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Thursday, May 10, 2007

Building heights an issue with new river front developments

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posted by Bob at Thursday, May 10, 2007

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St. Paul / Building heights are a towering issue as city pursues riverfront development
BY LAURA YUEN
Pioneer Press
Article Last Updated: 05/09/2007 11:43:05 PM CDT


Upper Landing condominiums line the Mississippi River bank in St. Paul. (BRANDI JADE THOMAS, Pioneer Press)Gordon Price took one look at all the boxy condo buildings going up at St. Paul's Upper Landing. Then he winced.

Another casualty of the height wars, Price concluded.

"The worst thing that someone did was establish a height limit, and they got a very unfortunate result," said Price, an urban planning expert from Vancouver, British Columbia.

From Stillwater to San Francisco, the prospect of tall buildings has dominated debates about waterfront development.

In St. Paul, high-rise towers proposed for the Bridges of St. Paul project, for example, have provoked a crusade among opponents who want to protect the sweeping vistas of the Mississippi River Valley.

Some people say the scene exposes the city's history. The vantage points from Mounds Park or the Science Museum of Minnesota or the High Bridge tell the story of how steamboats used this wide turn to safely land, said Whitney Clark, who heads the advocacy group Friends of the Mississippi River. The organization successfully nominated the valley views as one of the state's most endangered historic places on this year's top 10 list by the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota.

"This is the spot where the Mississippi River grows up," Clark said. "It's something that I think we should be careful about changing."

Some urban planners say one way to kill an intimate experience with the river is to build a sprawling wall of squat buildings, like those in the Upper Landing project. That development was at one point to go as high as eight stories, but residents in Irvine Park protested, in part because they didn't want their views of the river obstructed.
"The neighborhood was not in the mood for height," city planner Lucy Thompson said.

The city's long-term plans called for a variety of building heights in Upper Landing - growing taller toward the High Bridge and away from the river, Thompson said. But the developer, Dallas-based Centex, made the call to flatten out the building heights, resulting in a less playful skyline, she said.

The result, some have argued, is a wall of structures that can wipe out views of the river bluffs - more so than a slender tower placed in the right spot.

Patrick Seeb, who heads the St. Paul Riverfront Corp., cautioned against making judgments about the Upper Landing development without the proper context. The idea of bringing people to live on the riverfront was at one point radical.

And before that, the polluted strip of land was "the Cadillac of dumping grounds," said Cecile Bedor, the city's planning and economic development director.

"When you think about what was there before housing, it really is an amazing turnaround," Bedor said.

If Upper Landing's goal was to blend in with the topography, the Bridges of St. Paul aims to achieve just the opposite. The proposed mega-project of shopping, housing and entertainment aims to bring a 30-floor hotel as well as a pair of slightly shorter condo towers onto the West Side river flats.

The prevailing wisdom in St. Paul does not allow for soaring towers directly across from downtown. Even that, though, isn't widely accepted by all.

"My personal opinion is we should be more accepting of strategically placed taller buildings," Thompson said, though she said she still thinks the Bridges towers are out of scale with the flats.

The city's "traditional neighborhood" zoning in the area calls for buildings no taller than five stories. In addition, a task force is pushing to reinforce such height restrictions along the most critical areas of the river valley.

Bridges developer Jerry Trooien has said it would be architecturally irresponsible not to go vertical along the water's edge.

Aesthetics is one motivation; economics is another. By building tall, developers can pay for the "public realm" that projects like the Bridges is trying to create, said Roland Aberg, the Bridges' main planner.

Through riverfront walkways, benches, fountains and plazas, the proposal would invite people to the water's edge. That's something that is almost impossible now because of the city's position atop a bluff, Aberg said.

"When you add more density and height, you get something in return," he said.

Still, a host of factors that have nothing to do with height are complicating the proposal. Trooien's expected request for $125 million in tax-increment financing, his lack of a street grid, and a so-called "privatization" of the riverfront have turned some city and community leaders into critics.

And maybe those issues - as well as design, building materials and connectivity - should take center stage in debate instead of height, Price said.

"The danger is that you could well end up with what you think is a compromise - with the worst of both," he said.

Downtown, Riverfront Projects Pile Up

1. Cleveland Circle: A parking ramp and bus layover facility opens in July. City officials are talking to a developer about building shops and restaurants after the 2008 Republican National Convention.

2. Xcel Energy plant: A plant fueled by natural gas opens next spring. Old coal plant and landmark smokestack will eventually be torn down.

3. Upper Landing: Workers are wrapping up the final two blocks of this massive housing complex, which also will include a fitness center and Caribou Coffee shop.

4. Chestnut Plaza: By fall, seating and a fountain will make this gathering space more comfortable. The city is planning also a boat landing that could accommodate water taxis for special events.

5. Old grain terminal: This relic will go from beast to beauty with a $9.5 million makeover starting this fall. The project includes an interpretive center and restaurant.

6. West Side Flats: Lackluster condo sales have delayed this upscale riverfront housing complex. The $64 million project would have been the first residential development on the flats in decades.

7. Ramsey County riverfront properties: Plans to turn the old jail site into condos collapsed. The county put 3,200 feet of riverfront land up for sale. Proposals likely would include hotel, office, retail and residential uses.

8. Palace Theatre: Mayor Chris Coleman's office has been playing matchmaker between the building's owner and music-club operators interested in the historic vaudeville haunt.

9. The Penfield: The housing slowdown has slowed plans for a $121 million condo tower. Developers haven't hit their target of selling about half the 300-plus units before they start digging.

10. Post office and Central Corridor: Ramsey County is negotiating with the U.S. Postal Service to buy 12 acres that will be vacated when mail operation move to Eagan, possibly in 2010. Plans call for converting the nearby Union Depot concourse into a transit hub. Meanwhile, preliminary engineering has begun on a light-rail transit line between St. Paul and Minneapolis. Officials are trying to shrink the costs of the $932 million project.

11. Farmers Market Flats: Buyers are snatching up condos that will top a new city-owned indoor farmers' market. More than half of the 48 moderately priced units were sold in less than six weeks.

12. The Bridges of St. Paul: This $1.5 billion project promising a Westin hotel, entertainment venues and luxury condos remains mired in controversy. Developer Jerry Trooien withdrew his zoning application last year and agreed to work with district councils on a new plan, but that coalition fell apart. Trooien says he'll soon resubmit his proposal to the city.

13. Holman Field: Plans to build a floodwall protecting the downtown airport were revived last year after airport operators hatched a new design that won the blessings of Mayor Chris Coleman and a split City Council. Excavation is complete and construction could begin by September.

14. Schmidt Brewery: Partnering with West Seventh Street neighbors, a father-and-son development team is aiming to turn the vacant complex and surrounding 15 acres into an urban village that could include housing, a boutique hotel, fitness center, grocery and possibly a charter school.

15. Ford Motor Co. site: The plant closes next year. A community task force is working on scenarios for redeveloping the 136 acres. All include a mix of housing, retail, industry and parkland. Ford hopes to sell the adjacent hydroelectric plant by the end of the year.

16. Victoria Park: Progress has been slow on this housing development planned on a former fuel tank farm. About a dozen model townhouses were completed last August but, so far, there are no official takers. Sholom Community Alliance will break ground any day on a new senior housing campus.

- Laura Yuen

Upper Landing apartments and condominiums line the Missis-sippi River near downtown St. Paul. The project illustrates the debate about building vertically. Critics say the development placed a wall of structures between the river and the bluffs.

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