To be perfectly honest, the neighborhood that has become our new home isn’t the best. Even though I am living right across the street from campus, my grandma frequently reminds me to lock my doors. Going South toward University Avenue, the area gets significantly more dangerous. On various crime maps available on the City of St. Paul’s website, you can see the amount and variety of crimes increase. While our immediate location from campus is fairly safe, most students don’t want to stay on campus 24/7. We pay a lot in tuition to go here and I can’t help but feel like we deserve a fun and safe neighborhood. I believe the plan for the soccer stadium and the surrounding area will not only increase safety, but the usage and enjoyment of our local neighborhood.

Looking across the highway at streets like Summit and Selby, there are many more amenities and the neighborhood looks much more attractive. There aren’t run-down buildings. Students at St. Thomas, Macalester and St. Kate’s have cute shops, a great variety of restaurants and fun things to do. Our neighborhood doesn’t exactly encourage us to stay here. I can’t help but to feel we deserve what nearby colleges have over at Hamline. However, we have a unique location.

Hamline is placed in the middle of a residential area and a major highway. We have families who live here. We have local businesses that are here to serve the needs of families like hardware stores and hair salons. We have a cultural melting pot. It can be difficult to meet the needs of all those different groups, let alone when you add in college students.

The consulting group responsible for the project, SRF Consulting Group, Inc., is branding this new development as a “mixed-use urban village.” Additions will consist of “mixed-use development including retail and service commercial, hospitality, residential, office, institutional uses and public and private open space,” according to the City of St. Paul’s website.

Although some tall buildings would be erected, it wasn’t like there was a scenic view over there. I really believe this will encourage new business and increased local shopping. There will be new residential housing, office spaces and entertainment.

It will also increase the beauty of the neighborhood. Various proposed designs include large areas of green spaces, plazas and lots of lighting. Modern, clean buildings will line the area. I encourage everyone to view the master plan, available on the city of St. Paul’s website, under Snelling-Midway Redevelopment Site. You can see the beautiful proposed designs. This would boost our neighborhood’s appeal and draw in new homeowners and patrons.

All of this sounds pretty great, so what’s the catch? Well, I’ve heard fellow students at Hamline call this “gentrification.” Gentrification is the process of renovating an urban area in a positive way, but then the cost of living gets too high for the current residents to keep living there. If you look into all the proposed plans, they are interested in building affordable housing—even including spaces for homeless individuals, however, it’s not clear what they are actually doing to combat this issue.

This is a controversial topic and an important thing to think about when it comes to redevelopment and renovation. In a perfect world, I would hope the redesign of the soccer stadium village would encourage other businesses to improve themselves. But, the resources aren’t always there. I’d love to see grants given to local, unique businesses to improve and match the pace of this new, urban village.