It took a few rounds, but the four-story apartment building planned for the corner of Highland Parkway and Mississippi River Boulevard in St. Paul is cleared to move ahead.
On Oct. 7, the St. Paul City Council denied an appeal from neighbors who were hoping to block The Celia on the River, a project from Paster Properties. According to the Villager, Council Member Saura Jost, whose Ward 3 includes the site, said she couldn't find that the Planning Commission made a mistake when it turned down an earlier appeal of the city zoning administrator's decision to approve the site plan.
What's planned
The building would sit at 2315 Highland Parkway and 706 S. Mississippi River Boulevard. Plans call for 87 market-rate apartments, ranging from studios to three-bedroom units with dens, and a 141-space parking ramp.
The Celia would replace a three-story apartment building, which the Villager described in September as an 18-unit building, and a vacant lot that was once home to First Church of Christ Scientist.
Paster hopes to begin construction early next year, with tenants moving in by summer 2028.
The project has been a long time coming. In a letter to the Planning Commission, which turned down the neighbors' first appeal on Sept. 11, Mike Sturdivant of Paster Properties wrote that "higher construction and financing costs, along with broader capital-market challenges, have delayed new multifamily development throughout the region and significantly extended the timeline for us to move the Celia into construction."
No general contractor has been named publicly for the project.
Why the neighbors fought it
A large group of neighbors banded together against the project, saying it's too big and out of scale for the neighborhood. Seventeen people sent written testimony to the council supporting the appeal.
The site is in the Mississippi River Corridor Critical Area, and it's right across the street from Mississippi River Gorge Regional Park. Neighbors questioned whether a building about 50 feet tall should be allowed there under the city's comprehensive plan and the critical area rules.
Here's the catch. Building heights in the river corridor are now limited to 35 feet, but The Celia was proposed before that rule took effect. A previous site plan got final city staff approval in April 2023 and expired in April 2026. The current site plan got conditional approval in November 2025 and final approval this summer.
Neighbor Kurt Klussendorf told the council that he and his neighbors support more density and more housing, just not a building that size so close to the river. "We support the river, and we ask you to do so as well," he said.
Klussendorf also pointed to the city's long delay in adopting the new river corridor rules. St. Paul was supposed to have them in place by early 2023, but they weren't approved until earlier this year.
Another neighbor, Wendy Neuer, called The Celia a "50-foot Trump Tower" that will affect views of the river gorge. She said Ryan Companies, the developer of nearby Highland Bridge, has worked within the river corridor rules, and that Paster should do the same.
Why it matters for Contractors
For contractors, the first lesson is simple: an 87-unit building with a parking ramp on a prominent corner is a good-sized job, and it's now on track for an early 2027 start. That means work for demolition crews taking down the existing three-story building, then excavation, the 141-space parking ramp, framing, roofing, exterior work, a full MEP package, elevators and finishes through 2027 and into 2028.
The second lesson is about timing. The Celia only got through because it was proposed before St. Paul's new 35-foot height limit took effect. Future projects in the river corridor will have to fit under that cap, which means fewer large buildings along the river and more pressure to make smaller projects pencil out. If you work in St. Paul's river neighborhoods, expect a different mix of jobs going forward.
And a building that drew this much organized opposition will be watched closely once construction starts. Neighbors who fought the approvals will be paying attention to noise, truck traffic, parking, dust and work hours along a busy parkway and a regional park. Crews that keep a clean site and stick to the rules will make life easier for everyone, including the developer.