What's the plan?

Pioneer Press Sun, 20 Apr 2008 22:33:19 -0600
Ramsey / Time to reassess Town Center's marketability

Ramsey officials are looking for a consultant to perform a market analysis of Ramsey Town Center â€" years after the project stalled. Most of the 320-acre development sits vacant and nearly half is in foreclosure. The unfinished project has some interested suitors, said City Administrator Kurt Ulrich, and the city wants to prepare for negotiations with developers by bringing in a consultant to determine the property's current market value. "We feel we're closer than ever to getting a real development proposal," he said. "We want to prepare ourselves as best we can for when the market picks up again." Town Center â€" with its planned 2,800 homes, shops, civic buildings and parks â€" was supposed to be a model of suburban downtown planning. But the project has suffered delays, debt, the death of a developer and questionable financing. Minnwest Corp., of Minnetonka, holds the $35 million mortgage on a large chunk of the project. It has scheduled and postponed foreclosure sales of the land for months.

[[keywords: LandUse;Metro;]]