A Brief History

by Gregory Page, August 2022

When Jack Hoeschler became board chair of the Saint Paul Riverfront Corporation in 1993, he was the right person, really the best person, to lead a significant, almost unbelievable, transformation of Saint Paul.  

At its core, the Riverfront Corporation was both the driver and the conduit for Saint Paul to reclaim its relationship to the Mississippi River. It ignited a dramatic shift in public perception about the river’s beauty and worth, then organized a powerful public-private commitment to the riverfront’s stewardship. Simply stated, it fueled the city’s resurgence, a reawakening that started in the early 1990s.

One key hallmark of the Saint Paul Riverfront Corporation was its ability to maintain and accomplish its mission while responding to the evolving nature of the community through its close relationships with public officials, civic and business leaders, and the community at large. Unlike many organizations, the Riverfront Corporation was NOT focused on short-term development goals, but rather on creating and realizing a long range vision.

Prologue

In 1984 Mayor George Latimer invited citizen applications for a Riverfront Commission to focus on issues of riverfront redevelopment and promotion. A 20-member Commission was then appointed to “serve until it makes a full and complete report to the Mayor.” The Commission focused on Saint Paul’s riverfront from the High Bridge to the Lafayette Bridge (about 1.6 miles of shoreline).

The Commission, with critical foresight, created a non-profit charitable Corporation, to receive and disburse charitable, private and public funds to help finance significant riverfront improvements.

In 1989 the Riverfront Commission published a report chronicling its first five years of activities. Mayor Latimer declared: “Reviving the historical dream (of a beautiful city with a thriving riverfront) has become both a one-time opportunity and an obligation to future generations.” The Riverfront Commission dissolved, its mission accomplished, but the Riverfront Corporation continued.

In 1992, the Riverfront Corporation, through the largesse of board member David Lilly, collaborated with the City and civic leaders to commission a study by renowned architect, urban planner, and St. Paul-native, Benjamin Thompson of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Ben had received critical acclaim for his design of the Ordway Theater on Rice Park. More relevant, Ben and BTA (Ben Thompson & Associates) had, through his dreams and design, helped revitalized other waterfront cities such as Boston, Baltimore, Miami, and New York City.

Inspired by the sweeping Mississippi River Valley gorge that the City perches upon, Thompson philosophized that the entire city was a “Great River Park”. All of Saint Paul was “of the Mississippi.” His guiding principle, embraced by our planning efforts, was to create and maintain a healthy balance between environmental, scenic, recreational, residential, and commercial uses of the river valley.

Reinventing the Corporation

Jack Hoeschler was asked to join the Saint Paul Riverfront Corporation in 1993; he was soon named Board President. He threw himself into this volunteer work which became a half-time job (according to his spouse, Linda). At this point the Riverfront Corporation’s tasks primarily focused on creating and supporting events that would draw the citizenry to the river, people who would begin to use and celebrate our natural wonder.

Under Jack’s leadership, the Riverfront Corporation also guarded against potentially detrimental development, publicly voicing concerns. For instance, the board took reasoned opposition to a proposed amphitheater along the riverfront (reasoning its 20,000 square foot footprint and visually impermeable structure would wall off the West Side Flats from the river). Jack penned a November 1993 letter to local media arguing that the riverfront “should be reserved for esplanades, restaurants, trees, and the start of a great park.”

Trying to ease the developer’s pain by refocusing his sights on another site, Jack privately suggested a different project location. Jack disclosed the site was owned by a client and, at the instigation of the spurned developer, Jack was castigated in the Saint Paul media for potential conflict of interest. This one-sided article drew almost 100 letters of support for Jack’s civic service and efforts at riverfront protections (with a few invitations by Minneapolis leaders to come help them out!).

Critically, in 1993, Jack led an effort to engage and inform a dozen Saint Paul mayoral candidates about the riverfront opportunities and the need for revitalization. Years later, Senator Norm Coleman reminisced about his encounter with Jack:

I remember well your dragging me around the Saint Paul riverfront in 1993 and 1994, before and after I was elected mayor. You were persistent in pointing out the problems, and persuasive in pointing out the opportunities, of our then neglected riverfront. 

Your vision, persistence and leadership helped rejuvenate the Riverfront Corporation – and lead the City into the riverfront renaissance we have enjoyed for over a decade.

You are a true river man, rough and tumble, with a keen eye on the destination, a firm hand on the rudder, and the true grit to keep going - even against the current when necessary. I believe, like the famous old keelboat man Mike Fink, you can dive deeper, stay down longer and come up dryer than any man alive.

Congratulations on being honored as a Director Emeritus of the Saint Paul Riverfront Corporation. An honor well deserved.

Following his 1993 election, Mayor-elect Norm Coleman asked the Saint Paul Foundation (at Jack’s suggestion): to undertake an analysis of the 1986 Riverfront Re-Development Plan; ask Saint Paulites about their visions for the riverfront; and develop guidelines for riverfront development.

The study, published in 1994, recommended, among other things, that a Riverfront Corporation:

• [continue to] be organized as a non-profit corporation eligible to receive public, private and philanthropic contributions.

• be charged with management and development of the riverfront between the High Bridge and the Lafayette Bridge.

• have a full-time executive officer… and other staff as appropriate and necessary;

• be governed by a board of directors (proposing specific board makeup);

• recognize it is essential [that] city agencies be engaged in the work of the Corporation;

• continually seek new and innovative sources of federal, state and other public and private funds as well as private development to advance its work.

Before the 1994 report was issued, the Riverfront Corporation was without funds, staffed part time by a Saint Paul Planning and Economic Development department planner, and managed by a small citizen-based board. The report gave Jack and a few leaders the charge to transform the organization: existing board resigned and were replaced; Dick Broeker (former Latimer chief aide) was hired to run Riverfront Corporation; and a more proactive, financially engaged mission was adopted. Critical to realizing these dreams was the securing of major grants from The McKnight Foundation, F.R. Bigelow Foundation, Saint Paul Foundation, and others.

Creating the Vision: Saint Paul on the Mississippi Framework

The watershed work of the Riverfront Corporation during the mid-1990s was its leadership in creating a new community-based vision for the city, executed with other key organizations.

The Saint Paul on the Mississippi Development Framework continued the initial work of the 1994 St Paul Foundation evaluation. The Framework’s foundations rested on hundreds of meetings with thousands of participants over the course of three years. In June 1997, the Framework was unveiled over several days to overflow crowds, who responded each time with standing ovations. The 136-page Framework is rooted in the concept of place and proposed development based on the city’s unique social, economic and environmental factors. 

The Riverfront Corporation was thereupon charged by the City, Saint Paul Port Authority and Capital City Partnership with guarding, stewarding, and implementing the Framework. 

To implement the vision, the Riverfront Corporation also helped other organizations and businesses grow their riverfront agendas. The Riverfront Corporation played a major role in enticing the relocation of the University’s Centennial Showboat to the downtown waterfront, helping raise $1,298,600 for the Showboat renovation. The Corporation also raised $1 million in cash and in-kind services for summer events from 1994 –1997.

In 1995, the Riverfront Corporation created the 1st annual community dinner (later known as the Great River Gathering), to celebrate progress on riverfront redevelopment, discuss next steps and create a place for networking among “river rats.” That first dinner attracted 125 people. A decade later, the dinner had over 1,200 attendees.

Mark VanderSchaaf, a thoughtful City planner, noted that the 150th anniversary of the Grand Excursion of 1854 would occur in 2004, 10 years away. The original Grand Excursion was a promotional event by the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad celebrating their connection to the Mississippi River and the mid-west’s homesteading and development potential. Following an inaugural train trip from Chicago to Rock Island, five steamboats took excursionists from Rock Island all the way to Saint Paul, Minnesota Territory.

Mark suggested that the upcoming decade might celebrate Saint Paul’s and the Riverfront Corporation’s strategic plans and programming accomplishments. Since the 1854 event had excited people about the potential of the upper Mississippi River valley, a Grand Excursion in 2004 could do no less.

As part of its mission to attract and enhance river access, the Riverfront Corporation board and staff helped persuade the Science Museum of Minnesota to locate its new building at the downtown Upper Landing site, scrapping earlier plans. Moreover, a large external public stairway to connect the museum area to the river was added to the design.

The Riverfront Corporation also raised $2 million for a revolving loan fund in order to jump-start riverfront projects. It lobbied Ramsey County Commissioners to halt expansion of its Adult Detention Center on its existing riverfront site. The Ramsey County board eventually concurred, moved the Adult Detention Center elsewhere, and put the their riverfront site up for sale for “a higher and better use.”

In mid-1995, Dick Broeker, for health reasons, decided to serve as consultant (not staff) to the Corporation. Patrick Seeb, who had been Mayor Norm Coleman’s Deputy Chief of Staff and Riverfront Corporation liaison, was named Riverfront Corporation Executive Director. Patrick and Jack were initially a bit leery of one another. Jack had an inherit discomfort, almost distrust, of many politicians. It took him a while to build trust with politicians, and they with him, this sometimes-brash mover and shaker.  But Jack and Patrick melded into a great leadership team.

Patrick stated that, “The culture of an organization comes from its leadership. Jack shepherded the culture of the Saint Paul Riverfront Corporation with his big personality; with both energy and patience he helped move people and the community into action. Such were Jack’s powers of persuasion, that even if things fell a little short of the grandest plan, the results still often exceeded people’s initial expectations of what was possible.”

As partnerships and momentum grew and events and projects multiplied, the river became an integral part of the downtown psyche: when the major Civic Center renovation was completed, it was renamed RiverCentre, following the Radisson Hotel naming its new ballroom the Great River Ballroom; the City was beginning to return to, and embrace, the Mississippi.

In 1997 Jack and the board set ambitious multi-year goals for two other specific areas identified in the Framework, Harriet Island and the Upper Landing.

Implementing the Framework

Saint Paul’s civic leaders, public and private, determined that the vision, as embodied in the Saint Paul on the Mississippi Development Framework, would perish without a persistent, long-term commitment to its realization. They empowered the Saint Paul Riverfront Corporation to be the catalyst for transforming the Framework’s vision into reality. After an intensive yearlong self-evaluation, involving input from board members, staff, community leaders, and elected officials, Jack orchestrated significant changes to the Riverfront Corporation’s governance, mission and organizational capacity, in order to ensure its ability to meet these challenges.

Corporate bylaws were amended to increase the size, diversity, and selection process of the board of directors.

In 1998, the immediate role of the Riverfront Corporation was to lead and energize implementation of the Framework by directing attention and resources to the critical points of the plan… to persist, through changing times, to sustain a vision for the city… and to enable the continued refinement and evolution of the vision.

On September 9, 2000, a grandly enhanced Harriet Island reopened to the public. The Riverfront Corporation had completed the Harriet Island Community Campaign, raising just under $14.5 million. More than 2000 individuals, corporations, and foundations participated. Sponsorship of 1,500 Steppingstones helped pay for the “new” Harriet Island. On opening day, Jim, a South St. Paul schoolteacher, led his girlfriend in a walk along the river to see all the nostalgic, poetic and dedicatory stones. He led her to one he had purchased. It was engraved, “Roxy, I Love You! Marry Me! JIM.”  Roxy said yes.

For the Upper Landing, identified in the Framework as “one of the most significant opportunities to reintegrate and reconnect the Mississippi with the city,” the goals were:

• Form an Upper Landing Redevelopment Team;

• Package the development opportunity in the form of a Request For Proposal;

• Identify interested and qualified developers.

To aid the effort, the Riverfront Corporation helped develop the Upper Landing Development Guidelines to inform and codify the development’s direction.

Patrick Seeb, noting Jack’s contributions said, “Jack believed that it was important to understand prior work, before starting a new project or program. Maybe it was his legal background, to understand history and precedent before moving forward.” City staff remarked how Jack would call or stop by to inquire about site, project or policy background when he was thinking about “what’s next.”

Plans were developed for a new Upper Landing Park at the base of the Science Museum, part of the Science Museum’s development agreement with SPRC and the City. The Park, of course, also offered a critical enhancement to the planned Upper Landing neighborhood. Pieces of the puzzle were shaped, and eventually put into place. Over the next several years, the Riverfront Corporation would participate in design work for the Park and pursue monies for park, plaza, trail and river edge development.

Jack’s legal and development expertise were invaluable. He was a constant presence around town, inspecting and critiquing most of these projects. One City staff person quipped: “Jack was the penny that kept turning up. He was the pit bull you wanted in your corner; or a pain in the butt if he was on the other side of the issue. You couldn’t deny his passion and you always knew where he was coming from. And you knew he would see things through to the end.”

On the West Side, with Harriet Island under development, the West Side Flats area was becoming a more attractive development site. The Riverfront Corporation worked with the City to recruit U.S. Bank to anchor and catalyze a potential 21 block mixed-use neighborhood on the Flats between Wabasha and Robert streets.

Maintaining the Momentum

Fortunately, Harriet Island’s renaissance could not be dampened by the biggest flood in 30 years; although under five feet of water for almost a month, the park rebounded quickly as the city’s riverfront “central park.” Over the next two years, three additional major projects would grace the park, projects in which the Riverfront Corporation played significant roles.

The Pedestrian Levee Gateway opened, reconnecting the West Side neighborhood to Harriet Island and the Mississippi. The Riverfront Corporation lobbied for the connection with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (reasonably skeptical about engineering a large opening in the levee), secured funding for the project as part of the Harriet Island capital campaign, and worked with artists on two separate art projects gracing the opening.

The Target Stage opened. The Riverfront Corporation secured a $1 million grant from Target and worked extensively with internationally renowned architect Michael Graves on the design.

To maintain the momentum after the spectacular success of Harriet Island, Jack looked to strengthen board engagement, and to keep driving Framework implementation with new plans, projects, and events.

The concept of the Grand Excursion 2004 was created and launched by the Riverfront Corporation as an ambitious local and regional initiative. At the request of the Saint Paul City Council, the Riverfront Corporation led the Saint Paul Grand Excursion initiative in order to reposition the City as a regional asset and destination. The initiative functioned as a catalyst to: generate new programs, forge and renew enduring partnerships, accelerate key projects, and cultivate awareness of Saint Paul by key regional and world-wide audiences.

A collaboration of 46 upper Mississippi River cities and 17 regional organizations partnered with Grand Excursion Inc, a private nonprofit charged with implementing the regional initiative. Patrick Seeb served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Grand Excursion Inc, while continuing his job as Executive Director of the Riverfront Corporation.

The regional effort successfully showcased billions of improvement dollars that had begun to restore the economic vitality and environmental majesty of the upper Mississippi River. Moreover, the Grand Excursion led to more economic development, more educational and tourism efforts along the Mississippi, since it testified to the river’s change from an industrial corridor to a natural amenity.

Saint Paul’s efforts and progress began to attract national attention.  The Urban Land Institute proclaimed, “For the first time in years, there was a genuine enthusiasm and a feeling that open space networks and the forgotten river could be the key to Saint Paul’s future.”

In March, 2001, Landscape Architecture heralded our work with a 10-page cover story by Frank Edgerton Martin, ASLA, Minneapolis

Jack Hoeschler Day

I really believe that Jack felt every day was his to maximize. He thoroughly enjoyed his work. But it’s always nice to be formally and publicly recognized. Jack’s Day was proclaimed by Mayor Chris Coleman at the end of Jack’s distinguished tenure as Saint Paul Riverfront Corporation Board Chair.

A Proclamation

Whereas, Jack Hoeschler played an instrumental role in shaping the Saint Paul Riverfront Corporation and helping the Corporation achieve its mission; and

Whereas, The mission of the Saint Paul Riverfront Corporation is to connect the City of Saint Paul and its people, places and neighborhoods to the Mississippi; and

Whereas, Jack was the impetus for Saint Paul’s riverfront revitalization plans such as the Upper Landing and Harriet Island; and

Whereas, Jack insured that the Saint Paul Riverfront Corporation broadly represented the community by leading board reorganization efforts; and

Whereas, Jack Hoeschler has been source of strength, wisdom and insight for the Saint Paul Riverfront Corporation and a true friend and advocate of the Mississippi River, the City of Saint Paul and its people; and

Whereas, Due to Jack’s important and lasting impact on the Saint Paul Riverfront Corporation, he is being honored as one of the Corporation’s first Board Member Emeritus inductees;

Now, Therefore, I, Christopher B. Coleman, Mayor of the City of Saint Paul, do herby proclaim December 11, 2001 to be John (Jack) Hoeschler Day in the City of Saint Paul

Celebrating Success; the Fruits of Jack’s Labors

During 2003 – 2004, 10 years of Saint Paul’s riverfront redevelopment success (8 years under Jack’s leadership at the Riverfront Corporation) was celebrated with the Grand Excursion and confirmed by several reports.

In the Twin Cities, over 320,000 people participated in the Grand Excursion; over one million experienced the Grand Excursion along the Mississippi River through Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota, and over 100 million media impressions made a national audience aware of the Upper Mississippi region’s vitality and beauty.

A 2004, Pepin Hugunin reported in Social & Economic Indicators of Vitality of the Downtown Satin Paul Riverfront 1994-2003, that Saint Paul’s riverfront redevelopment efforts had resulted in significant gains in leading indicators of success, including:

• Saint Paul’s Downtown Riverfront is a place where people want to live, work and play.

• 320 new housing units (2002-2003)

• 2,059 new downtown and Riverfront residents (1990-2003)

• $1.8 billon in new investment (1996-2003)

• 30 acres of new parkland e.g. Upper Landing Park, Vento Nature Sanctuary, Wacouta Commons

• 71 acres of improved park e.g. Harriet Island, Rice Park, Raspberry Island

• 2.7 miles of new riverfront trails e.g. Samuel Morgan and Harriet Island/ Lilydale trail

• 83% increase in total property market value (1999-2003)

The Saint Paul on the Mississippi Development Framework Progress Report enumerated $110,850,000 in public realm investment between 1997 and 2003 that had encouraged and supported $1,763,700,000 in private investment.

These numbers are one aspect of Jack’s legacy. But I think our vital, thriving riverfront community best testifies to his vision, hard work and perseverance, his gift to all who follow. I hope that when you enjoy Saint Paul’s riverfront downtown, you will think of Jack, as I always do. 

Ben Thompson’s triptych-slides were used in his public presentations to excite people about his vision for St. Paul’s riverfront. The center image was of the current location, bracketed by images of vibrant ‘successes’ that conveyed the ‘feeling’ of the proposed transformation.

As one person who worked at BTA wrote:

I think it is fair to say that Ben Thompson was vague, inspired, infuriating, exciting and a genius. He would show us slides of some far-off place where people were interacting and would make connections to this campus.

Gregory Page served on the board of the Riverfront Commission and Corporation from their inception in 1984 until 1994 when the Commission was sunset and the corporate board reconfigured.  He then served as Special Projects Director for the Saint Paul Riverfront Corporation focusing on grant writing, project development and conflict resolution, until his retirement in 2011.