The owners of O’Gara’s Bar and Grill on Snelling Avenue have proposed demolishing the 77-year-old St. Paul watering hole in order to build a multi-story apartment building with space for a smaller version of their popular tavern on the ground level.

The Irish bar, which describes itself as the city’s oldest continuously operating family bar still in its original location, opened at the southeast corner of Snelling and Selby avenues in 1941.

An apartment above the bar was also the onetime home of Charles Schulz, the St. Paul-raised cartoonist who created the “Peanuts” comic strip. Schulz’s father, Carl, operated a barbershop downstairs in space that O’Gara’s later expanded into.

Third-generation owner Dan O’Gara and real estate developer Tony Barranco of the Ryan Cos. are scheduled to address the Union Park District Council’s land-use committee at 6:30 p.m. March 19 at the WacPac offices, 161 N. Snelling Ave.

The Ryan Cos. developed the Whole Foods grocery and upscale Vintage apartments that opened on the northeast corner of Snelling and Selby in 2016.

O’Gara’s proposed mixed-use building would feature apartments, interior parking and a smaller, new O’Gara’s tavern on the ground floor, according to the district council.

The project team is still assembling initial designs and seeking community feedback. Related Articles West Side pedestrian bridge mural debuts 6 p.m. Monday

St. Paul City Council debates halting charter school bond requests for six months

St. Paul City Council relaxes housing density restrictions near transit corridors

St. Paul poised to redraw residential zoning rules near major public transit

Dan O’Gara couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday evening.

Also on the March 19 agenda is a meeting with the new owner of the Dairy Queen property at 143 N. Snelling Ave., who plans to demolish the property and replace it with a one-story commercial building.