Town Square (Saint Paul)
The Town Square Complex is a three-building mixed use development in Downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. The complex contains the 27-story Bremer Tower, the 25-story UBS Plaza, and the 16-story DoubleTree by Hilton St. Paul Downtown hotel.[1] The modernist building complex also contains two stories of commercial and retail space and is connected to several nearby buildings such as Wells Fargo Place via elevated skyway.
| Town Square Complex | |
|---|---|
| |
| General information | |
| Type | Commercial |
| Location | 445 Minnesota Street, Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States |
| Coordinates | 44°56′53″N 93°5′39″W |
| Completed | 1980 |
| Owner | Sentinel Property Management |
| Height | |
| Roof | 328 ft (100 m)/305 ft (93 m)/206 ft (63 m) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 27 25 16 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Skidmore, Owings & Merrill |
History
The Town Square complex was built in 1980 as a public-private partnership with the City of Saint Paul, originally containing two office towers, a hotel, two floors of retail anchored by a Donaldson's department store, and an indoor park on the third floor above the shopping mall.[2] The complex was originally slated to feature a terminal for a proposed people mover system that would have run from downtown Saint Paul to the Minnesota State Capitol.[3] An empty diagonal slat between the Bremer Tower and UBS Plaza towers marks where the terminal would have been.[4]
The enclosed park, which was operated and maintained by the city of Saint Paul, featured over 250 species of live plants and water features including a waterfall and a stream underneath a glass roof containing over 1,000 glass panels.[2] From 1989 to 2000, the indoor park featured Cafesjian's Carousel, a carousel built in 1914 by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company which the City of St. Paul acquired from the Minnesota State Fair; the carousel was eventually moved to Como Park.[5] In 2000, the indoor park was closed and sold to a private owner to be used as a wedding and event venue, however, the business was not able to open due to the space requiring over $2 million in repairs due to leaks; the City of Saint Paul was ordered to pay $200,000 in damages.[2] The indoor park has since remained vacant and is closed to the public.
References
- "Town Square". Emporis. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
- Yuen, Laura (May 30, 2007). "St. Paul / Town Square verdict called 'great' outcome". Minnesota Public Radio News. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
- Nelson, Tim (May 2, 2018). "The year downtown St. Paul died". Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
- Isaacs, Aaron (April 10, 2017). "The Long Road to Light Rail in Twin Cities". streets.mn. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
- "History of a Minnesota Treasure". Our Fair Carousel, Inc. Retrieved May 16, 2019.