2006-03-04

stp: Howard Hughes Grabs a Headline

The PiPress had a story today about the purely hypothetical Bridges development. Some of you might have seen the outdoor ads last fall touting the proposal. It hasn't gone anywhere yet, and isn't likely to in the future. Can anyone see a movie theater on the Saint Paul floodplain?

This guy Trooien is probably the wackiest of the Twin Cities wealthy real estate wackos -- a list that includes Kelly Doran, Zigi Wilf, and now Bill McGuire.

The developer bought a large portion of the 75-acre site in 1987 and has been talking about his ideas for it for more than a decade. He formally unveiled the Bridges plan in November 2003.

The Bridges would add nearly a half-million square feet of retail space, including a movie theater complex, restaurants and shops. In addition to more than 1,100 condominiums initially, it would include Mythica: The Center for Human Mythology and World Journey, a monument of sorts to the human experience.
[ . . . ]
Several calls to White Plains, N.Y.-based Westin Hotels & Resorts were not returned.


The last thing Saint Paul needs is another hotel. Is there anyone who doesn't think this is a snow job?

Plus:

I spotted a pretty artist's rendering of what the new (natural gas) High Bridge power plant will look like, and how beautiful Saint Paul's river valley will be without that giant smokestack.

On the other hand, won't we kind of miss the ugly thing?

3 comments:

MNObserver said...

We'll miss it about as much as we'll miss the tons of mercury. On the other hand, they say gas-fired turbine plants are loud, so there may be some issues on that front.

Xcel is in a bit of doo-doo with the locals because over the past decade they helped plant all those trees NSP donated, but when it came time to take them out and replant them, of the 14,000 trees removed, the nearby neoghborhood got..... 2.

Xcel has some fence mending to do with the West End on some other fronts, too.

Bill Lindeke said...

Where did all those trees go to?

MNObserver said...

Randy Kelly's east side.