Developer Trooien has a big dream—to build the Bridges of St. Paul, a complex of retail, residential, theater, and hotel space that, in its original plan, comprised more than 2 million square feet and carried a price tag of $1.5 billion. Trooien, who’s worked in commercial real estate since 1980, has mostly been involved in warehouse and office properties.
The Bridges, which would be on the “west side” of the river between the Robert Street and Highway 52 bridges, is a much grander project—and far more controversial. Trooien withdrew his initial proposal to the city in early November, when it got strong criticism from neighborhood groups. Some were provoked by plans for a 30-story hotel that would block views of the river and downtown. Others disliked the $125 million in proposed tax-increment financing. Now Trooien will negotiate with them to develop a new plan for the Bridges as debate continues about whether this is the right project to put across the river from a downtown still recovering from its near-collapse in the 1980s.
