Would the blocks that open onto Allianz Field, the Metro Transit Green Line, the Little Africa small business district, the Turf Club and other Midway attractions benefit from more hard liquor? Some neighborhood advocates are asking City Hall for more time to contemplate the option of adding four to seven bar licenses within a newly proposed liquor license bubble of sorts.

On Monday, the executive directors of the Union Park District Council, the Hamline-Midway Coalition and the Midway Chamber of Commerce emailed the St. Paul City Council, saying the city had only engaged them casually in discussions about the proposed Snelling and University “Commercial Development District,” and they needed more time and a formal sit-down presentation to effectively present details to their members.

“We … ask that the District Councils and the Midway Chamber of Commerce, as centralized representatives for stakeholders in the Snelling/University Corridor, be engaged appropriately given the magnitude of the changes endorsed by city staff,” said Sarah Dvorak, president of the Union Park District Council, in her own letter to the council.

Hoping to boost foot traffic, opportunities for small businesses and the general vitality and fortunes of the sometimes beleaguered area surrounding Snelling and University avenues, the St. Paul City Council plans to turn to a tried-and-true formula — a social glue of sorts around which so much of modern commercial and public life so readily revolves.

In a word: alcohol.

To operate an “exclusive on-sale liquor establishment” (in other words, a bar) outside of downtown, an entrepreneur would ordinarily need to either purchase someone’s existing bar license or obtain special state legislation. With the goal of attracting patrons and investment, a proposal before the city council would amend the city’s legislative code to allow the creation of a specially designated “Commercial Development District” divided into four quadrants, with the Snelling and University intersection at its epicenter.

Within the district, which would run largely along University and Snelling avenues between three and seven city blocks in any direction, the city would make available up to seven bar licenses, including three pre-existing licenses. The net result would be one new bar license per quadrant, or the potential for four new bars.

In addition to new liquor licenses, the bars would be able to apply for an additional closing license allowing them to serve until 2 a.m., as recently requested by Dilla Sports Bar and Ethiopian Restaurant on University Avenue. The overall goal is to make it easier to open a handful of new establishments in the area and potentially allow them to stay open late.

“We’re sort of struggling,” said Ermi Dilla, who runs the restaurant and bar with his mother and lead cook, Bekotufa Dilla, who also owns a restaurant in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis. “My mom is the boss.”

Dilla said he televises sports games from around the world, but he’s often forced to shoo patrons out the door before the winning plays, given midnight closings on weekends. His karaoke DJ on Wednesday and Friday nights abandoned him for an Ethiopian restaurant in Minneapolis that is open later. He’s hosted Ethiopian musicians from Washington, D.C. and overseas, but the shows are sometimes almost over by the time his patrons begin packing the place.

“We’ve spent almost $1 million renovating that building,” said Dilla, who transformed a uniform supply storefront near Allianz Field into what he had envisioned as a soccer bar. He said his plan is to limit 2 a.m. openings to weekends.

The city maintains about 215 hard liquor licenses for hotels, nonprofit colleges and restaurants outside of downtown and special Commercial Development Districts. Among those licenses, the city is usually at or near its maximum. The city no longer caps the number of liquor licenses by political ward.

Vote planned for next Wednesday

The new district would run along Snelling Avenue as far north as Thomas or Edmund avenues, as far south as St. Anthony Avenue, as far east on University Avenue as Pascal Street and as far west on University as Aldine Street. It mostly hugs the two avenues and business corridors, except in its southeast quadrant, where it encompasses Allianz Field and the United Village development around it, up to the intersection of Pascal and St. Anthony.

Given the size of the new district, the proposal before the city council would remove requirements to win the written support of two-thirds of all property owners inside or within 100 feet of the new district.

The city council held a public hearing on the proposed “Snelling and University Commercial Development District” in Ward 1 last week at the Gospel Temple Church of God in Christ on North Grotto Street. Another hearing was held Wednesday morning, in Ward 4, at the Merriam Park Recreation Center on St. Anthony Avenue. A final council vote could be held Oct. 21.

The St. Paul Planning Commission threw its unanimous support behind the creation of the new district in August. From Can Can Wonderland to the Hope Breakfast Bar, Schmidt Brewery and North Garden Theater, there are more than a dozen such Commercial Development Districts throughout the city, and each is created to offer a set number of liquor licenses.

Go slower?

Supporters have noted that the Midway once served far more alcohol than it currently does. Along or just off University Avenue, suds once flowed at bars and restaurants such as Applebee’s Grill, Fasika Ethiopian, Midway Pro-Bowl, Big V’s and Hot Rod’s, as well as the Prom Ballroom event center. All have closed, while other establishments such as Peking Garden relocated after the riots of 2020.

The Turf Club has mostly become a music venue, limiting access to its ground level and basement Clown Lounge bar to performance nights.

Some critics have pointed to studies that correlate a higher density of alcohol-serving establishments with crime.

“We have issues already. We’ve had a lot of issues in that particular area around Snelling and University, the light rail and Kimball Court (Apartments),” said Alan Hupp, a landlord who owns a duplex behind Dilla Ethiopian. “In my view, any additional tax revenue would be far outweighed by the social costs and harm to neighborhood quality of life. Why do we need to be serving more alcohol in an area that has been problematic for the city?”

In a letter to the city council, Mike Hahm, a community liaison for Minnesota United owner Dr. Bill McGuire and the United Village development team, encouraged the council to move a bit more slowly. He asked the council to focus first on extending bar hours before releasing additional liquor licenses within the district, “so the impact can be reasonably evaluated.”

“We ask the city and the council to exercise strong and appropriate oversight and caution before issuing any new licenses,” wrote Hahm, a former St. Paul Parks and Recreation director. “The area has experienced notable issues that detract from vitality, and additional progress demonstrating those issues are being resolved prior to major changes will improve confidence.”

Hahm also noted that the hotel under construction within the United Village development surrounding Allianz Field would qualify to obtain its liquor license separately and not through the proposed Commercial Development District. Allianz Field received its liquor license through state legislation.