McDonald’s teardown makes room for new hotel, restaurants

Midway Center McDonald’s is no more, torn down Jan. 13, 2025. That makes way for redevelopment along University Avenue and inside the United Village site bounded by Pascal Street and St. Anthony, Snelling and University avenues.

United Village representative Mike Hahm regularly gives updates on the development to area district councils. He told Union Park District Council’s land use committee Jan. 27 that  a community meeting with a detailed development update is tentatively planned for Feb. 20 at Allianz Field. Area residents and business owners should watch for more information. 

A planned hotel, restaurant pavilion and office building are to start construction this year. The pavilion with two restaurants will be built first, followed by the other two buildings.

Hahm said passersby will see infrastructure work starting in March, followed by the restaurant pavilion and then the other two buildings. The pavilion is slab-on-grade and less complex to construct.

As for McDonald’s, it was the last of the Midway Center buildings to come down. Its lease expired late last year. It closed in December after years of operation by the Henry family.

McDonald’s was initially located in the main Midway Center building, where the restaurant had operated since 1975. It was one of many restaurants and carryout food vendors at the shopping center over the years, including a Woolworth’s lunch counter, Taco Bell, Godfather’s Pizza, Great Lakes Buffet, and more recently Peking Garden, Perkins, Golden Gate Café, Thien’s Cajun Boiling Seafood, Jimmy John’s and Little Caesar’s.

 Jimmy John’s and Little Caesar’s closed before their small building was torn down last year. Peking Garden, Perkins, Golden Gate Café, Thien’s Cajun Boiling Seafood were destroyed in the 2020 civil unrest in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.

McDonald’s as the longest-tenured restaurant at Midway Center reflects changes in the dining industry. In late 1989, a $5 million plan to revamp Midway Center was announced by then-owner Rein Midway. 

McDonald’s wanted to move out of the strip mall and into a stand-along building with a drive-through service window as its business model changed.

Various issues including site contamination from past land uses slowed the project, as did community opposition. One foe of the project was Midway Bank. Leaders there didn’t want a drive-thru service near the bank’s drive-thru lanes, saying it would be confusing.

The  notion of outlets or “development pads” along University generated debate for a few years. It also caused a split among community organizations. Midway Chamber of Commerce, the Hamline Midway Coalition and the Snelling-Hamline Community Council opposed the notion of drive-thrus and development along University. University UNITED, which was an umbrella group for organizations along University Avenue, supported the proposal. 

In 1991, the St. Paul City Council rejected a plan to build three fast food restaurants along the University Avenue, citing traffic issues related to drive-thru windows. A small multi-tenant building and Perkins restaurant were built, with McDonald’s going back to the city in 1994 for its drive-thru approval.