Rolling on the River

Projects Pile Up

Redevelopment projects have been proposed, planned, and polished off all along the river in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Here’s a look at development activity over the past several years.

Up and Running

Science Museum of Minnesota: Patrick Seeb was chief of staff to then St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman when the new Science Museum was planned and constructed on Kellogg Boulevard, across the street from the downtown public library and on the bluff overlooking the river and Harriet Island. “It was a very difficult site to build on, so it was going to cost more money than was originally budgeted for a new Science Museum,” Seeb says of the $125-million project, which opened in 1999. “But it would physically connect downtown to the river and it would put a stake in the ground that said, ‘We’re changing our attitude about the river in a very public way.’”

Guthrie Theatre: “I have characterized the Guthrie as an exclamation point of development in the Minneapolis’ Mill District,” says Ann Calvert, a project coordinator for the Minneapolis Community Planning and Economic Development Department. The Mill District also includes the Mill City Museum, which opened in 2003, and the adjacent North Star, Humboldt, and Washburn Lofts, all of which are renovated historic buildings.

In Process

The Upper Landing: Formerly the home of a riverfront scrap yard just south of downtown St. Paul, The Upper Landing will ultimately be home to roughly 1,200 people. The $200 million project, which includes condos, apartments, and townhouses, is about 80 percent finished, according to Seeb.

St. Paul Municipal Grain Elevator: Meyer Scherer & Rockcastle, Ltd., the Minneapolis architectural firm responsible for the award-winning Mill City Museum, will design the renovation of the historic seven-story Municipal Elevator 1 and its accompanying one-story “sack house” building into an interpretive center and restaurant. “It’s a historic preservation project that generates a lot of economic development,” says Marie Franchett, a project manager for the St. Paul Department of Planning and Economic Development. She says the developers, St. Paul–based ADRZ, hopes to open the facility by summer 2008. “It’s going to increase our tax base and bring in visitors and vitality to the river,” she says.
 

In Limbo

Bridges of St. Paul: As of June, this $1.5 billion mixed-use project had yet to win the support of city government and neighborhood groups in the West Side Flats area. Meanwhile, The Wave, a 38-unit condominium and restaurant project, was the subject of a lawsuit between Minneapolis-based developers Omni Investment and property owners, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board.

Upcoming

Ford Motor Company site: The automaker is scheduled to close its 125-acre riverfront home on Ford Parkway in St. Paul in September 2008. In June, a Ford site planning task force had whittled the potential development scenarios from 18 down to five. “There are a lot of uses that would be very successful there,” including light industrial, “flex tech,” residential, and commercial, says Cecile Bedor, director of the Saint Paul Department Planning and Economic Development.

Xcel Energy power plant: Xcel Energy is converting its St. Paul riverfront plant, located next to the Highway 149 high bridge, from coal-fired power to natural gas, which will free up 55 acres of prime shoreline property. The new plant should be up and running by the end of this year; demolition of the old plant is slated to start next spring.

Union Depot: According to Seeb, this Lowertown landmark will be the hub of multimodal transit in St. Paul—the site of the new Amtrak depot and the terminus of the proposed Central Corridor light rail line connecting St. Paul and Minneapolis. That said, the Metropolitan Council was considering stopping the line short of the depot to trim down the project’s $930 million price tag. “That project will help spur a lot of private investment in the area,” Seeb says.