urbanMSP

As much as I dislike whole and half block mega projects I do hope that the old Walgreens building would be demoed. I would hope that when they develop the 7th Street place side that they design it to enhance the malls appeal for a restaurant with design space and entries for out door dining.

It would be nice if they could develop two separate projects so there is not that Mega slab affect that makes thing Feel like the old Soviet style bland mammoth bunkers. If it is one project I'd like to see retail on the ground level with some retail or service on the skyway level and office on a level with the Hamm's building with a tower portion on the corner of Wabasha and 6th. That could be apartments or more office space.

What's so bad about the existing Walgreen's building? Seems like a solid prewar 3 story structure that would be pleasant and charming with a remodel.

What's so bad about the existing Walgreen's building? Seems like a solid prewar 3 story structure that would be pleasant and charming with a remodel.

I'll agree with you. Just Google Mapped and saw that the blank walls of the Walgreens is actually old windows that once reopened to 7th Place will help create life back into the building. I would like to see a restaurant go into the old Walgreens space, or at least part of it, and face out to 7th Place with outdoor seating and windows that look out to the great place that 7th Place can become. 7th place is a 6 on a scale of 10, with some minor upgrade and repositioning of some doors, this area could truly become a focus for Ecolab employees to do lunch or after work drinks. You have Wells Fargo near by and if you got a residential tower on the empty corner of Wabasha and 6th that would do wonders for making this area a great place for a small foodie district. With it's proximity to the Ordway it would make a great place for before or after show eat/drinks.

Given that the Traveler's tower was vacant for so long (which I had no idea about), and is not skyway-connected, I'd expect Ecolab's move to really liven up the 7th Place mall.

Given that the Traveler's tower was vacant for so long (which I had no idea about), and is not skyway-connected, I'd expect Ecolab's move to really liven up the 7th Place mall.

There are already Mertige and another bar/restaurant on the corners of 7th Place and St. Peter, In the old Palace Theater building, that would be the gateway to 7th Place. They are both doing well I believe. You are correct in 7th Place would be the corridor for the future Ecolab and some Traveler workers to get to the Macy's development if more stores and retail are made available. I would like to see 7th Place a better utilized pedestrian space for sure. Get another great restaurant that can draw a good lunch crowd and you will have a great space for sure.

http://www.minnpost.com/politics-policy ... wn-st-paul

Some new info about the Macy's site from Minnpost. The port authority is fronting the money to re-skin the wabasha and 6th street facades including adding windows, saying it will be a "dramatic change". They are also open to joint development of the rest of the building.

SPPA paying the $500K in closing costs too!

That certainly helps explain the "high" sale price of $2.5MM to Walgreens for 10% of the building, considering SPPA only paid $3MM-ish for the whole thing. After the closing costs and all the work SPPA is paying for, the purchase price is maybe closer to $1MM?

Wild Tymes and Great Water Brewing are the two gate way establishments on St. Peter for 7th Place. There was talk of rehabbing the old Palace Theater which would sure help the area also.

Reading through that Business Journal article, it does seem somewhat ironic to me that the intended purpose of the original World Trade Center (Wells Fargo Place) seems to be shifting to the old Dayton's/Marshall field's/Macy's building instead.

There are two restaurants located within the building -- the former River Room restaurant space and the former Iron Horse restaurant space -- not to mention the Field's Marketplace. I always wondered whatever happened to the Iron Horse space, as I believe it was located on a floor that was closed off in the 2003 renovation. I came across some sort of incident report a few years back saying that the Iron Horse space needed some sort of emergency repairs, so it conceivably is still there.

Don't think I posted this news here, sorry. Wild owner Craig Leipold talks about reinvesting this years profits into the team. Talks about upgrading the TV's and seats at the Xcel as well as dropping some info on their plans for this site:

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/b ... tml?page=2

"Leipold said talks are ongoing with the St. Paul Port Authority over a practice facility at the Macy's building in downtown St. Paul.The Wild want to build an ice rink on the roof of the building that would be enclosed, Leipold said. In the basement there would be locker rooms, a lounge, a workout room and a medical room."The build-out they are talking about doing is something that would be pretty iconic for downtown and I think everyone in the downtown area would be pretty proud of it," Leipold said."

It seems kind of odd that you'd have a rooftop rink and the locker rooms all the way in the basement. Is the team going to take an elevator?

That did strike me as a bit odd as well, but I guess the economics of it may make sense. The practice rink needs to be on the roof, because that's the only spot where you'll get the column free space that a rink requires, and the locker rooms don't need access to windows, street frontage, etc., so that otherwise useless space in the basement now can be rented for some value.

You have two elevator banks as it is. One can be made private for the Wild!

It would have to have a separated elevator for the players. If you have not been around hockey players or their equipment after a game or practice, they smell horrible!

Repeat, there are two separate elevator banks on two different ends of the building from Dayton's time.

'News coming soon on St. Paul rooftop rink, Minnesota Wild owner says'

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/b ... ctice.html

The PiPress has a source confirming that the first tenant here will be Walgreens. Final approval probably won't happen until August, though. The article says that the new space is about 5x the size of the current Walgreens across the street (25,000 feet vs 5,000).

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_ ... s-building

The PiPress has a source confirming that the first tenant here will be Walgreens. Final approval probably won't happen until August, though. The article says that the new space is about 5x the size of the current Walgreens across the street (25,000 feet vs 5,000).

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_ ... s-building

So this Walgreens will be bigger than the Gaviidea Walgreens (25,000 vs 23,000 sq/ft)?

http://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/06/24 ... nt-st-paul

MPR went digging and found renderings of the most recent and maybe still alive proposal for a practice facility and Walgreens

I really like this. I wonder if the front is supposed to be Cedar? Or 6th?