Historic Preservation

UST’s proposed arena would destroy the historical integrity of the campus and adjacent Summit Avenue.  On campus, St. Thomas plans to demolish two buildings designed by celebrated architect Cass Gilbert, who also designed the Minnesota Capitol, the U.S. Supreme Court building, and other famous structures.  Gilbert designed six buildings for the St. Paul Seminary and worked with its benefactor, railroad magnate James J. Hill.  Four of these structures have been torn down, and now St. Thomas wants to demolish the last two: Cretin Residence Hall and the Service Center.  

St. Thomas would also like to use Summit Avenue as its service driveway for the arena. Summit Avenue is one of St. Paul’s unique historical assets.  It is celebrated not just for the massiveness of some of its mansions, but also for the variety and excellent condition of its collection of homes.  The avenue is popular with sightseers, complete with walking tours.  West of Lexington Avenue, property owners donated fifty feet from each of their lots to permit the creation of center boulevards that runners and walkers enjoy. A popular bike path runs the length of Summit. 

Fittingly, St. Paul has designated Summit Avenue as a protected parkway and prohibited vehicles exceeding 9,000 pounds gross vehicle weight (GVW).  Although St. Thomas has amended its plans to add a service drive from Cretin Avenue, its design will still have service vehicles exiting onto Summit Avenue. These include food vendors (e.g., Sysco, US Foods), beer and soda trucks, garbage and recycling trucks, team buses — all of which are 20,000-30,000 pounds GVW.

In addition, the access drive from Summit Avenue will be the only location for shuttle service and Uber/Lyft/taxi/private drop-offs and pick-ups. Uber, Lyft, and taxis alone will drive up and down Summit 1,100 times per game for fully attended basketball games, based on UST's figures on Uber/Lyft/Taxi usage. 

The sheer volume of added traffic and its presence night after night will overwhelm Summit Avenue.  With the heavy trucks and constant traffic, the block closest to the Mississippi River will turn into a dangerous and unpleasant place to bike, walk, and live.  That stretch will become a busy service drive for UST.  Headlights from the hundreds of vehicles heading north to Summit nightly will penetrate the homes on the north side of Summit.

The effect on Summit will not be contained to the blocks adjacent to campus, as Summit will become a travel route for additional traffic heading to and from the arena every night.  Adding 1,100 vehicles each night will fundamentally alter Summit, turning it into a busy corridor to and from the arena.

St. Thomas occupies property in a historic district with historic buildings.  While UST evidently aspires to build a new arena, this proposal’s spillover effects would degrade one of St. Paul’s prized assets.  We as a community oppose this effort to squander our assets to accommodate St. Thomas’ desire for another athletic complex.