The Saint Paul Condo Blog

OK, here's the latest from the rumor mill...

I've been hearing about this for awhile now, but the rumors of a hotel being added to the development look like that might be the option that saves the development.

The Penfield was designed with two separate cores, allowing the condos on one side and the hotels on the other.  I'm sure there would have to be some significant redesign to accomplish this, but if they want the Penfield to be built, I put my money on the hotel/condo mix. ***UPDATE - I've been told that this is an option for the development, but not the only solution, another option for the hotel (Now confirmed as a Hyatt) would be to have the hotel on the lower floors. ***

The other development add-on that has been talked about is the Lund’s grocery store.  The project has 6, million dollar townhomes that fronted Robert Street, that have yet to sell.  This seems the logical space in the development to place the grocery store, as Robert Street is mostly a commercial street from Downtown Saint Paul to Inver Grove Heights.

What does all this mean?

Sales were hurting and for the project to go forward in this market, you need to reduce the number of units the project has.  By adding a hotel, it will likely reduce the project total by half (150 from 300).  Also, adding a grocery store would remove  the biggest complaint I hear about why people don't like living in Downtown.

One thing still missing to move sales forward is the price point.  Upper bracket homes in Downtown are just not selling right now.  It's the $250,000 homes and under that are moving.

How much longer can they wait?

If they can't get the hotel/grocery store to work, I give them another 6 months before they pull the plug.  I just can't imagine them continuing to pay for a project that's not moving forward.