The project's three developers are Spiros Zorbalas, president of RDG: Real Estate Development Group; Abe Appert, vice president of Fransen Appert Real Estate Group; and Brian Pergament, president of Pergola Management. "The Aberdeen's development team wasn't looking for a contractor who would just take orders and build to spec, but rather a partner capable of becoming a deeply involved, contributing member of the team," says Rick Collins, vice president of development of the Ryan Cos.

The Aberdeen will go up in a neighborhood governed by the City of St. Paul's Heritage Preservation Commission. The project's design must blend with the Cathedral Hill neighborhood's eclectic architecture. To help keep the proposed project on budget, Ryan brought a number of value engineering solutions to the planning meetings.

"This project requires more than the usual portion of the budget be spent on exterior elements, which meant we needed to be creative in the overall design of the building to stay on target for costs," says Jeff Hultgren, senior project manager at Ryan. The team looked at every component of the project from exterior materials to structural options, and studied four different mechanical solutions as well.