Dan Hunt, president of the self-named company, tells GlobeSt.com that the high-rise residential building, which was to offer 24-hour, white-glove entry attendant service, terraced homes and a heated, multi-story garage, was thought up in late 2005. "However, the condo market has cooled significantly," he says. "We had purchase agreements for 70 of the condos [including three of the $3.6 million penthouse units], but we never got above 70."

Now, his firm has partnered with Opus Corp. to build a tower with roughly 50 floors. The complex will have 500,000 sf of office space, a 200-room hotel and 100 condos, with four floors of underground parking, Hunt says. The Nicollet name remains, but it could change, he says. "The schematics of the building have been done, and the office brokers are now out talking to prospective tenants about the space. The next step is to get letters of intent, and finalize the drawings."

He says he's not worried about finding office users, that the market is substantially better than it was a couple years ago, and the fact that the property is right across from the Target Corp. headquarters. "There's no other plans on the drawing board for this much space in the area, and people will want to be close to Target, or in a newer building," Hunt says.