Wabasha Park opens in latest effort to revitalize downtown St. Paul
Downtown St. Paul is seeing a resurgence.
Within the past few weeks areas of blight have been transformed with a new grocery store, a former Ecolab building renovated into modern apartments and right outside of there, the latest in the transformation, an urban sitting park. Wabasha Park, on Wabasha between 5th and 6th streets, opened for pedestrian traffic after months of construction – a welcomed reprieve for the tenants of the Osborn 370 building, who had limited or no access to the front doors for several months. An afternoon ribbon-cutting with elected and St. Paul Parks & Recreation officials marked the latest in an effort to revitalize downtown.
The park existed in a prior iteration, but with what officials acknowledged as design flaws. The new design offers a more open and welcoming feel with multiple seating areas including the park’s centerpiece, a lighted veranda.
In addition to being anchored by Osborn 370, the newly opened Stella hopes the park will be a selling point for potential residents. Stella, which had its grand opening a couple of weeks ago, offers a range of units from studio to three-bedroom and penthouse apartments in the converted 16-story former home of Ecolab.
And those future residents now have a grocery store within walking distance. The Aldi at 115 10th St. E. opened Sept. 24. The location sat vacant for more than a year after Lunds & Byerlys shuttered its doors in March of 2025.
The Wabasha Park renovations came at a cost of $4.1 million – money that originated from a 1% city sales tax in effect since 2023.
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