October 22, 2026
The Kellogg-3rd Street Bridge closed on July 29, 2024. At that point the Waḳaƞ Ṭípi Center on the East Side had been under construction for about two months. By this August, Galvan Foods had a tortilleria in the Black Dog Cafe's old corner on Prince Street, and a skeletal dinosaur head was greeting shoppers at a Wacouta Street antiques shop. When the city reopens the crossing, it will connect two places that changed while it was gone. The Dakota cultural center below the east end is open now. Lowertown, at the west end, has filled storefronts that sat empty for years.
The city plans a community celebration on Saturday, October 24, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. People are invited to walk, bike or roll across the new deck, and local organizations and businesses will have spots set up on the bridge. The program and ribbon cutting start at 11:15 a.m. at the east end, near Mounds Boulevard. The city suggests parking on neighborhood streets near Mounds Boulevard and 3rd Street East. Paid parking is also available at Union Depot and at meters on the west end, but from there you'll have to walk up the bridge to reach the event.
Regular traffic comes later. According to the City of Saint Paul's October 14 announcement, the bridge is expected to open to vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclists by November 15, 2026. Railing installation, landscape restoration and other cleanup will continue into 2027. Treat November 15 as the city's target, not a fixed date.
Walkers and cyclists will notice the biggest difference. Starting in 2014, the old bridge ran with fewer lanes and narrower sidewalks after a structural analysis found traffic had to come off the outer edges of the deck. The new bridge looks like this:
The city secured $92.7 million in total funding for the three-year project. State legislative bonds account for $80.5 million of that, across 2020 and 2023 appropriations. In the city's announcement, Mayor Kaohly Her called the bridge "a vital connection between downtown Saint Paul and the East Side."
The bridge's design points to its east end. Artist Seitu Jones designed railing details drawn from Saint Paul history. Dyani White Hawk's designs on the piers highlight the link to Waḳaƞ Ṭípi, the site below the bridge deck.
When the bridge closed, the building at that site was still under construction. Work started in May 2024, finished in fall 2025, and the Waḳaƞ Ṭípi Center officially opened on May 29, 2026. The center is at 265 Commercial Street. It's open to the public Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and closed Monday and Tuesday. Phase 1, the building itself, cost $13.5 million and is fully funded.
The sanctuary around the center keeps longer hours. The city lists it as open from sunrise to 11 p.m. The city's Waḳaƞ Ṭípi page describes 450-million-year-old limestone and sandstone bluffs, spring-fed wetlands, good bird watching and views of the downtown skyline and the Mississippi. Active railroad tracks mean there's no river access from the site.
Some names have changed since the bridge came down. In May 2025, the city adopted recommendations from state Tribal Historic Preservation Officers. The cultural landscape that includes the former Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary and Indian Mounds Regional Park is now called Imniżaska. Within it, the two sites are now Waḳaƞ Ṭípi and Wic̣aḣapi. The renaming finishes a long local effort. A coalition of East Side and Lowertown residents formed the Lower Phalen Creek Project, now Wakan Tipi Awanyankapi, and worked with the city to buy and restore the 27-acre site after a century of industrial use.
The center's own plans depend on the bridge. Phase 2, which adds a larger parking lot, more landscaping and a storage garage, is scheduled to begin after the bridge project wraps up in 2027.
Farther up the bluff, the August 2025 Dayton's Bluff District Forum reported that Cafeto Shop had just opened at 806 East 7th Street, in a space converted from a neighboring tattoo parlor. Cafeto's website recently said it's open despite construction on East 7th.
At the Union Depot end, the change happened one storefront at a time. In August, the Pioneer Press counted 21 new or freshly expanded storefronts downtown. Several are a short walk from where the bridge lands. Many took over long-vacant spaces. The Downtown Alliance's Grow Downtown program, a partnership between City Hall and large employers such as Securian and Ecolab, helps startups negotiate leases that can start as low as $1 a month for the first six months.
| Place | Where | What's there |
|---|---|---|
| Galvan Foods and Tortilleria | 308 Prince St., the former Black Dog Cafe corner | An indoor farmers' market, small grocery and deli making 3,000 handmade tortillas a day. Open Tuesday through Sunday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. |
| Joey Mansion | 444 Wacouta St. | Vintage furniture, art and artifacts arranged like a two-room museum |
| Lucy Daisy Floral | Third floor of the Gilbert Building, 413 Wacouta St. | A mostly by-appointment flower studio teaching Ikebana and bouquet classes |
| Owl's Eye Art Collective | Market House building, across Broadway from CHS Field | 5,500 square feet of co-working space plus a basement print lab |
| SoYen PM | 275 E. Fourth St., Wall Street side | Occasional Tuesday-night dinner pop-ups from the SoYen Desserts bakers |
| Jazz Cabbage | 245 E. 7th St. | A cannabis shop with a separate lounge, according to St. Paul Publishing |
The Jazz Cabbage details come from St. Paul Publishing's report on its opening. Galvan Foods also serves Texas-style morning tacos at the St. Paul Farmers' Market in summer. Its Prince Street storefront keeps going year-round. A few blocks west at 408 St. Peter St., Meritage Underground has taken over the old Artists' Quarter jazz club space. The Pioneer Press reported plans for tastings, member nights, performances and artist residencies, and that programming is still taking shape.
The new bridge trails and rebuilt intersections near Union Depot lead into a downtown with two new everyday resources. Both opened within the past month.
The first is groceries. ALDI opened at 115 10th St. E on September 24, at Robert and 10th, in the space Lunds & Byerlys left last year. It's open daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. According to the city's announcement, ALDI's regional vice president cited Saint Paul's infrastructure investment, parking, density and walkability as reasons for the location. Robert Street's downtown reconstruction was finished earlier, with a ribbon cutting on July 16, 2026.
The second is a place to sit outside. Wabasha Park, at 376 Wabasha St. N. and formerly Osborn Plaza, held its grand opening on October 13. Improvements include a new artist-designed shelter, better lighting, the restored Skygate sculpture, more seating, new landscaping and improved circulation. The work was paid for through Common Cent, Saint Paul's voter-approved sales tax for streets and parks. HepCat Coffee is nearby at Osborn 370 Plaza. Since a January remodel turned its counter toward the lobby seating, its footprint is about five times larger.
If the bridge opens on the city's schedule, the market's first weekend will be the first time a Christmas Market visitor coming from the East Side can walk to Union Depot on the new 12-foot trail.
A reopened crossing changes how both ends of the bridge get used. If you own near Lowertown, Dayton's Bluff or Mounds Boulevard and want to know how the next few months could affect your property, Ewing Real Estate Group can walk through it with you. Request a complimentary market valuation, and Mel Emery will base it on what's actually happening at both landings this season.
Get assistance in determining current property value, crafting a competitive offer, writing and negotiating a contract, and much more. Contact them today.