A new fund that comes from re-allocated sales tax revenues will be used to help boost several commercial nodes, including three on the East Side.
According to the St. Paul city website, the new Commercial Vitality Zone Program “invests in Saint Paul neighborhood commercial districts to promote city-wide vitality, growth and equity.
“It is funded by a $750,000 annual sales tax revenue fund, created by a 1/2-cent local sales tax that state law mandates be used to further residential, cultural, commercial and economic development.”
This annual fund was proposed in 2014, and 2015 is the first year it will be used.
On the docket for spending this year are two East Side projects that have already had some planning work done on them: the redesigning of lower Payne Avenue from East Seventh Street to Minnehaha Avenue; and the final piece of development for the Phalen Village area, which sits in the commercial district between Maryland Avenue, Phalen Boulevard and Johnson Parkway.
Both projects have already seen substantial investment and consideration, and the Commercial Vitality Zone funds will give them another $337,500 each.
