A river balcony for downtown St. Paul? Great River Passage Conservancy unveils design

Frederick Melo, Pioneer Press
Updated ·6 min read
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The mighty Mississippi River rolls through Minnesota’s capital city for 17 miles, but visitors to downtown St. Paul could be forgiven for overlooking its half-hidden overlooks or strolling right past key access points to existing river walks.

Eager to improve access to and appreciation for the nation’s second-longest waterway, the Great River Passage Conservancy has rolled out the finished schematic design for a new river balcony — a 1.5-mile promenade that could someday travel along downtown’s Kellogg Boulevard and Shepard Road.

The river balcony design, the culmination of 11 months of block-to-block planning, envisions eight new overlooks, nature walks and gathering spaces, large sandstone seating steps and canopy-covered benches and stairways.

Also in store is a pedestrian- and bike-only transformation of a segment of the little-used road known as the Second Street Connector, which currently leads down from Kellogg Mall Park to a weathered parking lot that could be activated into a farmers’ market, social area and bluff walk.

Other potential elements taking shape on paper: an adventure playground, fire pits, a Lambert’s Landing welcome center, a tree nursery, beer gardens, sports courts, an outdoor reading room, sauna and and public art installations, including outdoor movies projected on the river’s industrial structures.

Connecting down to the river

If it all sounds a bit aspirational, organizers acknowledge that’s the point.

The designs from New York-based James Corner Field Operations were backed by some $500,000 in fundraising that roped in philanthropists, key downtown employers such as Ecolab and Securian, and the city, Ramsey County and the Metropolitan Council.

“It’s an unbelievably important and layered site,” said Mary deLaittre, the conservancy’s founding executive director, shortly before a celebratory unveiling Thursday evening at the downtown Union Depot. “The river balcony is making connections into downtown and beyond. We’re connecting down to the river, and reinforcing the connections over the bridges across the river.”

She said key feedback that came from months of community outreach was the importance of expanding the original vision beyond Kellogg Boulevard at the top of the river bluff to include improved pedestrian access along Shepard Road, which is situated closer to the river’s edge.

Presenters from James Corner Field Operations on Thursday raised the possibility of a “road diet” for segments of Shepard Road, including lane reductions in select areas, pedestrian refuges and other traffic-calming improvements.

“It’s wide, it’s fast, you have a lot of noisy truck traffic, and at some points pedestrian and bicycle walks are extremely narrow, so you’re up against the traffic,” deLaittre acknowledged.

To keep up momentum in the months ahead, the conservancy has hired HR&A Advisors to create a governance and financing structure while the conservancy explores applying for state bond funds and other funding sources.

After watching the nearly two-hour presentation on Thursday, Angela Thomas walked away impressed. Thomas, whose family has lived on the city’s West Side for three generations, said she grew up flying kites on the city’s High Bridge, and the river to her calls to mind more than nostalgia. It evokes a sense of community and hometown pride.

“It brings to heart what it means to be from St. Paul, because everybody thinks St. Paul is boring,” Thomas said. “People like to keep St. Paul boring. Let’s not keep it boring! It’s a beautiful city. I grew up raised by the Science Museum and raised by the river.”

Among the key design elements along the river:

Science Museum of Minnesota

An existing plaza by the Science Museum of Minnesota on Kellogg Boulevard already adjoins a long stairway that leads down toward Shepard Road, but the steps are closed in winter, and despite the commanding river view from the top of the bluff, it’s not immediately obvious that the plaza is the beginning of a direct link to the water’s edge.

Plans call for a new bluff-top overlook and an all-seasons canopy over the staircase. The steps would lead down to an outdoor amphitheater situated within a wooded nature walk — the “Big Woods Walk” — by Eagle Parkway and the base of the bluff, marked in part by a public observation tower.

The path to and across Shepard Road would be more fully defined, with a new stairway leading down toward the street from the base of the bluff, beginning at the same landing where the existing stairway ends.

Market Street

At Market Street and Kellogg Boulevard, a 2,300-square-foot river overlook would be installed in cooperation with Ramsey County, which hopes to develop the long-awaited RiversEdge housing, office and commercial development between Market and Wabasha streets, the former site of West Publishing.

The sizable overlook would have capacity for some 55 people, large enough to host an outdoor café or art installation.

A smaller overlook with capacity for 10 people would be developed at Kellogg Boulevard and St. Peter Street. Toward the base of the bluff, a pedestrian connection over railroad tracks would improve access across Shepard Road heading toward the river.

Kellogg Mall Park

The design envisions new programming for Kellogg Mall Park and the Ramsey County parking lot beneath it, which could entail converting the portion of the Second Street Connector that runs between Wabasha and Jackson streets from a vehicular road into a pedestrian- and bike-only corridor appropriate for farmers’ markets and outdoor activities.

Kellogg Mall Park’s Robert Street entrance would mark the beginning of a nature walk and picnic area. Throughout the park, visitors might find a restroom, beer garden, ample seating, a nature play area for kids, an interactive fountain at Cedar Street and two overlooks sized for nine people and 70 people, respectively.

In the center of the park, the Kellogg Cut, an amphitheater-style stairway, would lead down to the new pedestrian-only area along Second Street, which could feature basketball courts, a Hmong spinning top game known as Tuj Lub and other activities. Bluff seating steps could accommodate up to 100 people, and a Second Street overlook would accommodate up to 25 people.

Lambert’s Landing

Just below Shepard Road, a covered welcome center would greet visitors disembarking from Viking River Cruises at Lambert’s Landing, which would gain sandstone seating steps, canopied benches and other amenities to spruce up the concrete landscape.

Improved lighting beneath an existing underpass off Sibley Street, public art and seating areas by the river dock would be designed to welcome visitors.

A 3,000-square-foot welcome center would have capacity for 74 people. A riverfront seating platform might host another 200 people, in addition to a sidewalk seating area and the cruise dock itself.

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