Downtown St. Paul’s “Skyway to Nowhere” is no more.

“Skybridge 10,” the formal name for the skyway that stretched from the former Macy’s building across Wabasha Street before abruptly ending a story above a parking lot, was torn down Saturday afternoon. Demolition crews cordoned off the 400 block of Wabasha Street, disconnected the skyway from the former Macy’s and proceeded to crush it.

The city-owned skyway once connected the former Macy’s to a building at 401-405 Wabasha St. called Wabasha Court. Macy’s closed in 2013, and Wabasha Court was demolished in 2002.

Posted by Saint Paul Port Authority on Saturday, February 11, 2017

Over the years, several civic groups had urged the city to have the eyesore removed, but the question of who should pay the $40,000 cost went long unanswered.

“Nobody really wanted to do it. It wasn’t like it was an astronomical cost,” said Lee Krueger, president of the St. Paul Port Authority, which owns the building. “It was just that nobody really wanted to pay up and have it done.” Related Articles Mural workshop, events at Victoria Theater Arts Center in St. Paul’s Frogtown this weekend and next

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The demolition of the Skyway to Nowhere was included in the plan to redevelop the former Macy’s, according to Krueger. He said removing the unused structure frees up design and traffic flow considerations both for the former Macy’s and any future building that might be constructed where the parking lot now exists.

“A lot of people doubted we’d ever get this done,” he said. “This shows everybody that the project is really happening. By this fall, you’re going to see that building active and contributing in a big way to the revitalization of downtown.”