St. Paul grants developer status to Opus/Greco for Seven Corners Gateway

St. Paul Housing and Redevelopment Authority has granted two Minneapolis-based development firms, Opus and Greco, preliminary developer status on the Seven Corners Gateway site.

Opus Development Co. and Greco Development have been greenlighted to flesh out its plans for the site, which is currently used as a surface parking lot.

HRA owns the highly visible 2.4-acre parcel that sits across 7th Street from Xcel Energy Center and has established an 18-month timeline with benchmarks for Opus and Greco. If the developers reach all of them by April 2016, which the city expects, the two parties will negotiate for final developer status.

Opus and Greco's preliminary proposal beat out M.A. Mortenson Co. with its mixed-use plan.

While the details will come to light over the next year and a half, Opus and Greco are proposing a hotel, luxury apartments and retail space in the building. But the proposal suggests that the public plaza will be its centerpiece, opening up toward the arena.