The site offers a view of the Mississippi River. In March, Ryan's proposal beat out a $126-million, 245-unit housing development project proposed by locally based NewCorp Development that won the initial favor of the commissioners in a non-binding vote. Coming in third was a smaller project proposed by Minneapolis-based developers Michael Lander and George Sherman.
The original deal had to be renegotiated, although the final agreement isn't too much different from the original. The group will buy the property from the county for $3.4 million.
The plan calls for replacing the jail with housing facing the river below Kellogg Boulevard and leasing out the street level of the former West Publishing headquarters to restaurants and retailers. Demolition of the jail is expected to occur in the summer of 2005.
The original proposal also called for a 10-story housing tower at St. Peter Street and Kellogg. That remains an option, but is no longer guaranteed. The developers, who formed the Riverbluff Partners LLC to take on the project, face a nearly $1.2-million penalty if they don't also buy the easternmost portion of the former West Publishing headquarters, also owned by the county.
Developers hope to convince the City of St. Paul to offer some tax breaks that would make the whole project more attractive and pay for access to the Mississippi River and improvements to the old West offices, among other amenities. But public officials had hoped to return the property to the tax rolls, so tax increment financing would run counter to that.
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