AECOM's St. Paul riverfront plan wins favor.

Byline: Brian Johnson

With bold plans for apartments, offices and a hotel, Los Angeles-based AECOM has emerged as the front-runner to become the master developer of one of the most-watched redevelopment sites in the Twin Cities.

At a special workshop meeting of the Ramsey County Board on Tuesday, members of AECOM's Minneapolis office unveiled a downtown St. Paul riverfront plan that calls for up to 400,000 square feet of office space, up to 350 Class A apartment units, 150 condo units, 250 hotel rooms, roughly 20,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, and public spaces.

At full development, "The Saint Paul Riversedge" project would include four towers with a 1,500- to 1,800-stall parking garage embedded in the bluff, the development team said. The estimated cost range is $820 million to $900 million. But the second and third phases would be subject to market conditions.

The County Board didn't take official action on AECOM's plan, which was recommended by county staffers. But board members were upbeat about the plans, especially its vision of connecting to the Mississippi River one of the county's key goals for the site.

At the meeting, the board directed the staff to begin negotiations on an exclusive six-month agreement withAECOMto perform "due diligence" on the proposal to develop the site.

The 5-acre site at 50 W. Kellogg Blvd. once was the home of several county government buildings. Until the early 1990s, West Publishing occupied the site.

The county met with 10 interested groups in all, including AECOM. The other groups weren't revealed.

Finance & Commerce previously reported that two other teams submitted bids. That included the team of Minneapolis-based Sherman Associates and Bloomington-based Frauenshuh, which wanted to build a mix of offices, apartments, a hotel, retail, public spaces and parking; and the Prairie Island Indian Community, which proposed a 140-room TreasureIsland Hotel.

One thing that set the AECOM plan apart: a flashy public realm component, which features a paved public walkway extending from Kellogg Boulevard at the top of the river bluff to the edge of the river.

"This is beyond amazing as far as the connection to the river," County Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt said during the meeting.

Construction could begin as soon as 12 to 18 months after the due diligence period, said Brian Dusek, AECOM's managing principal for real estate development. The development team didn't specifically ask for any public...