The Saint Paul Condo Blog

The rumor mill has fired up some hot gossip!  I am hoping to confirm this tomorrow, but it sounds like West Side Flats might be the first casualty of the new buyers market.

West Side Flats has had a troubled life, when originally proposed it was a 12 story tower on the Southern banks of the Mississippi river on Wabasha Street.  The building height ran counter to the West Side Flats Master Plan (a long range comprehensive building and zoning plan) with the city.  The City wanted lower building heights on the opposite side of the River from Downtown.  Well once the developer finally was able to come up with a building plan, the market changed.

My guess is that the project will be revived at some point down the road, but the near future is not good.  I really hope the project does go forward because they tore down a cool looking building.  I believe it was a Coca-Cola bottling plant from the 40's.  I could be way off base on the age of the old building, but that was just what it looked like.

UPDATE (04/27/2007 3:51pm) It is official, the West Side Flats is officially dead.  The developer still owns the land, so at some point the development could be brought back to life.

UPDATE (04/28/2007 1:04pm) There was an article in the Pioneer Press this morning about the West Side Flats project.  The article states that the developer will re-unveil the project this summer.  A more mixed use, urban village concept.