Previous redevelopment plan fell through over parking issues
By Liz Wolf
Just when it looked like the former West Publishing site in downtown St. Paul was going to be redeveloped into a $225 million, mixed-use project, landowner Ramsey County and Phoenix-based Cardon Development Group announced that they decided to part ways.
Now Ramsey County is looking for new, innovative ideas to redevelop the prominent river bluff site dubbed “Riverfront Properties.” The site is 4.77 acres at the southwest intersection of Wabasha Street and Kellogg Boulevard, overlooking the Mississippi River.
The county spent $17 million to demolish the former West Publishing buildings and Ramsey County Jail to make the site more attractive to developers.
Cardon’s plans for the site
Don Cardon envisioned three towers along Kellogg Boulevard: One was a residential tower, one was an upscale hotel, and the third a commercial building with office and retail space — all sitting atop a four-level, 2,000- to 2,500-space parking facility descending from the bluff. The redevelopment would have created a “river balcony” promenade, and essentially, rebuild the city’s riverfront.
The sticking point, however, was Cardon asked for more public funding for the parking structure.
“During the past five months, Don Cardon has researched market conditions for a proposed site plan that includes three towers rising above the Mississippi River bluff atop a parking structure,” Ramsey County said in a joint statement with Cardon Development Group. “While [Cardon] received significant, credible residential and commercial interest in the site from across the country, the company determined that challenges posed by the parking infrastructure prevent the development from being viable without additional public investment.”
Since Cardon’s design concept called for that particular parking facility, they just couldn’t make it work without more public funding. The county is opposed to investing more public subsidy into private development at the site.
“On the positive side, I would thank Don Cardon and his development group,” says Lee Mehrkens, Ramsey County’s chief financial officer. “He did take this random notion of developing the site and try to translate it into a design concept, so we’re appreciative of that. But the problem was that the proposal they put together just had too much parking in it and it became cost-prohibitive because of the parking.” (The county believes it’s an oversupply of parking for that particular development).
“So we need to hit the reset button, start all over again and come up with a mixed-use development that’s less parking-centric, and we think that good minds can figure out a solution,” Mehrkens says.
The county is now taking a look at the market again as it relates to parking and challenges of the site.
“Ramsey County is currently working to better understand the complete market for area parking, the technical challenges in developing along the bluff, and other potential designs as it reevaluates its options for developing the property,” according to the county’s statement. It goes on to say, “The county remains committed to transforming this premier site into a first-class development that is a long-term landmark asset for downtown and the broader community.”
County is seeking new ideas for riverfront property
“We’re really excited about bringing it back out there in the public spheres, so that developers who are interested can know that we’re looking forward to receiving their interest,” Mehrkens says. “We’ve had good response so far. We’re hopeful that we’ll have even more in the weeks ahead. We just want people to know that it’s time to approach us and talk to us about their skills and the projects that they’ve worked on and [share] their vision for the site.”
The county continues to envision mixed use.
“We want to maximize the value of it to the downtown and the business community, and we think mixed use is the best way to get there,” Mehrkens says. “It’s an iconic site. It’s at a really good place along the river to maximize the view and the adjacency to the river.”
Mehrkens believes the timing is right for redevelopment.
“We recognize that with the economy progressing along nicely, we want to take advantage of market conditions and not lose this opportunity, so it’s really important for us to now move at a fairly quick pace to see if we can bring this [site] into development soon.”
The property, which will be ready for development in 2018, has been off the county tax rolls since 1992, after West Publishing relocated to Eagan.
Site offers opportunities, a ‘spectacular view’
“It’s probably the best site if you’re looking for a parcel that has an absolutely spectacular view,” says Joe Spartz, president of Greater St. Paul BOMA. “There’s nothing to match that kind of view really in the Midwest as you look out on that open river valley.”
Spartz says he would like to see some really dense, mixed-use development on the site. “Something that’s going to be 30, 40 stories tall, have some Class A office, some really high-end residential component to it, maybe some retail at ground floor,” he says. “For any kind of corporate office situation where you need to fly in execs, you’ve got an airport less than five minutes away that you could be bringing in folks on an executive jet. You’re not going to see that anywhere in the U.S. where you’re going to bring in people that quickly.”
Site also submitted for Amazon’s second HQ
Amazon, which is planning a second headquarters, asked for bids from cities across the country. Ramsey County added the Riverfront Properties site to its bid to win the competition for Amazon’s expansion.
“Ramsey County submitted both the Riverfront site and the Rice Creek Commons site – that’s the 427-acre former ammunition plant in Arden Hills,” says John Siqveland, public communications director at Ramsey County. “We submitted both of those to DEED and Greater MSP. They had a number of sites they presented to Amazon, and among them are those two.”
The deadline to submit proposals was Oct. 19.
