Union Park- One of Saint Paul’s First Streetcar Suburbs

Union Park was created as a merger of several historic neighborhoods including Merriam Park, Snelling-Hamline, Parts of Midway, Densoyer Park, and Lexington-Hamline in 2007. The original Union Park was a large amusement park located at the intersection of University and Lyndhurst Avenues. This also included  Lake Iris, which still exists today. Merriam Park was one of the City’s first street suburbs. The area developed as a home for businessmen and professional workers and their families and has a great mixed income feel. A large Catholic community grew up around St. Mark’s Church in the early 20th, which helped spawn the nearby University of Saint Thomas. Union Park weathered the mid-century decline pretty well thanks to its White and Middle Class demographics. While highway I-94 was still ultimately built, it was less detrimental to the neighborhood’s community as neighboring Rondo and Prospect Park to the East, important African American enclaves in Saint Paul.

Union Park has several distinct areas. On the northern edge of the district runs University Avenue lined with a mix of autocentric, industrial and newer mixed-use housing. This is also where Allianz Field and a massive strip mall are located. The Historic Union Park amusement park is located in the Northwest corner of the district. South of the highways is where the bulk of the neighborhood is located with a mix of Large and modest single family homes and apartment buildings line the larger streets. To become a great urban district Union Avenue needs to continue to redevelopment the autocentric/industrial land uses between University Ave & I-94 into much friendlier pedestrian urban environments. Snelling also has large autocentric stretches in need of redevelopment. But overall Union Park needs more density to both improve its walkability but also to create much needed housing in this desirable district.

Click here to view my Union Park album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Solid public transit access. Good system of dedicated bike lanes.
* Convenient access to Dwtn St. Paul. Only 10 min drive and 30 min bike/transit trip. Dwtn Minneapolis is still pretty convenient too.
* Good connectivity outside of the more industrial area btwn I-94 & University  Ave.
* Very good sidewalks and ADA standard curb cuts on about 65% of all intersections
* Good generation diversity thanks to the University of St. Thomas students and plenty of family households.
* Great apartment diversity including plenty of studios which lease btwn $700-1.2K, 1-beds for $900-1.5K, 2-beds btwn $900-2K, 3-beds btwn the high 1Ks to low 2Ks.
* Good for-sale options. A handful of 1-bedrooms that sell in the 200K & 300K, 2-bedrooms sell btwn 150K-500K and 3 & 4 beds sell between 200K-1M.
* Great riverfront park along the Mississippi running the north to south length of the neighborhood. Lots of ballfields and quads with the two universities located here (University of Saint Thomas & Concordia) but not necessarily open to the public. Several smaller parks well dispersed throughout the district and the Merriam Park Recreation Center, which includes a pool.
* Cultural amenities include a good number of restaurants, bars & cafes, the St. Thomas Art Museum, Concordia Performing Arts Center, the St. Paul Conservatory of Music, and a historic movie theater.
* Generally high quality historic homes. Modest more mid-century homes in the NW corner. Some great mixed-use bldgs at Spellings and Selby but some very autocentric development along University Ave.
* Pretty good retail amenities including a Wholefoods, Target, and two other supermarkets, antique stores, vintage clothing stores, a couple drug stores, a couple college bookstores, a florist, plenty of salons, several bakeries/dessert stores & a couple of gyms, a local post office and library, a major hospital & several doctor offices, and record stores.
* Great urban node at Snelling & Shelby and some good urban stretches along Shelby and University Ave.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

• Decent number of schools but generally not great ratings.
• So so economic and racial diversity.
• Pretty mediocre density for a City neighborhood.
• Only a handful of churches.
• Okay pedestrian activity.
• Some pretty autocentric stretches along Snelling and University Ave.
• So so density for an urban area.”