CHS Field in St. Paul’s Lowertown district is lively on a warm summer evening. The St. Paul Saints stadium is packed with families, the crowd roars at the crack of a bat and laughs at the team’s trademark, goofy between-innings skits.
But walk just a few blocks away into the heart of the city’s cluster of downtown office towers and the sound of silence is unnerving. Sidewalks are mostly empty. A few cars roll by alongside the occasional bus tracking its lonely route.
Downtown St. Paul was long known for clearing out at 5 p.m., but the COVID-19 pandemic crippled the central business district as companies and office employees shifted to remote work. Many didn’t return, leaving a hole in the economy that’s crushed restaurants, retailers and other small businesses.
The office vacancy rate in downtown St. Paul was 37.1 percent in the first quarter of the year, according to the commercial real estate brokerage Colliers…