Ford has been working with partners on revamping the former location of a Ford plant in St. Paul, Minnesota. Last month we talked about the site having an open house scheduled to go over details of the proposed residential and business property to be built on the old Ford plant site. The open house has come and gone and the St. Paul City Council is now set to vote next week on a standard for the site’s public spaces and the look of the housing and offices on the former Ford plant site.
The design standards are for how the public will interact with the site and for how people will move through the site and how the buildings, townhouses, apartments, and office complexes will look from the street level. These things were all the subject of the public hearing held this week and are up for a vote next week by the City Council.
It’s worth noting that while the public open house and meeting were open to the public, there was not a single person from the public at the meeting. The only one who got up to speak at the public hearing was Tony Barranco, Ryan’s SVP of development. Ryan is the company overseeing the development of the former Ford plant.
Despite no one from the public showing up to the meeting, city planner Mike Richardson said that doesn’t mean the public isn’t interested. The site has been the focus of years of discussions and months of intensive meetings, and the public has weighed in on what the 122-acre site should look like. The main goals were to make the site pedestrian-friendly and create a unique “sense of place” according to Richardson.
He said that the vote covers the open spaces, building faces, and all the spaces in between. Ryan intends to build more than 3,800 units of housing, including senior housing, 35 large single-family homes along Mississippi River Blvd. and more than 760 units of affordable housing throughout.
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Source: Startribune
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