Seven Months of Orange Barrels: How MnDOT Construction on East Seventh Street Is Threatening St. Paul's Immigrant and Minority Small Businesses
MSR editor Jasmine McBride reports on the existential threat facing dozens of immigrant- and minority-owned businesses along East Seventh Street in St. Paul, where a seven-month MnDOT Highway 61 reconstruction project launched April 1 has sent sales plummeting, with $90,000 in city corridor funds redirected into $5,000 grants for 30 of the 51 affected storefronts and advocates urging the community to keep showing up.
For the small business owners along East Seventh Street, spring 2025 was supposed to be the season of recovery. Instead, it brought orange barrels.
A major MnDOT Highway 61 reconstruction project launched April 1 and runs through Oct. 31, seven months cutting through the heart of St. Paul’s East Side commercial corridor. For the dozens of immigrant- and minority-owned businesses lining the street, it is not just an inconvenience. It is an existential threat.
“There is no survival otherwise,” said Paris Dunning, executive director of the East Side Area Business Association (ESABA). “If we don’t get businesses the traffic they need, with their regular customers and new customers, there will be no survival.”
The construction follows a brutal winter. The federal immigration enforcement surge that swept the metro from November through February destabilized businesses right at the holiday season, one of two peak revenue windows for small retailers and restaurants. State legislators considered a mitigation fund similar to COVID-era relief, but it did not materialize.
Henry Garnica, owner of CentroMex Supermercado on East 7th St, said the impact has been relentless. “All businesses are affected. Sales are going down. The traffic for customers is very slow, every single day,” he said. Construction crews have parked personal vehicles in the few customer spots out front. The street has been closed without warning. On some days, workers are nowhere to be seen. “I have to reduce my purchases, but I am losing money every week. It’s a tricky time right now.”
Garnica keeps his employees on the payroll out of loyalty, staffers who have been with him for years and have families to support. Some days there is little for them to do. “No customers, they’re cleaning, they’re trying to find something to do,” he said. He pays them anyway. But he is watching the math get harder by the week, and he is not alone. He said his neighbors, the cafe, the barbershop, the taqueria across the street, are all in the same position. In July, construction shifts to the opposite side of the street, meaning the disruption will intensify before it ends.
Mimi Muhammad, owner of Sota Soul on Arcade Street, the only Black-owned soul food restaurant in the area, lived through last year’s MnDOT project and is still recovering. The road in front of her business closed in mid-March 2025 and did not reopen until nearly mid-November, sometimes barricaded even when no work was happening. Third-party delivery drivers dropped orders rather than navigate the detours. Mitigation money, around $3,000, arrived months too late for most.
“By the time businesses got the $3,000, it was probably October, and by now you’re drowning,” Muhammad said. Some businesses on Arcade never came back. Sota Soul survived partly because of a sympathetic landlord. “We were almost down for a year. Second year in business… you can’t be down.”
Minnesota has no standing mitigation fund for businesses impacted by road construction. Advocates won an unprecedented fund for Arcade Street last year, but only after the project went off-script, with lanes closed for months where no work was active. They did not win the same for East 7th St. Instead, ESABA redirected $90,000 in city HRA corridor funds into grants for the most vulnerable businesses. $5,000 each for 30 of the 51 affected storefronts.
“Five thousand dollars will cover rent and utilities for one month,” Dunning said. “We’re talking about a seven-month impact. But it is something, and it is absolutely necessary.”
Distributing those grants falls to the East Side Neighborhood Development Company (ESNDC), rooted in the East Side since 1979. Executive Director Lisa Xiong said the partnership works because ESABA has the community relationships and ESNDC has the staff capacity to collect documentation and cut checks. Something ESABA, a one-person operation, cannot do on its own. “Our goal is being as proactive as we can to pivot and bring resources to meet the needs of our community in real time,” Xiong said. Beyond the construction grants, ESNDC offers capital improvement loans, facade funding, technical assistance, and a character-based lending program for businesses that don’t qualify through traditional credit. Businesses can apply for the mitigation grant through ESNDC’s website.
The practical message from advocates is simple: East 7th St. is driveable. Both lanes remain open. A coalition campaign, Keep It Open on East Seventh, has a website listing all affected businesses, many offering deals to draw traffic. Businesses include Sweet Olle Cafe, Manana Pupuseria, El Guanaco, CentroMex Supermercado, Tacaria Los Bassanos, and dozens more.
“Small businesses are the backbone of the neighborhoods,” Muhammad said. “If the small businesses are dying, you have a dying neighborhood.”
“Remember what’s on 7th St.,” Dunning said. “And then go there.”
To find participating businesses and available deals, visit www.keepitopenoneast7th.com.
Businesses seeking grant applications can apply through ESNDC at esndc.org.
Jasmine McBride welcomes reader responses at jmcbride@spokesman-recorder.com