Two carved stone frieze panels from the old Ford assembly plant now stand in Civic Square, a new plaza on Ford Parkway that faces the east wall of a building called The Albert. That wall is the plant's 1920s facade, designed by Albert Kahn and rebuilt one stone at a time. Crews set about 75 large pieces, and some weigh up to 13,000 pounds.
Behind those stones, the storefronts were empty on opening week. Across Ford Parkway, Highland Village Center is lining up a gym, a swim school, a bank and a nail salon for the space a grocery store left in 2022. Over the next few months, the older side of the street is set to change more than the new one.
The gateway opened with its history out front
Ryan Companies and the Saint Paul Housing and Redevelopment Authority held the ribbon-cutting for The Albert and Civic Square on Sept. 29. The Pioneer Press noted the timing: the ceremony came 101 years after the assembly plant opened and 15 years after it closed for good.
The block covers 2.97 acres. It holds The Albert's 97 apartments, ground-floor retail, a group of single-story commercial buildings and a 13,000-square-foot Tierra Encantada daycare center. Civic Square was built as the public way into Highland Bridge from Highland Park, connecting the parkway to the rest of the former Ford site. From there, paths lead toward Gateway, Uŋčí Makhá and Assembly Union parks and the central water feature.
"The culmination of these two projects at the same time really is the opening of the entrance of Highland Bridge," Sean Ryan, Ryan Companies' director of real estate development, told the Pioneer Press.
The history is the part that's ready now. The frieze panels and the Kahn facade are the reason to walk over this fall.
Behind the Kahn stones, the retail is still waiting
The Albert has 8,500 square feet of ground-floor retail, and on Sept. 30 a Pioneer Press photographer shot it empty. The rebuilt facade frames those vacant bays. The standalone buildings along Ford Parkway have one named tenant so far. In June, the Pioneer Press reported that Tierra Encantada had signed for its daycare building and that four other prospects had signed letters of intent. Their names weren't released. No named shop or restaurant had been announced by the October opening.
The buildings came out smaller than first planned. The same June report said Ryan asked for a variance to build one-story commercial buildings on the Ford Parkway frontage, instead of the earlier plan for buildings at least four stories tall. So the gateway's retail is a row of small, low buildings around a plaza, not storefronts under an apartment tower.
The sources count the square footage differently. Ryan's release lists three standalone retail buildings totaling 13,500 square feet, with the daycare as its own building. The Pioneer Press counts four stand-alone buildings with 23,000 square feet among them. Either way, this is new storefront space with no announced openings yet.
Across the street, the old anchor space is where the work is
Highland Village Center sits on the south side of Ford Parkway around Cleveland Avenue. A large supermarket anchored it for 40 years, until Lunds & Byerlys moved into Highland Bridge in 2022. The Highland Villager reported that several small businesses left the center in the years after. The grocer now anchors The Collection, the 230-apartment building inside Highland Bridge.
That empty grocery space at 2128 Ford Parkway is now being split in two:
- Crunch Fitness. "Crunch Saint Paul Highland Park" is a $6 million, 35,000-square-foot club, and the Villager reported it was signing up members ahead of opening. Crunch's June announcement said it would open "this fall." As of Oct. 12, no opening date has been announced.
- Foss Swim School. Foss is moving its St. Paul lessons from University Avenue in the Midway to the former grocery site, where it shares space with Crunch. The news coverage puts Foss at 2128 Ford Parkway, Crunch's address. Foss's own lessons page lists the new location as 2148 Ford Parkway, so check that page before heading over. The page also says every St. Paul lesson moves there starting winter quarter. Winter quarter runs Nov. 30 through March 12, 2027.
Crunch will be easy to spot. On July 20, the Saint Paul Board of Zoning Appeals approved a variance for a lit wall sign facing Ford Parkway with letters 39 to 40.5 inches tall. The Highland Village Special Sign District, adopted in 1985, normally caps letters at 18 inches. Board members pointed to how far the building sits back from the street, across a large parking lot. City staff also noted that Life Time on the north side of Ford Parkway got a similar larger-sign variance in 2024.
The center has more coming. In early August, Axios Twin Cities reported that signs on site listed a Chase bank and a nail salon. The broker managing the center's leases told Axios that Crunch and Foss planned to open before the end of the year, and that two more open storefronts had already drawn several proposals.
The Ford Parkway ledger, as of Oct. 12
| Location | What's there or coming | Status |
|---|---|---|
| The Albert ground floor, Highland Bridge | 8,500 sq ft of retail behind the Kahn facade | Empty on Sept. 30; no tenant named |
| Standalone buildings, Highland Bridge frontage | Tierra Encantada daycare, plus four unnamed prospects | Daycare signed in June; others at letter-of-intent stage, unnamed |
| Civic Square | Plaza with two Ford frieze panels | Open since Sept. 29 |
| 2128 Ford Pkwy, Highland Village Center | Crunch Fitness | Opening "this fall"; no date announced |
| Former grocery site; Foss lists 2148 Ford Pkwy | Foss Swim School | Winter-quarter lessons start Nov. 30 |
| Highland Village Center | Chase bank, nail salon | On site signs; no dates |
| Highland Village Center | Two remaining storefronts | Several proposals as of Aug. 3 |
What the confirmed tenants have in common
Everything with a name and a date is a service people book or return to on a schedule: a daycare, a gym, swim lessons, a bank branch and a nail salon. Foss runs lessons by the quarter. Tierra Encantada is a 13,000-square-foot child care center. Not one restaurant, café or shop has been named for either side of the parkway.
That shapes this winter. The new gateway is ready for walking: the plaza, the stones and the paths into the Highland Bridge parks. The weekly stops are coming to the older center, in the same parking lot that served the grocery store for four decades. Once Foss opens, a swim lesson and a Highland Village errand can happen in one trip.
Retail at The Albert is still the open question. When the four unnamed prospects from June are announced, the gateway's storefronts will get their first names.
On the calendar between now and the end of November
The parkway's construction isn't the only news nearby. Here's what's dated:
- Oct. 23, 5:30 to 8 p.m. Monster Bash at Edgcumbe Recreation Center, listed on the city's fall activities and events page.
- Trick-or-treating in Highland Village. The Highland District Council says the Highland Business Association is organizing it. The date and details are still to be announced.
- Nov. 5, 11 and 26. The Highland Park Library, inside the Highland Park Community Center at 1974 Ford Parkway, is closed all day for staff training, Veterans Day and Thanksgiving.
- Nov. 21, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Fall Craft Fair at Edgcumbe, also on the city's fall events page.
- Nov. 30. Foss Swim School's winter-quarter lessons begin at the Ford Parkway location.
Off the parkway, two coffee updates. JS Bean Factory, the roaster at Randolph Avenue and Saratoga Street that opened in 2001, closed after a fire in its roasting room on Oct. 8. The Pioneer Press reported the shop hoped to reopen by the end of this week and is posting updates on Facebook. Up at Cleveland and Grand, Dogwood Coffee opened its fourth café in September at 53 South Cleveland Ave., in the former Coffee Bené space. It's open 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends, Bring Me The News reported.
If you own a home within walking distance of Ford Parkway, a gym, a swim school and new Highland Bridge storefronts are all opening around you this winter. David Brandner and The Accelerated Team track how changes like these show up in nearby home values. Get your instant home valuation and see where yours stands today.
