(rshsdepot) St. Paul, MN

[Bernie Wagenblast <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

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Auction is next for Union Depot;
St. Paul landmark faces foreclosure sale

Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)...06/05/2002

Kevin Duchschere; Staff Writer

St. Paul's Union Depot, the centerpiece of Mayor Randy Kelly's plans to make
the city a regional transportation hub, has been foreclosed on and will be
sold to the highest bidder at a public auction next month.

Although the 82-year-old downtown landmark is not in jeopardy of being razed
_ it's on the National Register of Historic Places and sits squarely in the
middle of the protected Lowertown district _ its future as a transit center
may depend on how willing the buyer is to work with public officials.


City officials won't say whether they plan to bid, although they
unsuccessfully sought $ 3 million in bonding from the Legislature this year
to help leverage an offer.



"Lowertown already has a lot going for it, but this could be a tremendous
jump start," said Martha Fuller, Kelly's special projects aide, who oversees
transportation issues.


But although the Union Depot remains Kelly's preference for a transit hub,
Fuller said a number of other downtown sites are being considered. A Ramsey
County task force will hear about them later this month and could make a
recommendation early next year, said Kathy DeSpiegelaere, director of the
Ramsey County Regional Railroad Authority.


On the block is the depot headhouse, the large, impressive waiting room on
E. 4th Street through which generations of Minnesotans walked to and from
the train. The concourse in the rear belongs to the U.S. Postal Service and
is not involved in the sale, which is scheduled for 10 a.m. July 12 at the
Ramsey County Sheriff's Office in downtown St. Paul.


The future of the depot as a hub for transit and mixed-use development
depends, in part, on the Postal Service. Moving its facilities has been a
logistical and expensive stumbling block to development plans.


The depot has had a checkered financial history since its last train pulled
away in 1971.


Developers Brian Nelson and James Masterman renovated the property for $ 6.7
million in 1983 and dubbed it Union Depot Place. But tenants shut down for
lack of business, and by the late 1980s the developers and trustees were
fighting for control of the property in federal bankruptcy court. Nelson and
Masterman bought it back from the bank after foreclosure in the early 1990s.


In April 2000 their development group, La Tete Maison, obtained a $ 4.5
million construction loan from National City Bank of Minneapolis. But before
long the group defaulted on the loan and real-estate taxes, and National
City Bank _ now Marshall & Ilsley Bank _ began foreclosure proceedings in
February 2001.


Christopher Dietzen, La Tete's attorney, said his clients couldn't pay their
bills because the bank reneged on its promise to advance money for tenant
improvements. Bank officials deny making such a promise.


La Tete filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December, but Ramsey County
District Judge Judith Tilsen granted foreclosure last month and authorized
the sheriff's sale.

Kevin Duchschere is at kduchschere_@_startribune.com.


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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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