Among the tenants of the building likely will be nearby Regions Hospital, owned by HealthPartners, and Gillette Children's Hospital, which serves children with disabilities. HealthPartners' Joe Dangor says his company anticipates leasing two of the three floors for various specialty services, although the specific uses have not yet been determined.

"Moving various functions off their campus to Westminster allows for expansion of hospital beds on their campus," says William Morin, the Port development officer. Another attraction for the Port and the City of St. Paul is that the project would generate real estate taxes about two to three times larger than a light industrial use of the site would have generated, he adds.

The building, which is expected to be ready for occupancy in the spring 2006, will be owned by a joint venture between the Port and Frauenshuh. There is no price tag on the project yet, although the Port's contribution of land has an estimated appraised value of nearly $2.7 million and Frauenshuh will make a cash contribution equal to that, according to Port documents.