A new blueprint for development
May 10, 2006
Laura Yuen, Pioneer Press, St. Paul
Mayor Coleman has a simple message for developers in the heart of St. Paul: Respect the community vision.
The prospect of a gleaming 40-story, glass-and-steel condominium tower in a height-sensitive city built with brick and old-world charm could have brought out the picketers.
Interactive map: Downtown development projects
To the surprise of St. Paul's newly sworn-in mayor, a band of downtown residents marched into his office a few months ago to tell him they endorsed the Penfield project — and insisted that he do so as well.
"I was floored," Chris Coleman said. "The Penfield to me is the classic example of when the community is brought into the discussion from the beginning and feels that they are part of that, then great things can happen."
The developers of Penfield, a $131 million project to go up on the site of the former St. Paul police and fire headquarters, had met with a community task force more than a dozen times and crafted 24 designs. Ultimately, they came up with a plan that pleased both Coleman and the downtown residents.
"I don't want it to sound like a love-fest, but these guys were open to hearing what people had to say," said Larry Englund, chairman of downtown's CapitolRiver Council and one of Coleman's visitors that day.
_____________________________________________________________
VOICES: Does it take a village to build a condominium complex? Here's what folks in the development business and community groups think about citizen involvement.
...Quote from Alan Arthur, president of Central Community Housing Trust, a nonprofit developer of affordable housing, "The basic idea is that we engage in some real way to gain input. Some people say, 'you just do that to get support,' So, OK. What's wrong with that? We always get good ideas. Isn't that the goal in the end."
_____________________________________________________________
The new mayor relishes telling this story, which he has fashioned into a powerful parable for developers who wish to do business in St. Paul. And it's revealing a change in style from his predecessors.
Former Mayors Randy Kelly and Norm Coleman courted aggressive growth and new housing, often launching developments on fast tracks that flustered community activists or caught them off guard.
Less than five months into his term, the new mayor has criticized projects that he believes have snubbed neighborhood-planning processes. The Bridges of St. Paul mega-proposal fits in nicely with his parable — as an example of how not to build a project.
And last month, he failed to give crucial support for a floodwall around Holman Field, calling its sheet-metal design out of bounds with design standards for the river corridor.
"We're no longer just going to allow anyone to make an independent judgment about what should happen in the city of St. Paul," said Chris Coleman, a former president of the Thomas-Dale District 7 Planning Council in Frogtown. "There has to be a community vision developed, and then we will proceed based on that vision."
What his philosophy bodes for development in the heart of St. Paul remains to be seen. District councils, environmentalists, preservationists and affordable-housing advocates say they see in Coleman a promise for renewed commitment to their interests.
But Coleman's approach will require some adjustments for developers and dealmakers. Business leaders excited by the rebirth of downtown say it can't afford to lose momentum now.
"The problem with waiting too long (is that) you have projects that get dragged out forever, the costs go up, the market changes, and then everyone's dissatisfied, and it's not fair to the developer," said Ellen Watters, a senior vice president with the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce.
"There has to be some kind of sense of urgency and a plan on how to move things appropriately," Watters said.
TWO APPROACHES
One way to make Coleman's A-list of projects is to respect his view of sequencing. Under the prodding of city leaders, The Penfield's lead developers, Alatus Partners, first won the support of the community task force. They then approached the city with a request for a $9.6 million public subsidy. The project is expected to receive the financing approval this summer, and only then will Alatus begin marketing the units to the public.
Contrast that with the Bridges, a controversial $1.5 billion development across the Mississippi River from downtown. Although developer Jerry Trooien needs some major assists from the city, including land condemnations and up to $110 million in tax-increment financing, Trooien chose to test his ideas in the marketplace — by taking reservations on about 130 condominiums — instead of first seeking buy-in from district councils or the City Council.
"Think about any other partnership when you're asking someone to be a very major participant financially," Coleman said. "You don't come in at the end and say, 'Oh, by the way, hand me a check for $110 million.' It's a troubling way to do a development."
Trooien is expected to meet with city officials today about his proposal. He said he has spent the past year fine-tuning his plans and trying to secure private financing. There was no way he would approach the city before he had determined that his project was feasible, he said.
"The (Kelly) administration we worked for was gladly cheering me on," Trooien said. "And in terms of process, they were saying specifically, 'Come on over when you have got it put together.' "
Part of the problem, said Watters, is that there is no policy for developers on how to put together billion-dollar deals and see their projects through.
"They are anxious for more clarity on the process," she said.
Coleman acknowledges that the city needs ground rules for tools like tax-increment financing, today's subsidy of choice for developers. He says the city seems to have drifted away from an expectation that city-financed projects set aside a fifth of their units for affordable housing.
His staff is working on new criteria that developers would abide by if they plan to seek TIF, such as low-income housing or "green" building technologies.
In the Penfield case, the community preferred to see affordable housing as part of the deal. But the developers satisfied their other demands: preserving the historic facade of the Public Safety Building and building pedestrian-friendly rows of town houses.
"Maybe they understood that when you get the community behind you, it may seem like it takes longer, but it's going to be more successful for everybody," Englund said.
BIG TESTS AHEAD
The Bridges isn't the only project on which Coleman's and Kelly's approaches have differed.
• Coleman put a stop to the city's mostly one-way courtship with Target Corp. over the Cleveland Circle site, where Kelly wanted to build a downtown store and condominiums. Coleman said he hopes to forge a vision soon for the city gateway that could lure more people to the nearby Science Museum of Minnesota, Minnesota History Center, the Ordway Center for Performing Arts and the St. Paul RiverCentre.
"I've yet to see a plan that I'm enamored with," he said. "You're not going to draw people in from other parts of the Twin Cities to go to a Target on that corner."
• The latest plans for the downtown airport's levee also failed to impress Coleman.
"We should never, ever, ever have gotten to the point where the council was being asked to approve a mile-and-a-half-long sheet-metal wall," he said.
Coleman said he would back a more tasteful design that respected the environment and the Mississippi's role as a public amenity.
• A Kelly-endorsed community initiative that proposed reshaping the old Gillette plant into housing and retail was a good start, Coleman said. But it's not one of Coleman's top priorities, and he thinks redevelopment is probably a few years away. Diamond Products, the latest firm to occupy the Lowertown site, is now trying to sell the 21 acres.
Many believe Coleman's biggest test will be juggling the wills of residents, businesses and social-equity groups as he pursues his No. 1 priority: a proposed light-rail transit line connecting St. Paul and Minneapolis.
The other behemoth? Redevelopment of the Ford Motor Co. plant, which will leave 122 acres of prime Highland Park property when it shuts down in 2008.
"At the end of the day, there's going to be opposition to anything that's proposed, and you're going to see leadership that just has to act," Coleman said.
| 