Neighborhood Relations

The University of St. Thomas has begun planning for campus development needs that will be emerging over the next five to ten years on its St. Paul campus. 

As part of the St. Thomas 2030 Strategic Plan, the university is looking to increase campus vibrancy as it plans for those needs. St. Thomas 2030 reads

As we grow into our identity as a national Catholic university, our campuses will reflect that momentum—becoming more vibrant, welcoming destinations for students, faculty, staff, and visitors. We will invest in on-campus housing that meets evolving student needs, foster a dynamic culture that builds pride and community, and enhance the livability of the surrounding area.

While there are no immediate development plans, the university is considering long-term possibilities such as:

• New facilities that could house labs and academic spaces.
• Additional parking within the mid-campus area and potentially adding parking to the existing Anderson Parking Facility.  
• Expanded on-campus housing to meet the student demand.
• Potential mixed-use development, including retail, along Grand Avenue that could provide walkable retail and gathering destinations for students, faculty, staff, visitors and neighbors.

To support this long-term vision, the university is beginning the process to seek changes to the Conditional Use Permit (CUP) with the City of Saint Paul. The goal is to simplify some overly-prescriptive conditions, accommodate future projects to meet University space needs, and provide increased vibrancy to the campus and the neighborhood.

A CUP is a City of Saint Paul zoning tool that allows specific land uses if certain standards are met, often including considerations like traffic, design, and neighborhood compatibility.

All colleges and universities within the city have a CUP designed to govern land use for their specific properties. A CUP’s guidelines can cover a range of things including building types, density, and other conditions. A university CUP also specifies campus boundaries.

St. Thomas currently operates under three separate CUPs:

• A 1990 CUP that covers the campus boundaries of North and South Campuses.
• A 1995 CUP that covers the south campus area, which established new building setbacks between the St. Paul Seminary and St. Thomas, and new campus boundaries. 
• A 2004 CUP that covers the mid-campus area, defined by the blocks between Cretin and Cleveland; and Summit and Grand. The language is this CUP is highly prescriptive and limits the university’s ability to plan for emerging future needs.

Updating the CUPs would provide greater flexibility to align future campus development with the needs of students, neighbors, and the City of St. Paul’s goals and policies.

Over time, the university and the surrounding neighborhood have evolved and new needs have emerged. These needs include:

In recent years, the university has implemented a two-year residency requirement and has experienced increased demand for on-campus student housing. Currently, junior and senior students who want to live on campus have very limited options. The CUP language includes restrictions on the type of student and the number of students that can live on mid-campus, which no longer makes sense for St. Thomas.

Parking

While parking challenges are not new, revisions to the CUP would provide more opportunities to add parking in common-sense ways. Adding underground parking to  mid-campus as development occurs will be a priority.  We would also consider adding parking to the Anderson Parking Ramp. The current CUPs make it difficult to expand the parking ramp or add parking in certain areas of mid-campus.   

Academic Spaces

St. Thomas is planning for the possibility of needing more academic spaces to meet. We anticipate the need for expanded classroom and laboratory spaces to anticipate growing academic programs. We have a need for an academic building that would meet the needs of high-demand programs, potentially meeting the needs of the Morrison Family College of Health. The CUP restrictions are overly specific on where an academic building can be located and restricts St. Thomas from using its very limited campus space for the best use for its students.

Retail Corridor and Neighborhood Vibrancy

The St. Thomas community lacks a typical retail corridor that other university campuses attract.  Grand Avenue has the potential to attract restaurants and other local businesses that could provide walkable options for students, faculty and staff. In addition, this vibrancy would benefit visitors to campus and the surrounding community. The university would like to begin exploring this possibility.

Outdated Restrictions

The 2004 Conditional Use Permit was created through a compromise between St. Thomas, neighborhood groups and the city.  It reflects very specific needs that were identified 22 years ago, and these needs are now outdated. The CUP contains unusually prescriptive restrictions for St. Thomas that are not common among other higher-education institutions in Saint Paul. For instance, the existing CUP specifies:

• Any homes removed on Summit Avenue must be replaced by “mansion-style” homes and some homes must remain. Building mansion-style homes is not the best use of land for students given our very limited campus boundaries.
• Only juniors and seniors would be permitted to live in any student housing constructed on mid-campus. It also sets a specific number of students that can live on mid-campus.
• St. Thomas is prohibited from closing Finn Street, which runs right through campus property, until 2035.  This limits opportunities to improve pedestrian safety and to add green space.
• St. Thomas is prohibited from buying property within one mile of campus. Other colleges and universities are required to follow a city process whenever they consider adding property to campus boundaries.  St. Thomas is the only entity that has an out-right prohibition on buying any property.

These and other restrictions currently prevent St. Thomas from planning for the future in a way that best meets evolving needs.

These factors have led the university to begin exploring updates to the CUP to better align long-term campus planning with current needs and community priorities.

Conversations with many neighbors have begun and will continue in earnest throughout the spring and into the summer.

Individual conversations with neighbors most impacted are occurring.  Presentations to the Union Park and Macalester Groveland Community Councils, West Summit Neighborhood Association and the Summit Avenue Residential Preservation Association (SARPA) are scheduled. The university will also host neighborhood meetings on campus to gather feedback on June 9. Community members will be notified through the Neighborhood Relations email list serv.

Additionally, there is a community survey that is open until May 15, 2026, that will help us gather neighborhood feedback. The survey results will be discussed at the open house in June. 

Any changes to the Conditional Use Permit must go through a public review process that includes input from community groups, the Planning Commission, and could also be considered by the City Council.

After significant neighborhood consultation, St. Thomas will submit an application to the City’s Planning and Economic Development (PED) department to revise the CUP which includes review and approval by the Saint Paul Planning Commission at a public hearing.