The Wake

Any student traveling from the East Bank to the St. Paul Campus on the transitway can see that industry is alive and well in Minneapolis. As you zoom to our rural neighbor campus you pass tall, ugly buildings shooting out steam. You look to the ground and see a mass of railroad tracks. The industry of private businesses and railroads north of University Avenue is not always a pretty sight to see, but this area shouldn’t be ignored.

The University of Minnesota transitway was built in 1992 and the bike path that runs along the road opened on Oct. 29, 1996. In contrast, most of the buildings in the area have been there for most of the century and the rail lines were built in the late 19th century, says John S. Adams, professor of geography, public affairs and planning at the University of Minnesota.

The industrial part along the transitway stretches from 25th Avenue SE and 4th Street SE in Minneapolis to Energy Park Drive and Raymond Avenue in St. Paul. The main industrial area along the transitway is found in the University Bioscience Zone. This area is called University Research Park and is also known as the South East Minneapolis Industrial Area, or SEMI. This 700-acre area lies north of the transitway and south of the train tracks.

The spot for this industrial area was chosen because it is between the two downtown cores. The distance between Minneapolis and St. Paul was 120 miles by river and only eight miles by land in the late 1800s when the area was industrialized, says Adams. The railroads also follow a route at a low point between the two cities, he says.

University Research Park was once a center for transportation for the trade exchange that helped Minneapolis become the milling capital of the world, according to city documents. Prior to European settlement, the area was a wetland part of the Bridal Veil Creek Watershed. This wetland was eventually drained and replaced by the railroad tracks, milling companies and manufacturing support facilities, the documents state.

SEMI includes one city-owned property and 24 properties held by 13 private owners. Among these private owners are Lighthouse Bay Foods Inc., Fleischmann-Kurth Malting Co. and Harris Machinery Co.

While most of the area is owned by private businesses, there are some buildings owned by the university. The MAST facility, part of the National Science Foundation’s Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation is located between the transitway and University Village. This facility is used for gathering information about earthquakes and is one of 16 around the world.

Most notably in this stretch along the transitway are the multiple train lines owned by both Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway and Union Pacific, according to city documents. These train tracks connect Minneapolis to Chicago, Seattle, Dallas and California, among other places. According to the company’s Web site, Union Pacific is the largest railroad in North America operating in the Western two-thirds of the country.

Much of this land is privately owned by these railroad companies and therefore is unattainable to the Prospect Park East River Road Neighborhood. Dean Lund, the PPERR representative for the Southeast Economic Development committee, says that the railroad companies are holding onto the land for no reason, except for that it may be worth more in the future, and have been “very frustrating to deal with” in selling negotiations.

PPERR is working to improve the area. A master plan to clean up the area of grain elevators and various industries was approved about eight years ago to provide the area with infrastructure, mostly new roads and a storm water drainage system, Lund says.

One of the suggested improvements is a road that would extend east and west to bring semi-trucks directly to and from Highway 280. This would keep the trucks off of University Avenue and out of residential neighborhoods that surround the area, Lund says. This road has yet to be completed, but residents, such as Kari Simonson who lives on 4th Street by Malcolm Avenue, would welcome the new road. It would be extremely helpful if a truck route were built from Highway 280 to the transfer station and North Star Plant areas so that all those trucks could be taken off of University and Malcolm avenues, she says.

Another improvement the PPERR hopes to make is the installation of storm water drainage sites. The area often fills with standing water, which can stall rail traffic as well as make the area unattractive to future developers, Lund says. PPERR is hoping to build a pooling area and facilities that would allow the water to drain into the Mississippi River, he says.

If the area were to be restored, certain grain elevators would stay put because some are historic structures, Lund says. Others no longer in use due to the decline in the milling industry have already been removed.

No matter what happens to the area, apartments are unlikely to go in. The Zoning Committee opposed the building of new apartments in the industrial area because it would have gone against current zoning, says Karen Murdock, a member of the Prospect Park Zoning Committee.

Overall, Simonson says, the industrial area makes for a good neighbor that is sometimes quieter than student neighbors—but there are exceptions. The North Star Plant emits methane gas, which smells bad and could be harmful. Even with frequent calls to the plant manager, the smell continues, she says. In addition, the lumberyard found at the intersection of Malcolm Avenue and the transitway sometimes runs equipment as late as 9 p.m., annoying residents, Simonson says.

Whether you’re headed toward the river or to the capital city, as you wait for your fellow passengers to get on the Campus Connector by the parking lots found in this area, take a look around. Notice the buildings and their historical meaning because, although this area may be unsightly, it won’t be silenced.