Saint Paul officials outline downtown revitalization strategy, emphasize public safety and preferrable reuse of city properties

Deputy Mayor Ginger Tincher and city staff presented the City of Saint Paul’s plan to support the Saint Paul Downtown Alliance’s 2024 investment strategy, saying the city will prioritize community-first public safety and downtown revitalization across departments and build workgroups to deliver specific projects.

The plan responds to a Downtown Alliance strategy with three main priorities: converting underused office space into housing, investing in pedestrian-oriented streetscape improvements and advancing high-priority redevelopment opportunities. Tincher said the city will organize “as an enterprise” around those goals and has created leadership groups, work groups and task forces to move projects forward.

City leaders said the public-sector role will focus on actions private partners cannot take, including infrastructure, permits, property monitoring and coordinated public-realm investments. Tincher described a property risk management task force formed to address problems at Madison Equities properties and said the team now produces a regular situation report for stakeholders. She also said the 2025 budget included one-time…