Repurposing buildings

As University Avenue and other main corridors in the Midway continue to transform, it felt like a good time to talk about a few of the recent and upcoming changes.
Life Juices Super Food Bar opened at 450 Lexington Pkwy. N in July, giving new life to the former Dairy Queen. The red roof was painted blue and the business boasts healthier options for the consumer. Menu items include organic juices, smoothies, juice cleanses, wellness shots, sorbets and acai bowls. Owner Kali Terry is committed to the Saint Paul community and the opening is a big welcome to a site which sat unused for years.
On the morning of Aug. 4, right before the annual Little Africa Festival, African Economic Development Solutions held a ribbon cutting for the future site of Little Africa Plaza. Located at 678 Snelling Ave. N., the building was built in 1926 as a car dealership and was most recently Dan’s Fans. However, the 9,000-square-foot building has been vacant for a few years and the project was delayed due to a fire. The site will house upstart businesses by African immigrants, including a grocery store, a community meeting space, a museum and office space for AEDS.
In 2009, I was a board member for the Frogtown Neighborhood Association when the first conversations occurred for restoring – and saving – the Victoria Theater. The historic building was built in 1915 as a silent movie theater, eventually becoming a speakeasy in its early colorful history. As with other projects already mentioned, the time between the last use, the new concept and the ribbon cutting were longer than originally anticipated, but the time for a new beginning has begun. In late August, 825 Arts opened with a mission “to build community power by providing a creative home that incubates the arts and amplifies the voices of all people in the neighborhood.”
On Sept. 28, the long-awaited opening of Udo’s African Restaurant and Grocery Store will finally occur in the former hardware store at 755 Snelling Ave. N. Hamline Hardware opened in 1926 and closed in 2020. For the past four years, there have been many ideas on what to do with the space, sitting prominently along Snelling Avenue near Hamline University. Mike Udo’s dream of moving his grocery store and expanding to a restaurant will finally happen. The restaurant will serve West African cuisine for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
What remains to get renovated? The eyesore of the former CVS at the corner of Snelling and University. Here’s hoping a solution can be found much sooner than the other examples in this article.