Midway Goodwill

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Description: Two-story 33,000-square-foot building for Goodwill-Easter Seals Minnesota

Address: 1221 W. University Ave., St. Paul
Developer: The Driessen Group
Contractor: Fendler PattersonConstruction

The Minneapolis-based Driessen Group is putting the finishing touches on a new two-story store for Goodwill-Easter Seals Minnesota along the Green Line light rail in St. Paul.

The 33,000-square-foot building at 1221 W. University Ave. is situated between two light rail station stops at Hamline Avenue and Lexington Parkway in the St. Paul’s Midway area.

Minneapolis-based developer Vince Driessen said it was his first new development project in St. Paul in about 20 years. Driessen purchased the 1.29-acre former auto dealership property and began work on the site before the June 14 launch of the Green Line.

Driessen, who has developed other stores for Goodwill, said he was excited about the project because it’s in the light rail’s busiest retail area. The site is at the northwest corner of Griggs Street and University Avenue.

“I think that the primary retail corridor for the LRT is going to be between Lexington Parkway and Snelling Avenue long term and this is right smack in the middle of it,” he said.

The Driessen Group and Savage-based contractor Fendler PattersonConstruction are working on the building’s interior to deliver the project to Goodwill by the end of the year, Driessen said. The remaining work includes flooring, ceilings, elevators and paint.

Once the building is delivered to Goodwill, it usually takes two to three months for the retailer to set up the store before opening, Driessen said.

The store opening is planned for Feb. 28, according to Mary Beth Casement, marketing project manager with Goodwill-Easter Seals Minnesota.

The two-story store is similar to another recently opened urban Goodwill store at 60th Street and Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis, which was developed by Wellington Management. Casement said it’s larger than Goodwill’s typical 20,000-square-foot retail store. The new location will have a drive-thru area for donations and house some “mission-based” services like job placement and transitional employment, she said.

Goodwill expects most of its customers will reach the new St. Paul store via light rail, so this store was designed as a denser building with less parking than at its suburban locations, Driessen said.