5th Street to play key role in downtown revitalization;
SPDDC president reflects on busy first year

5th Street to play key role in downtown revitalization;
SPDDC president reflects on busy first year
By Jake Spitzack | Staff Writer | March 2026

While the well-publicized collapse of Madison Equities and subsequent closure and sale of its distressed properties has cast a pall on downtown St. Paul in recent years, the demise of downtown’s once largest commercial property owner appears to have sparked a revitalization effort poised to transform the city’s core for the modern era, characterized by mixed-use developments, a reimagined skyway system, and improved streetscapes and walkability.

“St. Paul has everything it needs [for growth],” said Dave Higgins, who recently completed his first year as president of the St. Paul Downtown Development Corporation (SPDDC). “There’re a lot of folks meaningfully affected by some of the near-term decline downtown and that’s led people to really focus on the problems and the challenges. But the reality is, if somebody put a checklist together of what national investors and developers would want in a city, St. Paul has the majority of them.”

Downtown St. Paul is attracting significant attention from investors across the country due to its large amount of square footage available for redevelopment and the neighborhood’s 95% residential occupancy rate, which Higgins calls a “sweet spot” for developers. Additionally, many of the buildings are eligible for tax credits, which can cut down on redevelopment costs.

Mixed-use development leads to healthy cities economically, said Higgins, noting that other major downtowns across the country are also struggling with oversaturation of office space. “We’re never going to have too much residential, and at the end of the day when there are really successful downtown residential areas, it spawns healthy commercial, retail, entertainment, and other related uses that support and are supported by residential…. It’s those environments that end up being appealing to companies to begin to either relocate there or start there.”

Before the collapse of Madison Equities, which occurred following the death of principal owner James Crockarell two years ago, many of the distressed buildings were already causing strain on the neighborhood. In some ways, the collapse ripped the band-aid off the wound and sparked the creation of the SPDDC, allowing faster revitalization to begin.

“I believe we have an overemphasis on the challenges and an underemphasis on taking action and supporting investment,” said Higgins. “There are certainly financial constraints in the conventional development and investment market, but we wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t that way…. The momentum we’re creating, we believe, will help stimulate and create the opportunity and openings for the conventional market to step back in.”

Higgins encourages residents to show support of redevelopment projects at public hearings, which helps developers feel more confident about investing in the city, and to chime in on what types of projects and amenities they want to see by taking the SPDDC’s online survey “Reimagining Downtown’s Core” at downtownstpaul.com/reimagine.

Projects in the pipeline
The SPDCC was established in early 2025 as a subsidiary of the St. Paul Downtown Alliance. Its purpose is to invest in, and develop and redevelop catalyst properties in downtown St. Paul, many of which are large, vacant or underused buildings, and several of which were owned by Madison Equities. Since last fall, it has acquired the Alliance Bank Building, Capital City Plaza Parking Ramp, Empire Building and the adjacent Endicott Arcade. Most recently it assumed the debt on the US Bank Center. All projects have been financed through private investments. Securian Financial and the Bush Foundation were recently announced as lead funders of SPDDC’s newly established St. Paul Downtown Investment Fund, investing a combined $30 million.

The 12,000-square-foot Arcade is expected to be renovated this year and reopen with one or more tenants by early 2027. The Capital City Parking Ramp will reopen this year following improvements, and Park Square Court and The Great Northern building are next on the radar. Overall, Higgins expects residents will begin feeling downtown’s upswing as soon as next year, and that within five years several large-scale projects will be completed or rolling at full steam. He noted that even during these troubled times the downtown residential population has managed to increase by 1% annually for the past five consecutive years, indicating the people will move downtown if more housing is available. In total, at least 10 office buildings are identified by the Downtown Alliance as suitable for conversion to residential, and conversions will help double downtown’s population to 20,000, a stated goal of the Alliance’s 2023 Downtown Reinvestment Strategy.

5th Street and skyways
Many of the buildings being influenced or acquired by the SPDDC are on or near 5th Street, which connects Lowertown to the West Seventh district. Higgins said this corridor is a top priority for breathing life into an area currently dominated by office space.

“We are very focused on 5th Street as the primary connector between the strength around Rice Park and the strength around Mears Park, and that, fortunately, happens to coincide with where a number of these properties are in play,” he said. “We strongly believe that 5th Street has an opportunity to invert and turn on its head.”

He added that creating ground floor retail commercial opportunities is needed.

“The skyway is a great amenity for a lot of people, without any question, and there are innumerable positives about that infrastructure,” said Higgins. “At the same time, cities sometimes have an opportunity to revisit decisions that were made 50 or 60 years ago, and I think this is one of them.”

He speculated that businesses moving from the skyways to street level would restore some of the vibrancy many downtowners long to see again. The skyway retail spaces, he said, could be used for gathering spaces or other amenities for building tenants.

Public projects
Public realm projects, such as improving sidewalks and completing the Capital City Bikeway, are also expected to spark positive change in the short term. Creating more ways for residents to access and recreationally use the Mississippi River is another top priority. One of the most ambitious development plans for that is the RiversEdge project being led by Ramsey County. It calls for new residential and office space along the downtown bluff at the southwest intersection of Wabasha Street and Kellogg Boulevard, fixed on a 9-acre park with community gathering space and new connections to the river.

“There are other placemaking activities and interim conditions that I think we’ll look to inject into downtown to help bridge the time and help change people’s experience and perspectives on downtown,” said Higgins. “That’ll create some more curiosity, hope, excitement, and enthusiasm and belief in the turnaround happening.”

Higgins is a native of Maine and has 20 years of experience managing new developments, overseeing redevelopments and strategizing real estate decisions for cities. He previously worked for the Boston Redevelopment Authority, for the real estate group of a large law firm, and with a consulting firm in New York. For more information on the SPDDC, visit downtownstpaul.com/ddc.