Hundreds of residents of St. Paul’s Skyline Tower are temporarily displaced after a fire in an electrical panel required several utilities to be shut off at the city’s largest affordable housing complex.
St. Paul firefighters put out a small fire just before 12:30 a.m. Sunday at the cream-colored tower at 1247 St. Anthony Av., just north of Interstate 94, not far from the Midway Target.
Several minutes after firefighters left, the tower’s management called the Fire Department again for help, according to a news release from the city of St. Paul.
An electrical system had failed after the fire, setting off sprinklers on three floors and knocking out power to the entire 24-story building.
Without power, the building’s elevators and heat do not work. The outage also disabled running water and fire alarms.
The St. Paul Fire Department and city Department of Safety and Inspections deemed the building uninhabitable Sunday, and it was evacuated.
A.J. Neis, of the Department of Safety and Inspections, said the tower was last inspected in 2023, and received a Class A grade. There were no known problems with the electrical system, and the building was not scheduled to be inspected again until 2029.
The city is working with CommonBond Communities, the affordable housing nonprofit that manages Skyline Tower, to find temporary housing for tenants while the building’s systems are repaired.
