University of St. Thomas officials have expressed desire to redevelop two mid-campus blocks to make room for new housing, parking and classroom spaces, but members of the neighborhood groups that will have to approve the changes said they are not yet convinced.
The two blocks bounded by Cretin and Cleveland avenues and south of Summit Avenue are restricted by a 2004 conditional use permit that limits building heights, number of parking spaces, residential bed spaces, and various other zoning compliances. St. Thomas Director of Neighborhood Relations Jerome Benner spoke at a meeting of the West Summit Neighborhood Advisory Committee on Feb. 10 about the proposed benefits of amending the CUP for both neighbors and students.
“Our goal right now is to create a flexible conditional use permit and show, within the next five to 10 years, what the development could look like in the future,” Benner said.
The university agreed to the CUP to resolve a 2004 lawsuit the Summit Avenue Residential Preservation Association filed when St. Thomas originally sought to expand onto the two blocks, according to documents from the case. The lawsuit arose not only over the university’s proposed campus expansion, but more specifically, over neighbors’ concerns with building heights and setbacks, possible increased enrollment, and the preservation of the historic housing on Summit Avenue.
The resolution document — which lists the same terms as the CUP — stated that if the university fails to comply with its conditions, SARPA may respond with legal action.
SARPA president Dan Kennedy said that he heard the university’s proposal at the Feb. 10 meeting and at another community meeting a week prior.
“As far as I understand it, no plan that St. Thomas envisions can go forward without changes to the CUP, and no CUP could be approved unless the neighborhood groups agreed to it, so basically three neighborhood groups at play here, Union Park, Macalester-Groveland and SARPA, would all have to agree to it,” Kennedy said.
Benner said that repealing the 2004 CUP would provide St. Thomas with flexibility in expanding its campus developments. However, the conditions of the permit require St. Thomas to convince the neighborhood groups before progressing, which may prove difficult due to recent strains caused by the construction of the Lee and Penny Anderson Arena.
“Many neighbors felt that the settlement agreement is going to be breached if we open the conditional use permit, but St. Thomas’ responsibility is to the City of St. Paul, right?” Benner said. “The university believes that we are doing the right thing by having good community conversations.”
Kennedy said that he has heard “no reason why (the CUP) can’t be complied with.”
“At this point, I don’t anticipate any changes to the CUP,” Kennedy said. “Nothing has been conveyed to me that suggests that the CUP will change.”
According to Benner, St. Thomas’ proposed developments fall into three main categories: residential, parking and academic facilities.
Residential Space
The 2004 CUP limited the total number of residential beds on the east and west blocks of the expanded mid-campus to 475. The university plans to add around 500 beds to mid-campus on Grand Avenue in an apartment-style residential space with room for businesses, such as restaurants and retail stores, below.
“If you look at that part of campus, it looks so much different … our mid campus is quite mid, actually,” Benner said. “I think it’s really important to students to know that we’re trying to create a campus that really meets their needs.”
Housing has been a top concern for upper-division students, who are exempt from the university’s two-year on-campus living requirement. In December 2024, Residence Life announced that it would be ending priority housing for upper-division students with approved accommodations due to limited bed spaces.
A 2023 St. Paul zoning change that allowed for a rapid increase in private, multi-resident student housing in the surrounding neighborhood has further complicated matters.
The increased private development has also meant the purchasing and redevelopment of many single-family homes, prompting response from residents like those in the Neighbors for Responsible & Livable Development. An unsanctioned demolition at 2133 Selby Ave. in September added fuel to neighbors’ concerns.
“We know more housing is needed. I think neighbors see a lot of private development happening for student-oriented housing. And as a way we can help with that problem, with the neighbors feeling they’re having too many houses being torn down and these new ones being built for students,” Benner said. “We had to turn away 500 juniors last year who wanted to live on campus, and we just couldn’t provide the housing for them.
The CUP also stipulates that any residential structures built to replace single-family homes on Summit Avenue must match the single-family, “mansion” aesthetic of other Summit houses. Benner said that these existing houses have complicated St. Thomas’ goals of a more vibrant campus.
Kennedy said that he was “surprised that it would even be considered” to not comply with the CUP in terms of residential appearance.
“I would expect St. Thomas to come forward with something that addresses that issue, rather than just saying what St. Thomas wants,” Kennedy said.
Parking
Parking, another pressing issue for the St. Thomas community, was a point of contention in the 2004 CUP.
A maximum of 590 parking spaces were to be developed on the east and west blocks, bound by Summit, Cleveland, Cretin and Grand avenues as well as Finn Street. However, if St. Thomas was unable to reach that number of parking spaces within the two-block development site, the remainder of the spaces could be developed on south campus.
Benner said the Anderson Parking Facility was designed with additional parking needs in mind, allowing for an additional two levels to be added without impacting the structural integrity.
“The two floors to the Anderson (Parking) Facility — that’s where we see is the most feasible place to add additional parking, and then also potentially adding more underground parking under the new housing on Grand,” Benner said.
Kennedy is also a member of Advocates for Responsible Development, the local group that notably halted construction on the Anderson Arena in 2024 when it filed a legal petition concerning its impact. Among the group’s arguments was that the city had not properly studied the impact the now-completed arena would have on parking and traffic.
While adding on to the APF might address the parking troubles that many students, especially commuters, face, Kennedy said that the addition appeared solely to “solve the problems that St. Thomas is creating” without consideration for residents’ other concerns, like neighborhood aesthetics.
“How high can you build a parking ramp and still have it look like it’s suitable for the neighborhood? The answer to that is no, adding two more levels would make it look out of place,” Kennedy said.
One other detail addressed in the 2004 CUP is Finn Street, which runs between the two mid-campus blocks, perpendicular to Summit. The original permit stipulates that St. Thomas agrees not to petition to close off that stretch of Finn Street until 2034, though that could change under a potential revision.
Academic Facilities
The 2004 CUP limits the number of new academic buildings built on mid-campus. No new academic buildings were to be built on the west block, which is bounded by Summit, Cretin and Grand avenues and Finn Street. However, two academic buildings could be built on the east block, which stretches from Cleveland to Summit Avenue.
With changes in the CUP, Benner said the university hopes to add additional classroom space for the nursing school, which is headquartered in the existing Susan S. Morrison Hall on the east block.
Benner said the decision evolved from a “growing need” for nurses and physician’s assistants. Construction began in January on an 8,000 square-foot addition to the nursing school on the third and fourth floors of the Schoenecker Center.
Annette Hines, the executive director of the nursing school, told The Crest in October that the school is developing a doctoral program, aimed to launch in the fall of 2027. Alongside those plans, she said new faculty were planned to be hired and the nursing cohort was projected to grow from 50 in 2026 to 125 in 2029.
A representative from the nursing school could not be reached for comment at this time.
Benner said that new developments will not mean an increase in enrollment.
“When I think of growth, think of it in terms of our physical development, not so much our enrollment, right?” Benner said. “Our goal is to keep right around 10,000 students, and I think we’re just under that — and that’s undergrad and graduate (students).”
Benner cited a “huge demographic shift” on the horizon that will see less young people going to college and said that growth like the planned CUP revision is being done to keep St. Thomas a competitive option for prospective students in the future.
“This is a five to 10 year plan. There’s no immediate development plans for us to do something right now,” Benner said.
Kevin Lynch can be reached at lync1832@stthomas.edu.
Grace Woelfel can be reached at woel8456@stthomas.edu.
