St. Paul Development

[NorthStar]

Here's what's taking place in downtown St. Paul.

Upper Landing Urban Village:

3. Upper Landing Block 7

Edited June 22, 2005 by NorthStar

[bobliocatt]

Thanks, the Twin Cities region is definately booming.

[peaceloveunderstanding]

wow, nice to see St. Paul get some new developments too. I really liked the area the one time I went there.

[canthearthebs]

A correction: The Lowry is being developed into residential Lofts, I just bought one! http://www.thelowrybldg.com/

[NorthStar]

^ Thanks for the update.

[NorthStar]

The Bridges of St. Paul is a $1.5 billion project on the city's 32 acre West Side Flats.

Plans include:

*1,122 residential units

*2 25-story residential towers

*30-story hotel

*Gourmet marketplace

*12-theater cinema

*indoor conservatories

*marina

*fountains

*rooftop gardens

*more than 50 shops and a

*cultural facility "dedicated to the joy of life and being human."

*Units will range from about $170,000 to $1.5 million and from 700 square feet to more than 3,000.

Edited June 22, 2005 by NorthStar

[NorthStar]

According to several news sources, the U.S. Postal Service is moving its downtown St. Paul operations to Eagan. I think this is a good move because it will free up the 12-acre riverfront area. Plans for the site include condos and a transit hub at the old St. Paul Depot train station across the street.

[FSUViking9]

Why no pictures of The Bridges?

[NorthStar]

I had renderings posted, but they were no longer showing up.

Here are some:

[NorthStar]

Target is planning a downtown store near the Xcel arena. The site is known as Cleveland Circle, the site of the Ice Palace during the 2004 Winter Carnival. This would be a great addition to all the new development taking place in downtown St. Paul and I'm sure the 7,000+ downtown residents would love to have the store within walking distance.

[nickmgray]

With all the development going on in MInneapolis and St. Paul, I find it a little disappointing that St. Paul approved the current riverfront projects that are being contructed or that have just been completed. I believe the last thing that the city needed was more townhomes and lowrise apartment buildings.

St. Paul has a great opportunity to really build up it's riverfront, but missed it's only opportunity. It'll be half a century till they get a chance to tear it down and do it over. The city have no more room in its downtown core left to grow now and is going to have to expand by tearing up occupied housing blocks to the south.

[K6-III]

I'd approach it a little differently. Imagine what one could do if the freeways were covered--(converted to tunnels) and construction could occur on both sides of them...

[FSUViking9]

There's so many bridges over 35E and 94 through downtown, I doubt it would be that hard to just make it all one large tunnel, like the Big Dig in Beantown or what they are doing down in Miami.

[nickmgray]

The thought of covering the freeway never crossed my mind. Could be a feasable option, but in my opinion, it'll never happen. They've spent too much money on it to make it look as good as it does (much nicer an anything going through Minneapolis).

[MrSmith]

The real issue in covering highways has to do with exhaust, drainage and fire danger. It would be simple enough to put a top over the sunken portion of a highway, but it would not be safe --just look at how filthy the lowry tunnel gets --and trucks are not even allowed in it.

[MrSmith]

With all the development going on in MInneapolis and St. Paul, I find it a little disappointing that St. Paul approved the current riverfront projects that are being contructed or that have just been completed.  I believe the last thing that the city needed was more townhomes and lowrise apartment buildings.

Not everyone thinks highrises are great and in fact they are more expensive to build per square foot than low rises. America has an obsession with big!. Many of the best cities in the World -- Paris, London, Rome are so impressive because they don't have highrises.

Edited September 8, 2005 by MrSmith

[nickmgray]

Not everyone thinks highrises are great and in fact they are more expensive to build per square foot than low rises.  America has an obsession with big!.  Many of the best cities in the World -- Paris, London, Rome are so impressive because they don't have highrises.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Please don't get me wrong. I lived in Rome for 10 years and know what its like. They have a city wide ordinance that allows 12 story buildings to be the tallest and only 8 in the downtown area (mainly so that the church domes and spires dominate the skyline). You have to remember though that the main industries in Paris and Rome is tourism. Here our industry is corporate business. Sprawl does not help this as it consumes a lot of land space without maximizing potential usage. If St. Paul was more of a tourist attraction, I

[MrSmith]

Unfortunately that will not help the city though.  Just my personal opinion.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Frankly, I don't know if anything will help downtown Saint Paul. They need to identify a niche and fill it...instead of simply trying to pretend they are a viable downtown. Unfortunately, their strategy has been to take things from Minneapolis or offer big tax breaks to get development. They need to find a sector that is not being served in the Twin Cities.

For example, they could really play up the historic aspects of the city to attract tourism. In doing so, they should require only certain types of historic looking development in certain parts of town. Sometimes you'll find the best success when you stop competeing and instead embrace what you already have. It would be such a nice contrast to Minneapolis and could attract quite a lot of tourism if done well.

Edited September 9, 2005 by MrSmith

[FSUViking9]

Tower joins old, new

High-rise condo project would preserve police building

BY LAURA YUEN

Pioneer Press

The new vision for St. Paul's former police headquarters would preserve a piece of the past while pushing the boundaries of St. Paul's architectural comfort level

[ZachariahDaMan]

Awesome! I'm glad to see it is being preserved rather then becoming an eyesore someday like a lot of places do.

[Jaden]

Here's a tower, possibly two, that are proposed for St. Paul. There's been some confusion over at TCS and SSP as to if they are two seperate proposals (they do have different addresses) or what......

[Jaden]

How about one more for the Capitol City?

Rival developers vie for downtown Target

But retail/residential complex still faces obstacles in St. Paul

BY TIM NELSON and LAURA YUEN

Pioneer Press

A new Target store, a grocery, a dozen or more movie screens and a boutique hotel are all potential parts of a development being contemplated for the vacant Cleveland Circle in downtown St. Paul.

Those elements are part of one of two proposals submitted to the city in response to a call from Mayor Randy Kelly for ideas for the site, empty since the city moved the historic Armstrong-Quinlan House in 2001 to the foot of Chestnut Street.

The 5-acre site

[nickmgray]

Theatre, Hotel, Book Store, across frmo the stadium...

Kinda sounds familiar

I hope it does not turn into "Block E St. Paul" It's nice to have all these amenities, but spread them out over a few city blocks so that it doesnt just become a place to congregate!

The site could hold so much more. Add on another 40 floor condo tower and it might be a little more appealing.

Edited November 21, 2005 by nickmgray

[aTorridGustOfSun]

With all the development going on in MInneapolis and St. Paul, I find it a little disappointing that St. Paul approved the current riverfront projects that are being contructed or that have just been completed. I believe the last thing that the city needed was more townhomes and lowrise apartment buildings.

St. Paul has a great opportunity to really build up it's riverfront, but missed it's only opportunity. It'll be half a century till they get a chance to tear it down and do it over. The city have no more room in its downtown core left to grow now and is going to have to expand by tearing up occupied housing blocks to the south.

I would have to disagree. I think that it is great that St Paul is getting people to live close to downtown -- it will result in an upswing. Many retail developments that were built in the 1980s (such as Galtier Plaza) may have a second shot now that there is more critical mass downtown.

As far as the city not having any room to grow, I still see plenty of spaces where new buildings could be constructed (and onlder ones desructed), especially along Jackson Street.

[Jaden]

They are flying under the radar with some pretty impressive projects of their own. Couple of 20+ story condos being pieced together.

Nobody really knows about it because of the madness ging on in Minneapolis, but Paulie is doing well too.