St. Paul condemns, closes downtown Capital City Plaza parking ramp
The city of St. Paul has condemned the downtown Capital City Plaza parking ramp by the troubled Alliance Bank Center, shuttering another Madison Equities property and its skyway connection.
A notice of immediate condemnation was posted following an inspection on April 2. The notice orders all drivers and vehicles to vacate the premises.
The mayor's office publicly announced the condemnation and closure of the ramp at 50 Fourth St. in a statement on Monday, noting a lack of maintenance and long-term non-compliance with code enforcement 'threaten the public health and safety of guests and neighboring properties.'
Among areas of concern, city inspectors found blocked exits, exposed electrical circuits, inoperable equipment and water leaks. The city also noted that Madison Equities failed to routinely test its fire suppression systems, the structural integrity of the ramp and the water backflow prevention system, which separates contaminated water from clean water. The lack of testing, according to the city, poses a risk to the shared potable water supply for all nearby properties.
The closure of the skyway connection will begin at Fourth Street and end at the Press House at Fifth Street, according to the statement from the mayor's office. The intersecting skyway to the Ramsey County Sheriff's office on Cedar Street also will be closed. There are no businesses or direct street access routes within the two connections and residents of nearby towers will not be impacted, it reads.
St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter noted in the statement that Madison Equities, previously considered downtown's largest property owner, has lost or neglected a number of properties in recent months, and 'their chronic neglect has caused serious harm that will impact our city for years.'
The Capital City Plaza ramp is located near the Alliance Bank Center, which Madison Equities continues to own but stopped maintaining last month. Without a property owner paying for maintenance, utilities and security, all tenants have relocated and the city has stepped in to cover essential services and keep its skyway open weekdays.
Angie Wiese, director of the St. Paul Department of Safety and Inspections, said in the statement her department is working with 'impacted community groups to ensure our community remains safe and welcoming.'
Madison Equities and its lender has also been ordered to get the parking ramp up to code, according to the city.
St. Paul now oversees utilities, skyway access at Alliance Bank Center
Cue the FalconCam: Downtown peregrine falcons are starting to lay eggs
Downtown St. Paul: Alliance Bank Center now vacant
Folk rock trio Mumford and Sons will play St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center in October
Back-to-office order could be 'shot in the arm' for downtown St. Paul
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
St. Paul weighs consolidating some downtown offices at Osborn 370 building
The city of St. Paul plans to lease more than 10,000 square feet within the Osborn 370 building on Wabasha Street, covering the building's entire ninth floor, for eight years. What will that square footage be used for? Therein lies the question. The lease at 9 Fifth St. E., approved Wednesday by the St. Paul City Council, allows for flexible move-in dates and below-market rates, with the first 12 months rent-free. That gives the city some time to complete a 'space use' study with the help of real estate consultants, who will attempt to determine which city offices will make best use of the new floor and in what manner. It might become collaborative work space for the city to engage with private sector partners, or it may support departments with space shortages, such as the city attorney's office. It also may be used as upgraded space for staff committed to working downtown more than three days per week, said Bruce Engelbrekt, the city's real estate manager, addressing the city council on Wednesday. With many office staff on a hybrid work schedule, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter floated the idea last year of clearing out the downtown City Hall Annex building on Fourth Street and converting the property into residences, which remains a possibility. 'We're trying to think strategically about how to use our purchasing power and people power to help be part of the solution,' said Council President Rebecca Noecker. City offices are largely but not exclusively spread throughout the City Hall/Ramsey County Courthouse building at 15 West Kellogg Blvd. and the annex building directly across the street. The city's Department of Safety and Inspections works out of a building on Jackson Street, which is owned by Madison Equities, an embattled downtown property owner that has recently lost control of some of its buildings to foreclosure and receivership. The study likely will at least touch on library staff based at the downtown George Latimer Central Library. 'We have a question into (the consultants) whether the mayor's office and the city council offices should be part of the study, because of your need to be located in this building,' Engelbrekt said. 'We need to specifically look at those (offices) that have some space needs.' Council Member Cheniqua Johnson noted Osborn 370 has developed a positive reputation downtown, drawing notable tenants such as the St. Paul and Minnesota Foundation. The Osborn 370 floor is partially furnished, allowing 'minimal up-front investment to move and establish operations,' according to the council resolution approved Wednesday. St. Paul's Maxfield Elementary breaks ground on 'community schoolyard' Ex-teacher of Hmong College Prep Academy in St. Paul sentenced for criminal sexual conduct with student Four candidates file for Ward 4 seat on the St. Paul City Council Canadian wildfire smoke causes 'very unhealthy' conditions in American Midwest and reaches Europe 40 St. Paul street lights stripped of copper wiring, though reports are down overall
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Ground is broken for next phase projects at St. Paul's Highland Bridge
With a ceremonial toss of a shovel of dirt, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter joined developers with the Ryan Cos. along Ford Parkway this week to break ground on a long-stalled, $68 million phase of construction within Highland Bridge, which will include the first retail additions since Lunds and Byerlys relocated a nearby store there in September 2022. Highland Bridge, which is about 50% developed, was once the site of the Ford Motor Co.'s Twin Cities assembly plant, which closed in December 2011, leading into more than 13 years of planning, soil remediation and building construction. That construction has slowed, though not entirely stopped, in the era of high interest rates, softer urban housing demand and rent control, which the city of St. Paul permanently rolled back last month for new construction. Work on the five new additions — spanning four single-level retail buildings, a 97-unit mixed-use apartment building with ground-level retail, and a two-level parking structure — is expected to get underway in earnest this summer and continue into October or November 2026. Given the current state of interest rates, financing and urban housing demand, 'it is challenging right now to do market-rate, multi-family,' said Maureen Michalski, a senior vice president of development with the Minneapolis-based Ryan Cos., 'but we're committed to the site. Weidner Apartment Homes is committed to the site. We're willing to advance the site based on this being a legacy project for us.' One of the single-story structures to be erected closest to Lunds and Byerlys already has a tenant lined up — Tierra Encantada, a Spanish-immersion daycare that plans to make Highland Bridge its 10th Minnesota location. The three other single-story structures, which will front Ford Parkway, will be built on more of an 'if you build it, they will come' model, with hopes of attracting retail to one of the more affluent corners of the city. Together with the ground-level of the future mixed-use building, they'll total 35,000 square feet of retail, Michalski said. The 133-acre Highland Bridge development also houses a two-story medical office building anchored by M Health Fairview, though most of the other construction to date has been residential, and until now, hundreds of units of planned market-rate housing have been on pause for years. That pause is over, according to the Ryan Cos. 'We have a variety of actions taken at the (city) council level that helped,' Michalski said, noting recent changes to tax increment financing agreements and other site controls. 'We essentially looked at the existing redevelopment agreement and minimum assessment agreement, and made some reallocations and rebalancing there … basically changing some timing of things.' The latest buildings, to be developed by the Ryan Cos. and located between Cretin Avenue and Mount Curve Boulevard, will be bisected by a new pedestrian promenade that will emerge at an angle from a small plaza to be located near Lunds at Ford Parkway and Cretin Ave. The future promenade will extend to an existing plaza located near Marvella 2190, the senior independent living apartment complex at 2190 Hillcrest Ave. 'It's a very desirable location,' Michalski said. 'Marvella 2190, which just opened in the spring, was fully leased when it opened in March.' Roads and infrastructure along the far southern end of the site are being completed south of Montreal Avenue and east of Cretin Avenue. Throughout Highland Bridge, four parks have opened to the public. Michalski said Weidner Apartment Homes plans to begin work next year on a roughly 170-unit apartment building south of the site, toward Bohland and Cretin avenues, and Presbyterian Homes plans additional senior housing. Elsewhere within the 133-acre development, six of 20 single-family lots have been sold, Michalski said, and about 150 upscale Pulte rowhomes have been completed to date. Overall, Highland Bridge currently spans about 1,000 units of residential housing, much of it located within multi-family developments and senior apartments built close to Ford Parkway. Of that total, about 200 units would qualify as affordable housing, much of it assembled with the help of tax incentives known as tax increment financing, using market-rate development to subsidize the affordable units. The Lumin, affordable senior apartments developed by CommonBond Communities, and Project for Pride in Living's Restoring Waters, which caters to families that have experienced homelessness, were constructed with funding derived in part from the two market-rate Marvella senior housing projects. Restoring Waters is now the headquarters for Emma Norton Services. St. Paul: At Highland Bridge, Weidner Homes, Ryan Cos. win concessions St. Paul City Council ends rent control for housing built after 2004 St. Paul: Ryan Cos. plan for four one-story buildings along Ford Parkway inch closer to approval by default
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Yahoo
St. Paul walks back rent control
Renters and activists urged the St. Paul City Council not to exempt affordable housing from the city's rent control policy during a public hearing on Aug. 24, 2022. Photo by Max Nesterak/Minnesota Reformer. New — and new-ish — rental properties in St. Paul will no longer be subject to the city's 3% cap on yearly rent increases. The St. Paul City Council, at the behest of Mayor Melvin Carter, voted 4-3 Wednesday to permanently exempt new construction and rentals built after 2004 from the rent control ordinance, which voters approved by ballot measure in 2021. While increased interest rates and slower growth in rents reduced homebuilding across the country in recent years, local developers have pointed the finger at St. Paul's rent control ordinance as a major factor in their reluctance to build in the city. Since the council first implemented the ordinance in 2022, construction has dropped off a cliff in the city; In 2024, 80% fewer housing units were built in St. Paul compared to the previous three-year average, according to a MinnPost analysis. (In Minneapolis, voters gave the city council power to enact rent control in 2021, but the council has not passed a rent control ordinance. Minneapolis had an even steeper falloff in construction in 2024 than St. Paul.) St. Paul's rollback of the ordinance is a bad sign for rent control advocates in Minneapolis, who have pushed the council to implement rent stabilization in recent years. Prior to Wednesday's vote, the St. Paul City Council weakened the rent control ordinance in other ways: In 2022, the council permanently exempted affordable housing developments; gave new construction a 20-year exemption, and instituted 'vacancy decontrol,' which allows landlords to raise rents by more than 3% when a tenant moves out. Landlords could also request permission from the city to raise rents by more than 3% if their expenses rose significantly; St. Paul approved the vast majority of those requests. Minnesota is one of the only Midwestern states without a statewide ban on local rent control ordinances.
