Arcade St. road work takes a toll on business

ST. PAUL >> EAST SIDE

Some 50 small businesses seek state grants of up to $5,000

Chang Vang stands Tuesday outside his family’s Arcade Wine and Spirits on Arcade Street between Jessamine and Magnolia streets in St. Paul. Roadwork has closed much of Arcade Street north and south since March, costing him as much as half his business. PHOTOS BY FREDERICK MELO — PIONEER PRESS

Vang is seen inside the family’s store.

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By Frederick Melo

fmelo@pioneerpress.com

A lengthy segment of Arcade Street crossing in front of Arcade Wine and Spirits has been closed to cars since the end of March, though the upturned dirt is a hopeful sign for Chang Vang, whose family has run the small St. Paul liquor store since 2021.

It means work crews are getting close to paving and wrapping up construction that has cost his shop, located between Magnolia Street and Jessamine Avenue, as much as half its business.

When Vang learned that a coalition of nonprofits was offering grants of up to $5,000 to help small businesses, he didn’t hesitate to raise his hand.

“It’s better than nothing,” he said on Tuesday, standing in front of a small skid-steer loader parked where customers once circulated.

Over the course of the recent construction season, major state road work along Arcade Street has alarmed business owners, some of whom were unaware long swaths of the corridor would be closed in both directions for months at a time.Even those shop owners who attempted to keep track of road closures were surprised to discover last March that the Minnesota Department of Transportation had rolled out multiple phases of construction at once, limiting business access north and south of Maryland Avenue almost entirely to side streets, instead of tackling each segment one after another.

Grant funds

Those concerns haven’t fallen on entirely deaf ears. Working with state lawmakers, three East Side business and neighborhood organizations successfully advocated during the recent legislative session for grant funds to help small-business owners through construction.

Leaders of the East Side Area Business Association, East Side Neighborhood Development Company and Payne-Phalen Community Council said state Sen. Foung Hawj, St. Paul-DFL, was instrumental in helping to secure the $250,000 in business mitigation grants for businesses along Arcade Street, which is also a state highway — Minnesota 61.

“This will help the hardest hit businesses,” said Paris Dunning, executive director of the East Side Area Business Association.

Organizers of the “Arcade Keep It Open” coalition hope to support up to 50 small businesses with grants of up to $5,000, which will be geared toward businesses with fewer than 25 employees located within the active construction zone. Details of the grant program are still being fleshed out, but the East Side Neighborhood Development Company is expected to review applications and handle distribution.

In a legislative session that otherwise involved few perks for the capital city, lawmakers called the funds a rare win.

“This legislative milestone was built on recognizing the economic impact of state-led infrastructure projects on neighborhood corridors,” said Hawj, in a written statement. “We fought hard for our community to get this relief. And it took persistent optimism at every stage of the process.”

Project began in March

MnDOT began the two-year road reconstruction project in March along both East Seventh Street and Arcade Street, between Interstate 94 in St. Paul and Roselawn Avenue in Maplewood.

Some of that work, initially planned in back-to-back segments, has rolled out concurrently. State transportation officials have said coordinating with utility companies for underground utility replacements — including lead pipe removal — required shifting schedules around, and information about the new schedule had been shared at a community meeting in March.

Through early fall, construction will limit business access along at least two miles of Arcade Street from Frost Avenue to Sims Avenue. Work in those segments is expected to be fully completed by the end of October.

Most of the work along East Seventh Street will take place in 2026.

More information on the project is available at: dot.mn.gov/metro/projects/e7th-arcade/index.html.