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The link between large public expenditures and development is always a hot topic in any city.  In Saint Paul, the proposed Bridges development has brought many of the same issues back into the popular discussion.  Is this a handout, or an investment?  Is this a bridge to the future or simply a bridge too far?

I happen to believe that the best way to look at this, and any similar project, is by examining the past and learning from the mistakes made before.  That’s why I want to acquaint everyone with some observations done by students of Professor George Latimer at Macalaster University.  Latimer was Mayor of Saint Paul when the controversial (and ultimately doomed) project Galtier Plaza was pushed through.

In their paper, "Galtier Plaza:  A Case Study" Cara Goff and Eliot Brown conclude their thorough analysis with some interesting conclusions:

" … it is important to realize that the failure of Galtier likely had a large impact on the development of downtown St. Paul. The project was a highly visible one in the Twin Cities – both cities’ newspapers featured news on the project for years, especially in its toughest times. When the project failed, it likely scared away a good deal of development, leaving the city once again struggling to bring in significant new construction.

Perhaps the lesson of this all is that while risk is essential for development, cities should exercise some caution with a highly visible, defining project."

How could this have happened?  The paper is quite thorough, and examines all of the possibilities.  Why did Galtier fail?  The authors have an answer:

"Galtier Plaza did not fail for one reason, but for a combination of factors that led to the real estate development equivalent of the perfect storm. Several of these factors were circumstantial in nature, however problems with the project’s implementation clearly hindered its success. Galtier Plaza faced challenges from day one due to the national trend of downtown exodus, the fact that St. Paul is not ‘destination,’ declining national trends for festival markets, its location in Lowertown instead of downtown, its immense scale, its lack of an anchor tenant, the mismatch between the project and the city of St. Paul, an oversaturated condominium market, as well as unfortunate timing. However, not all the problems were circumstantial, as Galtier also suffered from implementation problems such as the psychological effect of a failed project, a change in national tax laws, its premature opening, costly delays, as well as huge cost overruns."

Do any of these sound familiar to the backers of the Bridges project?  For example, the only   anchor I have heard of is the Westin Hotel, which may be a bit more than what Galtier had but is still not quite a regional draw.  And we can always hope the self-inflicted problems will not be there.

What has changed, of course, is the scale.  While Galtier was projected to cost $90M in 1981 (which is $195M in 2006 dollars), the Bridges project is estimated at $1500M, a factor of seven bigger.  Obviously, the backers of the Bridges project must believe that the only problem Galtier had was that it simply wasn’t big enough.  Assuming, of course, that they are reading the history of development in Saint Paul.

[Airye condos]