Developer United Properties has a new, shorter plan for its tower on the Nicollet Hotel Block in downtown Minneapolis.
The Bloomington-based developer, having entered the city entitlement process, is seeking approval for the $10.4-million land purchase of a block along Nicollet Mall just north of the Minneapolis Public Library. New public documents on Monday revealed the contract terms between the land seller, which is the City of Minneapolis, and United Properties, the real estate arm of the Pohlad Companies.
United Properties originally proposed a 36-story, mixed-use project of 300 apartments, 182 hotel rooms and a four-story building that will include amenities for the housing and lodging components as well as retail, commercial and public space.
Under the new plan, United Properties is asking for leeway to drop the tower's height to 30 stories if — at the time of construction — the apartment and hotel market is weakening. As of Monday, the plan is for about 33 stories and there would be more hotel rooms, about 300, and fewer apartments, around 150.
The site was the subject of an unusually high-profile competition among developers last year. The city selected United Properties, citing its higher sale price offer and development costs of $161 million, which Minneapolis officials said would bring more money into its coffers than competing proposals would. Katter said this estimate will change depending on the final plans, but said he believed that it will be around the same or perhaps even higher.
The first public meeting on the contract terms is scheduled for Tuesday with the community development and regulatory services committee.
If the various committees and the full City Council approve the sales terms, United Properties must close the deal by July 2017, or at the latest by January 2018 — a delay that would come with a $400,000 penalty fee. United Properties will also pay the city more than $1 million in a "good faith" deposit at the time of council approval.
"We are hoping there is a groundbreaking this year but, realistically, it will most likely be the first quarter of 2017," said Bill Katter, president and chief investment officer for United Properties.