What Kept Grand Avenue's West End Open Through Two Construction Seasons
October 8, 2026
October 8, 2026
"A real grind." That is how Katie Wann, owner of Italian Pie Shoppe at 1670 Grand, described the 2025 reconstruction of Grand Avenue between Fairview and Snelling. She reported that sales were down 70 percent. She shortened her hours and worked more shifts herself so she would not have to lay anyone off.
A year later the street is nearly done. The Grand and Snelling intersection was the second and final phase, and the city scheduled its last lane restrictions to come off by 5 p.m. Friday, October 2. Crews are due back this week, October 5 through 9, to install bike racks and clear out the last construction materials. Nearly every storefront from that 2025 coverage is still on the block this fall. The size of the hit varied widely, though. One shop said it lost 70 percent of its sales and another said it was as busy as ever. The gap tracks how much each business depended on a customer walking in off the sidewalk.
The city treated this as two separate jobs. Grand from Fairview to Snelling was rebuilt in 2025, and the Grand and Snelling intersection followed in 2026. The first phase replaced the roadway and the utilities underneath it, along with curbs, gutters, street lighting and sidewalks. Its scope also included changes to intersection layouts and a replacement signal at Fairview. That stretch reopened to traffic the night of October 21, 2025, after a free community celebration.
In The Mac Weekly, a manager at Wet Paint summed up the visible change: a narrower roadway with wider walkways through the commercial blocks. Early design coverage in the Villager gave the starting point as a 56-foot roadway. One concept narrowed the roadway to 48 feet, with a six-foot parking lane on each side and two 11-foot travel lanes. That was a concept, and the sources don't confirm the final built widths.
Other changes are easier to spot. Raised pedestrian crossings now carry people across Grand between Macalester Street and Snelling, and the new signals at Grand and Snelling started working the week of September 21. Young trees were planted along the project. The city asks neighbors to help water them, about 20 gallons a week for each tree, and offers free watering bags through Parks and Recreation at 651-266-6400. Under the city's 1% public art ordinance, the project also set aside $40,000 for public art between Snelling and Fairview. The city's October 1 update still doesn't name an artist or give an installation date.
For businesses, the 2025 season meant losing the Grand Avenue curb and their sidewalk patios. The city sent customers to side streets and alleys for parking, and deliveries came the same way. Work ran in two sections, Fairview to Cambridge from April to November and Cambridge to Snelling from May to August. Businesses stayed reachable, and the city kept a sidewalk open on at least one side most of the time.
Here is what owners reported during or at the end of construction:
| Business | Address | Reported impact during 2025 work |
|---|---|---|
| Italian Pie Shoppe | 1670 Grand | Sales down 70 percent |
| French Meadow Bakery & Cafe | 1662 Grand | Sales down more than 50 percent, "in the red" |
| Baking Betty's | 1700 Grand | Sales down about 50 percent |
| Sencha Tea Bar | 1692 Grand | Lost 35 percent of business, called it "manageable" |
| St. Paul Meat Shop | 1674 Grand | Sales about 10 percent below projections |
| Wet Paint | 1684 Grand | "As busy as we've ever been" |
At the top of the table, the cafés and restaurants took the biggest hits. Their business depends on someone deciding to stop in, and that decision gets harder when it is unclear where to park. Baking Betty's owner said that confusion about parking was exactly what she heard from customers. Abbott Paint & Carpet at 1808 Grand heard the same thing from people who phoned because "it was too hard to get in."
At the bottom, Wet Paint is a store people plan a trip to. Its owner credited helpful construction crews and called the art community "undaunted." Patagonia at 1648 Grand had its chain's support behind it and used the slow stretch to close for 12 days and remodel. Hal Johnson of Against the Current had a more physical problem. He described hauling books in and out while the sidewalk was torn up.
The Star Tribune reported only one business that closed during construction. Roseline's Place, a gift shop at 1652 Grand that opened in January 2024, closed in September 2025 after its foot traffic dropped. Owner Roseline Friedrich said visitors who came for events "didn't go on our side of Grand."
Baking Betty's makes the clearest case. During construction, owner Emily Osterberg called the work "extremely challenging." She said catering and wholesale orders helped make up for the walk-in customers she lost.
On April 27, 2026, six months after Grand reopened, the bakery announced it would close its 1700 Grand storefront and move into a commercial production kitchen. Its last day on Grand was April 29. "This is not goodbye," the post read. The business would grow wholesale, catering, special events and online orders, with weekday local delivery, nationwide shipping and pickup Tuesday through Thursday. By June 22 it was promoting wholesale accounts for its cookies and Rice Krispie bars to coffee shops and markets.
The announcement doesn't blame the construction. It describes a new season and a bigger kitchen. Still, the business that left Grand is built around the same work that carried it through the slowest months on the street.
As of this fall, here is where the businesses from last year's coverage stand:
The September calendar showed the same shops back at work along the curb. French Meadow and Patagonia were among the hosts for Paws on Grand on September 13.
The largest change still ahead on this stretch is at its western end. The three one-story buildings at 1800 to 1818 Grand, on the southeast corner of Grand and Fairview, have been marketed through Transwestern for possible redevelopment. They hold Abbott Paint & Carpet and the former Grandview Grill, which has been vacant since March 2020. The parcels add up to 17,129 square feet of buildings on 0.71 acres. David Abbott said the family hopes to have the store included in any new mixed-use building. "We don't plan on going anywhere," he said. "We want to stay in Saint Paul." For now, the store's site still lists its Grand Avenue location and hours.
Two things are on the near-term calendar. The Grand Avenue Business Association has another Music on the Lawn on Tuesday, October 6, at 1600 Grand near Snelling on Macalester's campus. Farther east, The Familiar on Grand, a wine bar from the team behind Catzen Coffee, is aiming to open at 949 Grand in November.
If you're weighing what this new version of Grand means for a home a few blocks away, Sara Moran is glad to go through it with you, from the Fairview corner to the new crossings at Snelling. Let's talk about your next move.
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