Grand Avenue reopening after 6-month construction project
Grand Ave reopens after reconstruction
St. Paul residents are celebrating the reopening of a popular stretch of Grand Avenue that has been closed for more than half a year. FOX 9?s Rob Olson is live onsite at a reopening ribbon cutting celebration where mayor Melvin Carter addressed the crowd.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - After six months of construction that affected a popular stretch of Grand Avenue in St. Paul, officials celebrated its reopening on Tuesday.
The planned festive atmosphere of games and music was dampened by the cold, windy weather. But the enthusiasm of city leaders and business owners was clear.
Grand Avenue reopening
What we know:
The stretch of Grand Avenue, bordered by Fairview and Snelling Avenues, shut down in late April to be fully ripped out. Not a repair, but a full replacement.
"The first thing that’s going to change is the street was starting to deteriorate," said Scott Fares, co-owner of Wet Paint, an art supply store along Grand.
The project has been somewhat of a daily gawker attraction, he said, not just as the new design took shape, but as decades of history was unearthed.
"I think it’s been 100 years since they actually paved it with bricks, and we saw those bricks come back out."
20-year plan
The backstory:
The $6.7 million reconstruction project was part of a larger one along Grand Avenue between Snelling to Fairview avenues – the first to be partly paid for by a 1% sales tax voters approved in 2023.
In total, the city says the "Common Cents" sale tax will fund $20 billion in road and park improvements over 20 years, about two thirds of that money going toward the crumbling streets of St. Paul.
This project, which had been planned before the sales tax was approved in 2023, wound up becoming the first one completed with the new funds.
It is viewed as a model of what future street reconstruction could be.
"This is a half mile, and we have 43 and a half miles to go with the Common Cent project," said Public Works Director Sean Kershaw. "So we’re really excited if you imagine this scaling in the next 20 years."
Construction on Grand Ave in St. Paul concludes
The construction project on Grand Ave in St. Paul has finished. FOX 9's Rob Olson has more.
Good and bad
What they're saying:
The street was redesigned to be far more pedestrian friendly, not just to stroll the shops, but to safely cross the street.
There are wider sidewalks to allow restaurants to set up dining or bring out merchandise.
And there are bump outs at intersections and medians in the crosswalks that make walkers more visible to drivers and allow them a refuge area in the middle.
But six months of construction were tough.
Fares says his business, art supplies, managed well because it is a destination store. But his neighbors struggled, and he tried to help.
"Whenever we could, we’d tell folks to step down and get a cup of coffee or cookies at the new cookie place," he said. "We would list off what we had for lunch and hope that other people would go there!"
They also gave people a free pass if they used their parking lot.
"We were a little more forgiving with the door dash drivers parking all over the place because we knew that was business for our neighbors."
Grand Ave is back and open for business
Scott Fares, co-owner of Wet Paint, joins The Afternoon Shift to talk about Grand Avenue’s long-awaited reopening after months of construction — how it affected Wet Paint, what business looks like now, and why the street’s comeback matters to St. Paul.
What's next:
Traffic is expected to reopen to the public by 11 p.m., city officials say.
The majority of construction is scheduled to conclude by the end of the year, with cleanup and any remaining items scheduled for 2026.
As far as what comes next in the 20 years of the "Common Cents" road rebuilding, the city says they’re working on the next five-year plan and hope to unveil that soon.
As for this first stretch, the hope is that people will come down and help businesses make up for lost revenue.
"This has not been an easy process for them," noted Deanna Seppanen of the Grand Avenue Business Association. "This has been painful, and they would love to see you here."
The Source: Information provided by St. Paul Public Works.