The Saint Paul Condo Blog

I've decided to handle news and rumors coming from the Penfield project just a little bit different than most development news and reports.  Since the developers are pretty tight-lipped as of late, some of the info I am receiving is a bit "off-the-cuff"

So it seems only fitting to style it in the Restaurant Rumors Report posts.

Here’s my preamble that will accompany all future Rumor Reports posts.

Information contained in this post is gathered from multiple sources, some of whom wish to remain anonymous.  At times, I have to bridge the gap of information and make assumptions to make the post work.  I do my best to fact check, but remember I am a realtor not a reporter. 

With that, let the gossip begin.

Like I said above, with the Penfield being mum on the development, I decided to do some digging.  I found some gems in the trash of the Met Council building (kidding, kidding – meeting minutes online).  The Community Development Committee has awarded a Livable Communities Demonstration Account (LCDA) grant in the amount of $610,000.  The award will now go before the full board of Met Council for approval.  From what I understand, it’s got a good chance of getting approved this month.

On another front, after planting a bug at the Mayor’s office (you know that’s a joke too, right?), I hear the developers and the Minnesota Historic Preservation Commission are close to finishing a Mitigation Agreement (MA) over the partial removal of the old Public Safety Building.   Once the MA is finalized, it will allow the developers to submit their project to HUD for Mortgage Insurance approval.  That seems to be the golden ticket, as really what bank wants to loan millions of dollars to a real estate development right now?  This way, you-me-and every other tax payer is taking the risk on the development and not the bank issuing the loan (makes sense right?).  If everything shakes out like planned, the project should be shovel ready by Summer 2010.

And finally, it’s my understanding that the Lund’s as part of the development is still alive and well.  Again, from what I understand, the contract between Lund’s and the Developer has a end of year deadline for the Penfield to hand over the raw space to Lund’s no later than the end of the year, 2011.  Judging my the above timeline it looks tight when you consider a Summer start time, but Lund’s will be doing the build-out, and not the developers.  So maybe construction of the tower will be going on while the Lund’s gets built out.

Hopefully there will be an official statement from the Developers soon, until then I keep my 80's Spy Tech kit handy.