In a packed community gymnasium, St. Paul community members of the Hamline-Midway neighborhood got to question city leaders about a problematic apartment complex. 

The complex in question is the Kimball Court Apartments. At the meeting was management from the complex and the partners they work with as a transitional housing complex, helping people off the street. 

RELATED: St. Paul incident report calls Kimball Court Apartments ‘hub of narcotic traffic’

It sits just a couple blocks north of the intersection of Snelling and University avenues. 

“What I’m most concerned about is, ‘Why, knowing the concerns of the residents and community members, did you decide to extend?” one community member asked the panel about St. Paul City Council recently locking in $3 million to expand Kimball Court’s services. 

RELATED: Hamline-Midway town hall addresses several concerns; crime and drug use top issues

“Part of why there are things happening outside is there aren’t enough homes for them. This renovation and expansion actually helps people who need to transition from outside to inside,” Council President Mirtra Jalali responded. 

St. Paul police have called the apartment complex and surrounding area as the “hub for narcotic traffic” on the city’s west side. While there’s an improvement from a few years ago, according to the department, there have been more than double the number of calls for service to the apartment this year, compared to last year at this point. 

• Calls for service | Jan. 1 – Nov. 7
  • 2022: 390
  • 2023: 92
  • 2024: 195

“Our cops are working really, really hard, they are out there trying to help mitigate the problem and resolve what we’re seeing out there. But, this is something we can’t just arrest ourselves out of, it really does take all of the folks you’re seeing out here,” Stacy Murphy, SPPD’s Western District chief, said. 

In the most surprising exchanges of the night, a community member brought what she believes are drugs she found in the area. 

“And my question is … ‘What do I do with this, these drugs that I found on Snelling and Blaire? This would have been in the summer – I think they’re drugs – and who do I give them to now?'” the woman said to a round of applause from the people at the meeting, eventually bringing them to a police officer.  

Kimball Court’s managing company, Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative, posted a statement surrounding the work being done to address the issues.