West St. Paul to consider Oppidan apartments.

Byline: William Morris

When your city is only about 5 square miles, you have to make the land you have count.

West St. Paul is eager to get part of the former city-owned Thompson Oaks golf course under development and on the tax rolls. To do that, it has turned to Excelsior-based Oppidan, which has a development agreement for a 5.5-acre site on the west side of the Thompson Oaks property to build a 153-unit market-rate apartment building.

Oppidan's proposal, which does not yet have a name, goes before the city Planning Commission on Oct. 15. The company was drawn by the current and future amenities planned near the property, Executive Vice President Paul Tucci said in an interview.

"The amenity that is going to happen between the city and county with the River to River trail extension through the golf course site just made it appealing to us," Tucci said.

Also coming soon nearby: a new grocery store. Farther west on the same block is the former YMCA, which was sold in April to Hy-Vee. The company plans to build a 68,400-square-foot store on the site.

West St. Paul closed down the nine-hole golf course, which lost between $50,000 and $70,000 a year, in 2018, 22 years after it opened. Community and Economic Development Director Jim Hartshorn said the course was a "good amenity" for the community but was out of step with the times.

"It's hard to find millennials who golf these days," Hartshorn said. "It was time to repurpose it."

Part of the former golf course is considered wetlands, but Hartshorn said the city hopes an additional six or seven acres will prove suitable for development. Oppidan has had conversations about developing a second phase there, but has not committed to any follow-up plans, Tucci said.

Oppidan's project will have...