About

The City has approved a master plan that calls for rezoning most of the acreage for medium- to high-density residential development, as well as a limited number of commercial buildings.

The 122-acre parcel has been cleared of structures and is slated for redevelopment into housing, commerce and open space by the Minneapolis-based Ryan Company.

https://www.fordsitestpaul.com/

https://www.stpaul.gov/departments/planning-economic-development/planning/ford-sitehighland-bridge 

https://www.ryancompanies.com/project/highland-bridge-ford-site-redevelopment 

News:

• St. Paul asks public to help name four Highland Bridge parks (2/22/2021)

• First residential lots to hit market at former Ford plant site start at $475,000 (2/5/2021) 

• St. Paul home lots overlooking river go on sale at Highland Bridge (2/4/2021) 

• Project for Pride in Living closes on future affordable housing land at St. Paul’s Ford site (5/5/2020) 

• Comment period to open on Ford site review. Open house scheduled. (8/12/2019) 

• Ryan Co. wins over neighbors with scaled back plan for ford site (2/10/2019) 

• Plans for Redevelopment of St. Paul Ford Site Unveiled (10/10/2018) 

• Deadline given to developers for Ford site proposals (2/12/2018) 

• Just listed: Marketing starts for a developer of St. Paul Ford site (1/4/2018) 

• St. Paul’s former Ford plant site hits the market (12/19/2018) 

• Planning Commission backs city’s vision for old Ford campus, new neighborhood  (7/28/2017)

The 110 acre property – just 25 acres smaller than the Ford site. The development plan includes multi-unit housing, restaurants, retail, trails and a community center.

Timeline

Hillcrest Master Plan

News:

• Sustainable: Carbon-neutral plan for Hillcrest development (August 31, 2020)

• Four approaches come into focus for redeveloping St. Paul’s Hillcrest site (August 10 2020)

• St. Paul seeks advisory committee members for Hillcrest site (August 13, 2019) 

• Old Hillcrest Golf Club could become largest redevelopment project on St. Paul's east side in decades (June 16, 2019) 

• St. Paul City Council supports Hillcrest purchase and redevelopment by Port Authority (June 12, 2019) 

• St. Paul Port Authority to buy former golf course on East Side (June 11, 2019) 

• Development of shuttered golf course could transform St. Paul neighborhood (February 25, 2018) 

• St. Paul Port Authority shows preliminary interest in Hillcrest Golf Course (December 3, 2018)

• Hillcrest Golf Club in St. Paul will close; private development likely (July 27 2017)

The road runs through a ravine once belonging to John Ayd, a German settler who operated a grist mill at a nearby pond in the mid-1860s. By the late 1870s, the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad had bought a right of way and built the “Short Line” through the ravine. While there was talk of building parks in the area even then, it remained exclusively a rail route for decades.

By the early 1960s, the Short Line road was built with the idea of linking I-35E in the south with I-94 to the north. Neighborhood opposition to the completion of I-35E delayed that project, however, and stymied the connection. Between 1965 and 1992, the road carried very little traffic. The city built a ramp connecting Short Line Road to I-35E, but it was unused. In 1993, the city changed the street’s name to Ayd Mill Road.

https://www.stpaul.gov/departments/public-works/projects/ayd-mill-road

News Articles:

• Transformative Ayd Mill Trail Opens in Saint Paul (November 17, 2020)

• Ayd Mill Road reopens, giving smooth ride and optimism (November 7, 2020)

• Ayd Mill Road: A Historic Earth Day Win (April 29, 2020)

• St. Paul's Ayd Mill Road will get a greenway in 2020 (4-22-2020) 

• St. Paul City Council votes 4 to 3 to approve three-lane Ayd Mill Road (4-22-2020) 

• Carter pitches green option for crumbling Ayd Mill Road (8-26-2019)

Riverfront Properties is a nearly five-acre site located along the bluff overlooking the Mississippi River in downtown Saint Paul. In June 2015, Ramsey County began deconstruction of the former Adult Detention Center and West buildings located on the iconic site to prepare it for sale and private development.

A Request for Development Interest was issued on Nov. 9, 2017. On Nov. 20, 2018, the County Board directed staff to begin negotiations on an exclusive six-month agreement with AECOM to perform due diligence on a proposal to develop the Riverfront Properties site.

"The new plans from developer AECOM include four proposed buildings, as well as a cover over Shepard Road and the railroad line along the river, to directly connect downtown to the river upstream from the Wabasha Street bridge.

The first construction phase includes two residential towers, including a class A apartment tower with 250 to 250 apartments, a 150- to 250-room boutique hotel and condominium tower with 80 to 150 units to be finished in 2021. A handout put the possible cost between $200 and $280 million.

The second and third phases call for two office and commercial towers, the first about 250,000 to 400,000 square feet to be completed about 2023. That would have a potential value between $150 and $220 million. The other would be 600,000- to 1-million-square-foot tower, to be determined as the project develops and worth between $270 and $400 million. That has a projected completion in 2026."

Riversedge: https://www.ramseycounty.us/your-government/projects-initiatives/riversedge

News:

• Riversedge, bus and streetcar routes top list of Ramsey County’s legislative priorities for 2021 (February 8, 2021)
• Downtown St. Paul riverfront project presented in detail — along with $80 million subsidy request (7/25/2019)
• Developers detail $788 million plan for St. Paul riverfront (7/24/2019) 
• AECOM looks to move dirt on St. Paul’s Riversedge in 2020 (7/24/2019) 
• Developer's plan for riverfront would change St. Paul skyline (11/20/2018) 
• Ramsey County Riverfront Property Recommendation of Project Vision and Master Developer
• Ramsey County weighing three developers for riverfront property (rendering) (9/18/2018)