City has new ideas for Armour Gates

Jake Spitzack
Staff Writer

A new proposal has surfaced regarding the future of the 116-year-old Armour Gatehouse structures, located on a 4-acre city-owned property at the southwest corner of Armour Avenue and Hardman Avenue North. The gates are the only remnants of the 47-acre Armour complex that played a huge role in the city’s history and once greeted the 4,000 employees who passed through them every day. The complex closed in 1979 and was demolished in 1990. Today, the gates are the last vestiges of the stockyards meatpacking plants, which fueled an economic boom in the city from the early to mid-1900s.

At an April work session, the South St. Paul City Council and city staff discussed the possibility of relocating one or both gatehouse structures to Kaposia Landing, 800 Bryant Ave. City staff say the structures could be incorporated into the updated design for Kaposia Landing, as laid out in the City’s new Parks Master Plan that is set to be adopted this spring. The design calls for the addition of a restaurant, food truck station, amphitheater, kayak launch, pickleball courts, trail and parking lot. Possible uses for the gates include a rest area, trailhead or overlook, canoe or kayak rental station, or kayak launch point. Staff noted that Dakota County has shown an interest in incorporting one or both of the structures for the regional trail that passes through the park.

Recent estimates to relocate the gates are roughly $220,000, and restoration work – including brick and limestone replacement, joint repair and cleaning – would add another $230,000. Those costs don’t include site preparation, roof restorations, or installation of utilities, if needed. It’s projected that those improvements could increase the total project price by 8-20%, bringing the project to a half-million or more. No timeline was given for when the council is expected to make a decision on this latest idea, and staff said they will examine additional ways to fit the gates into the city’s new Parks Master Plan if the council decides that Kaposia Landing isn’t an appropriate place for them.

Several developers have expressed interest in the former Armour site since the city purchased it in 1989 but their interest fizzled because of the lot’s irregular shape and the hassle of dealing with the gates’ historical significance. Likewise, 30 years of periodic flurries of community correspondence about preserving the gates has failed to result in any feasible or sustainable preservation solution brought before the city council. Last year Mark Westphal, a South St. Paul Public Schools history teacher, garnered more than 2,000 signatures on a petition to create a multi-purpose commemorative park around the gates. The city council turned the idea down because the gates are located deep within a heavy industrial area and the city’s parks master plan does not call for a park in that area of the city.

Currently, the only city funds that could be used toward the project come from the Economic Development Authority’s Development Fund, which was designated early this year for the redevelopment of the city’s key industrial and mixed-use redevelopment areas such as the Hardman Triangle, Bridgepoint, and Concord Exchange Corridor. Technically, the city could use Capital Improvement Plan resources, but those too are already earmarked for other programs and projects.
In 2022, the city was awarded a $50,000 appropriation through special legislation to support relocation of the gates but relinquished it back because it would have covered a fraction of the cost. The city had requested $300,000. It’s unlikely the city will seek similar state funds in the near future, and while Dakota County has shown an interest in using the structures to complement its regional trail, the city must develop a detailed plan before any cost sharing is discussed.

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