed-use development at 427 N. Snelling Ave. just north of the MnDOT land, is on schedule, said Wellington Project Manager Casey Dzieweczynski. Ground was broken in May 2020. The building should be completely framed and roofed in 30 days. Apartment leasing should start in the fall, by which time the first-floor commercial spaces should be completed.
Wellington initially tried to purchase the MnDOT land when project planning began. But the state is holding onto the site as a plan to possibly redesign I-94 is underway.