"This isn't just for the stadium," chef Vincent Françoual told the Star Tribune this month. He pointed out that game days are a fairly small share of the year. "It's for the neighborhood."
The off-season will test that claim soon. Minnesota United's final regular-season home match at Allianz Field is Saturday, Nov. 7, against San Jose at 6 p.m. The MLS playoffs run from Nov. 18 through MLS Cup on Dec. 18. Any more home dates for the Loons depend on whether they qualify and how they do. Either way, after Nov. 7 the area around the stadium has to work for people who live within walking distance, not for a 19,400-seat crowd.
This winter, two restaurants will carry most of United Village. The hotel, the parking ramp, the office building and the acre-sized garden are all scheduled for 2027 or later. So if you live in Hamline-Midway, Union Park or along University Avenue, the useful question for the next few months is what's on Simpson Street right now and what's still behind a fence.
Seven years of waiting, and the first everyday doors
Allianz Field opened in 2019. Writing in September, the Pioneer Press said that seven years later, new development has "finally emerged" around it. That includes two pavilion buildings with exterior wall art, benches and other touches meant to get everyday visitors to sit for a while. The same story notes that clearing the old Midway Shopping Center restaurants and stores for this development drew criticism from some neighbors over the years. Simpson Street is the first place where that long buildout has turned into somewhere you can actually get breakfast.
The schedule matters here. The diner opens early, the pizza counter opens in the afternoon, and both run every day. Neither one waits for a match.
| Spot | Address | Hours | What it serves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midway Diner | 445 Simpson St. | 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days | Eggs Benedict, country-fried steak, lunch sandwiches |
| Picco Pizza + Gelateria | 455 Simpson St. | 3 to 9 p.m., daily | 12-inch pizzas, gelato, beer, wine, espresso |
Midway Diner is built for a weekday breakfast
The Midway Diner opened on Monday, Sept. 28. According to the Pioneer Press, it has 120 seats inside, including a long zinc bar, plus 80 on the patio. The patio seats count for less once the weather turns, so the inside is what you'll be using this winter. The room has floor-to-ceiling windows, midcentury-style chairs and a big mural showing the four seasons on Lake Superior. The menu sticks with diner standards, and the paper put its prices roughly in line with other brunch cafes around town.
Françoual ran the downtown Minneapolis fine-dining spot Vincent, A Restaurant for close to 15 years. At the diner his title is "head of culinary," not executive chef. He told the Pioneer Press that the whole project is "trying to update a neighborhood." He compared it to the central plazas that draw everyday civic life in many European cities. On the remaining match days, the Star Tribune reports the diner will probably run a few specials honoring visiting teams.
The diner is at 445 Simpson St., and its phone number is 651-523-3677.
Picco covers the evening
Picco sits across a walkway from the diner. When the Pioneer Press wrote about the diner on Sept. 30, Picco was still expected to open within about a month. By Oct. 20, the Star Tribune reported it was open.
Here's how it works:
- You order at white kiosks. There are several tables and a gelato counter.
- Pizzas are 12 inches and cost $15 to $23. Toppings run from pepperoni and a four-cheese blend to sausage and rapini.
- The pies bake in a Ferrari-red deck oven brought over from Italy. The gelato comes from Cossetta.
- Drinks include a few wines and beers, limoncello, Aperol, Pellegrino sodas and espresso.
One detail in the room fits the neighborhood pitch. A gallery wall of black-and-white photos focuses on hands of all ages. The Star Tribune described it as a nod to the sense of community the two restaurants hope to build.
The fence along University Avenue is staying up through winter
If Simpson Street is the part of United Village you can use, University Avenue is the part you'll walk past. The eight-story, 158-room hotel is going up along University. A hotel parking ramp and an office building are under construction too. The Pioneer Press reported that openings are "likely in 2027."
The hotel lost about a week in early September. Minnesota United owner Bill McGuire, who is leading the development, and city staff disagreed over more than $300,000 in "Green Infrastructure" stormwater fees. Under a compromise, McGuire paid the fees into a reserved account that the city won't spend for now, and both sides agreed to keep talking while construction continues. "We're back working this week," Mike Hahm, a community liaison for the development team, told the Pioneer Press on Sept. 8.
The neighborhood group spoke up during the pause. On Sept. 2, the Union Park District Council's board of officers voted, with one dissent, to send the city a letter urging it to move the permits forward. "Delay harms all of us," the letter said, as quoted by the Pioneer Press. According to the Pioneer Press, some of the people asking the city to speed things up had criticized McGuire's plans in the past.
So for winter 2026–27, the plaza-style gathering place Françoual described is two restaurants next to an active construction site.
The garden that missed another planting season
The open space neighbors may care most about is still on paper. Bailey Gardens is a planned acre-sized, tree-lined garden that would connect the hotel to The Calling, the loon sculpture at the southeast corner of Snelling and University that's believed to be the largest in the world. Newport-based Bailey Nurseries is a key partner in the $1 million project.
Stormwater and permitting questions kept it from being planted in 2025, and again in 2026. The Pioneer Press reported that the Capitol Region Watershed District's board approved the permit with one condition, and the remaining step was on the development team's side. The mayor's office expects planting in spring 2027. McGuire had said earlier that he would drop the project if it didn't move forward within two years. Hahm's update to the Pioneer Press was careful. "I'm not saying it's not going to happen," he said.
Earlier coverage also floated an open-air pavilion that might double as an ice rink. It hasn't been announced as anything you can skate on this winter.
A few blocks out, the newer spots don't depend on match days
United Village doesn't have to fill a winter weeknight by itself. Several places within a short drive or a Green Line ride opened or moved in this fall:
- Barrel Theory Beer Co., 550 Vandalia St. The brewery left Lowertown for the former Lake Monster Brewing space, which closed at the end of August. The move brought a larger taproom, a patio and more brewing capacity. As of October, Barrel Theory lists its taproom in Vandalia Tower and notes that the Green Line and Allianz Field are within blocks.
- Bewick Cafe, 1340 Thomas Ave. W. Chef Nicole Pederson-Bates and her husband and partner, Andrew Bates, opened this all-day cafe in Hamline-Midway in the former Groundswell space just after the State Fair. The Star Tribune described a stocked bakery case, Dogwood coffee, a full bar with drinks like a carajillo and a hibiscus Paloma, nonalcoholic spritzes, and soft-serve twist cones. A dinner service is planned for later.
- Pho Oanh, 774 University Ave. W. In its Oct. 5 restaurant roundup, the Star Tribune listed this Vietnamese restaurant as nearing opening after a remodel, with no date set.
Each of these runs on its own schedule. Taken together with the two Simpson Street restaurants, they make the case Françoual is making better than the unfinished buildings can right now.
Nov. 17 is the next chance to hear the plan in person
If you'd rather get the 2027 timeline straight from the developer, the St. Paul Area Chamber is holding a free public Chamber Connect event at Allianz Field on Tuesday, Nov. 17, starting at 4 p.m. Bill McGuire is on the program with an update on United Village. After the San Jose match on Nov. 7, it's the only public Allianz Field event on the venue's calendar so far.
If you're living near Snelling and University and wondering how a hotel, an office building and maybe a garden could change your corner of St. Paul by 2027, I'm happy to talk it through over coffee at Bewick or breakfast at the diner. Jenelle Nelson can walk you through what's actually under construction and what's still a plan, so you know which is which. Let's Connect.
