Island Station

[aguaman]

http://www.twincities.com/stpaul/ci_217 ... ed-at-city

After 37 years gathering dust and graffiti, the abandoned Island Station power plant in St. Paul might have to wait months, if not years, for a new direction in life. City officials are balking at a developer's plans to tear it down and start anew.

The potential new owners have made an offer for the plant on the Mississippi River near downtown, but the city council has thrown a wrench in the purchase -- with what council members are calling the best of intentions.

The developers have not disclosed the agreed-upon purchase price, but the massive complex went on the market for $6 million, said Tim Prinsen, a senior vice president with Colliers International, a real estate brokerage involved in the pending sale. The presumptive owners maintain they've lined up a number of potential commercial tenants and they're ready to tear down the station and build.

Rather than see the site change hands immediately, however, city officials plan to commission a study of the long-defunct power station's historic significance. The goal is to preserve at least part of the building, which stands along Randolph Avenue a few blocks from the Schmidt Brewery and West Seventh Street.

On Wednesday, Oct. 10, the city council voted to impose a one-year moratorium on demolition and new development around the station, which was in operation from 1926 to 1975.

Unless the moratorium is lifted, the sale is stalled.

[more]

[editcostarica]

I think it would be useful to look to the Tate Modern for inspiration in this case.

[Wedgeguy]

I think it would be useful to look to the Tate Modern for inspiration in this case.

Lets just look up the upper the Mississippi River to the Grain Belt brewery. There is a great idea for rehab. This would be a great place to web startups, ad agencies, software companies, and out of the box companies that want a "Not your typical" work place..

[dingo]

On the thread of the St Paul river plan I saw the mention of Island Station and ran across this website.

http://islandstation.com/index.html

From the design of the website I cant tell if it is a failed project or if it is currently active? It looks like half of the units are sold?

[Wedgeguy]

If my memory serves me right. That is from the original attempt to create a marina and condos back about 2006-07 before the condo bubble went bust.

[LRV Op Dude]

St. Paul: Island Station historic designation efforts go before planning commission Friday

[maxbaby]

Bye Bye Baby.
http://www.mprnews.org/story/2014/03/10 ... on?from=hp

[lordmoke]

Ugh. I would go so far as to say that this is MSP's greatest architectural loss so far this decade. Or even since the millennium, perhaps. (We've been better at not blasting everything to rubble lately. Are there any other significant losses I'm forgetting about?)

[alleycat]

It's sad when St. Paul caves in to the Demoapolis mentality. They usually seem so much wiser across the river.

[MNdible]

It's sad when St. Paul caves in to the Demoapolis mentality. They usually seem so much wiser across the river.

Pretty sure that's a mistaken impression caused by the fact that St. Paul had older buildings to start with and less development pressure. They've certainly torn down an awful lot of old buildings.

[alleycat]

It's sad when St. Paul caves in to the Demoapolis mentality. They usually seem so much wiser across the river.

Pretty sure that's a mistaken impression caused by the fact that St. Paul had older buildings to start with and less development pressure. They've certainly torn down an awful lot of old buildings.

Surface parking lots that make up the periphery of downtown Minneapolis did not happen because of development pressure alone. They happened because of urban renewal policies set in place during the Humphrey mayoral administration. Auto-centric development patterns in both cities led to many razed buildings, but Minneapolis's set of policies (and market forces) were vastly different.

[MNdible]

Sorry for the thread diversion, but where exactly is St. Paul's bowery that they didn't tear down? The two cities' development and redevelopment patterns were very different, but I really don't see a lot of evidence that St. Paul deliberately chose to save historical buildings in a way that Minneapolis did not.

[mulad]

St. Paul has torn down a lot of stuff, though it's probably centered more around the capitol rather than downtown St. Paul, so it's a bit less obvious. The downtown area is more obvously compact, since I-94, I-35E, and US-52 encircle it much more tightly than the comparable highways around downtown Minneapolis. In the cores of both downtowns, it has been more common for old buildings to be torn down and immediately replaced with another structure, but surrounding areas have still tended to be replaced with parking lots or lower-density development than what existed previously.

The Historic Aerials site is an interesting tool for discovering what has changed over time, though it's a bit slow...

http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials. ... &year=1947

[mattaudio]

I hear this mulad guy also created an amazing map of what was torn down during urban renewal. http://hizeph400.blogspot.com/2011/12/r ... r-lrt.html

[alleycat]

I hear this mulad guy also created an amazing map of what was torn down during urban renewal. http://hizeph400.blogspot.com/2011/12/r ... r-lrt.html

I think that map validates MNdible's point. I concede that a lot of St. Paul was demoed also.

[at40man]

The two cities have both torn down their fair share of buildings. But to reiterate a point made by Twin Cities architectural critic Larry Millett, St Paul has deliberately chosen to save more architecturally significant buildings... and where this is visible is in comparing the downtown areas.

[Azel]

Somethings about to crop up with the Island Station. The owner was scheduled to be heard at a Site Plan Review Committee meeting Sept. 30th to discuss redevelopment plans. If you were there, or live nearby, or know someone in the neighborhood, see what you can find out.

[bus14]

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost. ... count=3003

"In the latest Highland Villager some details regarding the former Island Station site have been revealed. Three new buildings totaling $80 million in development. No subsidies being asked for. A total of 350 market rate apartments and a new office building. A 12-story mixed use building is proposed. A second apartment building would be built near it to the north. Two levels of parking in the tallest building. A two story office building is planned, the National Park Service is being eyed as one of the tenants.

The developer plans to file applications within six weeks. "