Minnesota United team owner Bill McGuire two years ago unveiled a master plan for the land surrounding the future Major League Soccer stadium in St. Paul’s Midway.

The 35-acre “SuperBlock” — a combination of the existing Midway Shopping Center strip mall and the blighted vacant land around it — could someday be home to parks, hotels, restaurants, housing and even a movie theater.

On Thursday, strip mall owner RK Midway of New York took a major step toward putting that plan in motion.

They announced that the Golden Valley-based M.A. Mortenson Co. — the same firm building Allianz Field for Minnesota United — would become master developer for the entire Snelling-Midway site along University Avenue and Snelling Avenue.

In the short term, passers-by aren’t likely to notice many changes: construction of the stadium itself, some new green space, street approaches and the relocation of Big Top Liquors.

And in the long term? Could hotels and a movie theater really come to the Midway?

It’s “too early to tell what’s on and off the table,” said Jeremy Jacobs, director of real estate development for Mortenson. “Three to seven years is the right time horizon to really think about bringing this to life.”

Jacobs confirmed that housing would almost certainly be part of the new tenant mix, and that real estate development would likely begin toward the west end of the site, closest to Snelling Avenue, and gradually move east. Related Articles Marchers shut down I-94 through St. Paul to protest Breonna Taylor decision

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For years, developers have been rethinking how to incorporate sports stadiums into urban areas to foster, rather than block, real estate growth.

“There’s a ripe opportunity there to reinvent what’s possible,” Jacobs said. “As we’ve seen with U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis — contrast that with the Metrodome 30 years ago — we’ve seen significant opportunity around them, whether it’s Los Angeles, Atlanta, downtown Minneapolis or London. A professional stadium is a launching pad.”