Ramsey County has submitted a proposal to GREATER MSP and the Minnesota Department
of Employment and Economic Development (DEED)
offering Rice Creek Commons in Arden Hills and the Riverfront Properties site in
downtown Saint Paul as potential locations for Amazon.com Inc.’s second
headquarters. Both sites are publicly owned, shovel-ready and offer access to
vibrant communities, existing infrastructure, a diversity of housing,
well-educated workforce and stable business environment with a deeply
established retail sector.
“Both Rice Creek Commons and Riverfront Properties have served
as dynamic regional economic engines and both are now ripe for revitalized
development. The significant investments that Ramsey County has already made in
these sites to prepare them for future use make us ideally positioned to bring
thousands of jobs to the Twin Cities,” said Ramsey County Board of
Commissioners Chair Victoria Reinhardt. “We are eager to work with the Minnesota Department
of Employment and Economic Development and GREATER MSP to bring Amazon’s second
headquarters to Minnesota.”
Following is a summary of benefits that each location offers.
Rice Creek Commons (Arden Hills, Minnesota)
- 427 acres in a thriving suburban community that is home
to nearly 10,000 residents and large and small businesses.
- $30 million invested in the demolition and
remediation of the site to residential standards.
- Can easily and immediately accommodate Amazon’s
desired acreage and building square footage needs.
- Directly visible on I-35W and located 10 freeway
miles from the downtowns of Minneapolis and Saint Paul.
- Easily accessible due to nearly $200 million in current
and planned investments to nearby highway interchanges and $19 million
committed to building a new boulevard through the site.
- Envisioned mixed-use development maximizes the
potential of the site to ensure that Amazon is able to recruit and retain a
quality employment base.
- Environmentally responsible development,
including solar and net-zero energy residential neighborhoods, is a top
priority for the site.
Riverfront Properties (Saint Paul, Minnesota)
- Iconic and highly-visible downtown Saint Paul eight-acre site
located along the bluff overlooking the Mississippi River consisting of two parcels:
- The shovel-ready site of the former West buildings
and Ramsey County Jail with capacity for hundreds of thousands of square feet
of office space and an integral parking structure.
- The existing Ramsey County East Building, a nearly
400,000-square-foot office building accessible above and below the bluff and
connected to the West site on ground level.
- $17 million invested to deconstruct the West
buildings and jail and to build a concrete retaining wall along the bluff.
- Highly accessible via METRO Green Line light rail, bus transit, automobile, foot or bicycle.
- Downtown Saint Paul has seen a 3.3 percent growth in
private sector jobs and double-digit residential growth since 2013 buoyed by
significant public and private investment.
- Clean energy infrastructure in
downtown Saint Paul provided by adjacent District Energy.
- Positioned on the planned River
Balcony, an elevated pedestrian walkway overlooking the Mississippi River between
the Science Museum of Minnesota and Union Depot, providing scenic connections
to restaurants, offices, shops, green space and other activity centers.
- Located blocks away from available complementary downtown Saint Paul development
sites.
Ramsey County’s submissions to GREATER MSP and DEED are posted
at ricecreekcommons.com
and ramseyriverfrontproperties.com
respectively.
Contacts: Sara Thatcher, 952-221-5368
John Siqveland, 651-746-9250
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