South Saint Anthony Park is centered around Raymond Avenue and University Avenue, and was built mostly as workers’ housing for people employed on the many nearby railroads. Saint Anthony Park is considered a seperated neighborhood located to the north of the railroads and historically was a much more affluent area that was established as a separate railroad suburb in the late 19th century. Although the two areas have very different histories and housing stock, they have grown more similar during the turn of the 21st century due to their convenience to both downtowns and to the University of Minnesota. S. Saint Anthony Park became increasingly industrial into the 20th century. Its housing stock likely experienced more disinvestment in the post war area than the rest of Saint Anthony Park.

From an urban perspective S. Saint Anthony Park, due to its great location along a ralline and significant historic industrial development, is seeing a lot of new multi-family buildings going up of pretty good quality. It remains a great location pretty equi-distance to both Twin City downtowns and very close to the University of Minnesota. The district also has solid bike infrastructure, good economic & racial diversity, solid retail & cultural amenities, and a good array of rental options. While there is good urban form along the western half of University Avenue and a nice historic pocket of homes north of University Ave, the eastern half of University Avenue has plenty of strip malls, autocentric and industrial uses. The eastern half and southern edge of the districts is still mostly industrial reducing neighborhood tree canopy, park space, quality sidewalk infrastructure, and density. But I foresee the neighborhood continuing to fill in with more and more dense mixed-use housing leading to a gradual urban improvement to the district.

Click here to view my South St. Anthony Park Album on my Flickr Page

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Great public transit thanks to a ralline that runs through the neighborhood.
* Very convenient access both to Dwtn St. Paul and Minneapolis. About a 15 min drive and 30 min train ride. About a 25 min bike ride.
* Decent bike lane network but Saint Paul only has a dockless bike share system.
* Great economic diversity and decent racial.
* Generally a safe neighborhood but a good amount of industrial space.
* Good # of rentals. Studios and 1-bedrooms generally rent anywhere in the low-mid 1Ks, 2-beds lease any where from the low 1Ks to the low 2Ks. Only a handful of 3-beds.
* Solid architecture (both historic and modern).
* Pretty good cultural amenities including several restaurants, bars, and cafes, plenty of art galleries, a Irish Bar w/ live music, several breweries, a railroad museum, and a couple local theaters.
* Decent retail amenities including a Co-op, a pharmacy, a hardware store, several boutiques/clothing stores, a couple antique/furniture stores, a couple banks & salons, a couple bakeries & gyms, a bike store, a couple of pet stores, a handful of churches & medical offices, and a local post office.
* Good urban form along the western half of University Avenue (the many drag). The eastern half has more strip malls and industrial space but is improving with more and more infill. Raymond Ave is the secondary biz district and extends a couple blocks off University Ave with a decent urban note at Hampden. 

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Very low density for an urban district thanks to all the highways, railroads, and industrial parks the chop the neighborhood up.
* ADA and sidewalk infrastructure is a bit spotty due to all the industrial land use.
* Streets generally connect but poor grid and connectivity due to all the industrial land use and highways /railroads chopping up the grid.
* So so walkable schools.
*  Decent number of 1-bed condos that generally sell in the 200Ks, some 2-beds but not a ton selling in the 200Ks & 300Ks, 3 & 4 beds sell btwn 200Ks-400K and are mostly SF detached homes.
* Tree canopy is ok in the SF residential streets but more than half of Saint Anthony Park is current. Former industrial space with few trees.
* South St. Anthony Park is really the only recreational space in the district. Good park with decent amenities but pretty small.
* Missing a local public library although there is one just north of here in Saint Anthony Park. Could also use a supermarket and more creative retail.
Lots of Industrial space in the southern edge and eastern half of the district which often has poor urban form and streetscaping.