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Record of Proceedings

Ramsey County Board Workshop: RiversEdge and Rice Creek Commons Updates – May 26, 2026

Board of Commissioners & Authorities — Tuesday, May 26, 2026
BodyRamsey County, Minnesota
SessionBoard of Commissioners & Authorities
DateTuesday, May 26, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
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0:03

All right.

0:04

Well, welcome everyone.

0:05

Welcome to Ramsey County Board Workshop.

0:08

Today's workshop is titled Community and Economic Development Meeting Workshops.

0:14

We could focus on River's edge and right street comments.

0:19

A quick courtesy reminder that this board workshop is recorded and it is live streamed on Zoom webinar.

0:27

There will be no votes taken during this workshop.

0:30

So let's start with introductions of commissioners and presenters around the table, and then the rest of the room.

0:44

Mary Joe McGuire, Commissioner District 2.

0:46

My Tang Chan, Commissioner District 6.

0:51

Kelly Miller, Commissioner District 7.

0:53

Josh Olson, Community Economic Development.

0:55

Claudia Clay Camera Community and Economic Development.

0:58

Carrie Collins, Tippity County Manager, Economic Growth and Community Investment.

1:02

Lynn Becker County Manager.

1:04

Clemens Baron.

1:06

John Mass Powell will deputy director of public works.

1:12

Mike Rogers, Public Works.

1:18

Christy Cost any of this topic?

1:22

How it's a chief operating offset?

1:24

Building government relations.

1:29

Ellen Larson, Pop Land Laties from Lance County.

1:33

It's also at the country manager helping the work, so to speak.

1:50

Your top box, yeah.

1:52

All right, so thank you.

1:53

So there's workshop follows the launch of Building Stronger Together to provide updates on two of Ramsey County's major development projects.

2:05

These two projects are key components to the county goal of building a dynamic downtown and selling county owned land.

2:13

Through these focus meeting workshops, the county board will hear how the Building Strong Together strategy is being activated and implemented through the ongoing planning, ongoing planning, development, and execution of these two transformative county layout projects.

2:31

With that, I would like to turn it over to our presenters.

2:35

Madam Fair Commissioners, I'll just uh give a quick intro to this, I guess, new style of workshops.

2:42

We've got two kind of mini workshops, if you will, 45 minutes for each.

2:45

Um, and the intent is not to necessarily get all the details uh about each project, but it's to get you up to speed on kind of where things are at, um, with the idea that this becomes kind of a multi-part series, uh, that we come back, you know, on some kind of regular cadence here and provide yet another mini workshop in a few months to keep momentum going on the projects and so that you can all see what staff are working on, what's advancing, and where there may be obstacles.

3:12

And so uh we've got our redevelopment staff here, we've got other uh staff here with various expertise that are prepared to answer your questions.

3:20

And um, so I'm going to fall back and let the kind of the revolving door of folks come through, and I'll turn it over to uh Director Josh Wilson.

3:30

Thank you, Commissioners.

3:31

Good afternoon.

3:32

Um, I I hope uh today's uh briefing across these two mini workshops will give you a bit of a deeper dive into a number of the elements that um our teams uh both in community economic development and public works.

3:46

So as much as that we put up their, you know, it's a CED, community and economic development meeting workshops.

3:51

We really do believe that these are um shared projects between our two departments.

3:56

Um today we'll as uh Chair Moran already mentioned, we're focusing on two of the high profile projects um led by your Ramsey County team.

4:07

Um, each of the projects um are important and certainly centerpieces of these two elements outlined on your on your slides uh for building stronger together, building a dynamic downtown where you'll hear more about the River's Edge project and um selling county-owned land, which is where we talk about other projects across the county, including the big one uh out in Arden Hills uh Race Creek Commons.

4:31

Um, but I I do want to take a moment just to preface this by saying these two all these two projects are large projects for us, and we're working on them.

4:39

We're working on a number of other things too.

4:42

Um, these two sites represent key key places, but we also have other projects smaller in scale in many instances across uh the rest of the project.

5:00

And so we're excited to kind of bring forth those updates at future mini workshops where we can talk a little bit about how we're positioning those projects as we move forward, how they connect with other elements, whether they'd be programmatic or other department work.

5:09

So really, as I said, you know, these other efforts kind of still fall under the large umbrella that is uh building stronger together.

5:16

And you even saw earlier uh this morning at your board meeting an element that is not led by Ramsey County, but where we will be very involved in because it is an element that helps uh further um many of these projects in the case of the Kellogg uh bridge in downtown.

5:32

So again, trying to kind of pond intended bridge across all these pieces.

5:37

Um thanks for the sound effects, right?

5:42

Um, but also uh as we kind of uh begin to illustrate uh how uh at the staff level, but also through our partnerships um across community are kind of working in these projects um forward.

5:56

Um so with that said, um, and certainly uh Commissioner Jevin Singh kind of prompted this a little bit with the wheel um that she brought in earlier, uh which we appreciate.

6:07

Um building stronger together certainly um, you know, as we work through the myriad of issues that are associated with these two central projects, but the other projects that um we'll mention um were rooted and grounded in these other plans.

6:23

Um so that includes the economic competitiveness inclusion plan, uh our climate equity action plan, our availabilities 2050 transportation plan, as well as the transit um and transportation investment plan, and sometimes often also connected to the transit plan program.

6:39

So um all of these um projects are rooted in those or work on a daily basis, sometimes on an hourly basis, um, ensuring that those projects are aligned with the core tenants of these particular uh plans.

6:54

So with that, um I'd like to turn this over to Claudia Klinkhammer, who is our uh redevelopment manager and our uh project lead for River's Edge, partner Rivers Edge.

7:04

Okay, uh thanks, Josh.

7:06

Uh good afternoon.

7:07

Um I'm Claudia Knickhangler.

7:09

Um here with um with Mike Rogers to talk about uh River's Edge and give you some uh some updates.

7:15

So we'll start with just a little bit of background.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Economic Development███████████████████████████████████████39%
Engineering And Infrastructure████████████████████████24%
Parks and Recreation██████████10%
Transportation Safety█████████9%
Procedural████████8%
Affordable Housing██████6%
Environmental Protection████4%
Summary of Proceedings

Ramsey County Board Workshop: RiversEdge and Rice Creek Commons Updates – May 26, 2026

Ramsey County Board held a workshop on May 26, 2026, in Courthouse Room 220 to receive Community & Economic Development mini-workshop updates on two major projects: RiversEdge in downtown St. Paul and Rice Creek Commons in Arden Hills. The workshop was recorded and live-streamed on Zoom webinar. No formal votes were taken; the session was informational and part of an ongoing series tied to the county's Building Stronger Together initiative.

RiversEdge Mini Workshop

  • Staff presented RiversEdge as a key Building Stronger Together project intended to reconnect downtown St. Paul to the Mississippi River, increase the county tax base, and support a dynamic downtown.
  • Project background: The Gateway to the Mississippi River Plan was adopted in the late 1990s; the Ramsey County West building and adult detention center were deconstructed, with work substantially completed in 2017; AECOM was selected through a competitive solicitation and completed schematic design in April 2025; the county received a $6.22 million state appropriation in 2023.
  • Staff reported progress on long-lead activities: an initial agreement with Excel to relocate transmission towers was approved and signed in April 2026, and preliminary engineering agreements with Union Pacific and CPKC railroads were approved and signed the prior week.
  • Next steps include competitively bidding a new design firm contract, with a solicitation later in 2026 and selection by early 2027, and partnering with CBRE to recruit a private developer for the vertical towers. A developer recommendation could come to the board at the end of 2026, with possible final approval in early 2027.
  • Commissioners asked about tower uses. Staff said density and street-level activation are key goals, while specific uses would be determined by the market; housing is likely to be among the first towers. Zoning updates with the city may be needed, including a historic height district, but staff said no major red flags have been raised.
  • Discussion addressed land sale versus ground lease. Staff said this question is not completely settled and will depend on financing, private developer proposals, and how the project comes together.
  • The public realm, park, and lid will be county/public responsibilities, while the vertical towers and parking below will be privately developed and operated. The estimated public investment is about $168 million, including tunnels and the park.
  • Transportation funding under Building Stronger Together is $100 million from Regional Railroad Authority, TAA, and local sales/use tax. About 70% of that is for the rail tunnel and structure over the rail line; remaining funds would support the vehicle tunnel, multimodal trail/ADA elements, a potential transit station, and a portion of the parking ramp.
  • No state bonding dollars were received in the current 2026 legislative session. Staff said this does not change the project timeline and that the county may pursue future bonding requests and use its capital fund as a flexible tool.
  • Commissioners raised long-term operations and maintenance for the park and lid. Staff cited examples such as Klyde Warren Park in Dallas, waterfront projects in Seattle and Washington, D.C., and caps in Calgary and Omaha, and said parks partners and downtown conservancies may help support operations. One commissioner encouraged building capital maintenance costs into planning.

Rice Creek Commons Mini Workshop

  • Rice Creek Commons is a Joint Development Authority (JDA) partnership between Ramsey County and the City of Arden Hills. The vision is a vibrant, inclusive, sustainable community with housing, jobs, and tax base.
  • Outlot A, zoned for corporate campus, commercial, retail, and industrial uses, is being developed by Ryan Companies. Phase one, the Macro Controls company headquarters, is a 157,000-square-foot building with office, research and development, and manufacturing space on 10 acres. It supports about 240 jobs and has an estimated completed site value of $12.6 million. Construction is finishing around this week. Phase two discussions are active.
  • The purchase and sale agreement with Ryan was originally approved in January 2024, amended in April 2025, and currently extends to December 2026.
  • The California parcel remains undeveloped. The JDA is assessing a hybrid development approach with roughly four to five sub-developers, likely organized by zoning or development type, to provide flexibility, speed, and risk diversification. A recommendation is planned for summer 2026.
  • Rice Creek Boulevard, formerly known as the spine road, will be about 1.2 miles of county-state-aid highway from County Road H to County Road 96. It is proposed as a three-lane section generally, with five lanes near the town center, multi-use trails on both sides, stormwater management features, and a regional trail connection along the eastern boundary. The corridor is designed to be transit-ready. The total site preparation and infrastructure package is estimated around $63 million.
  • Timeline: initial site work is expected fall 2026; a small bid package will be released in about six weeks; completed design and infrastructure package is anticipated out to bid by the end of 2026; construction could begin around April 2027 and finish in 2028.
  • Sustainability is central to the project. Developers at Rice Creek Commons are expected to follow sustainability design guidelines including certification, energy efficiency, decarbonized buildings, rooftop solar, electric vehicle chargers, and water/energy reporting. The project received LEED for Communities pre-certification at the platinum level in March 2026.
  • Commissioners asked about ongoing road maintenance and future transit. Staff said they will request additional county-state-aid mileage designation once the road is built, and the corridor is being designed to accommodate future transit stops and connections. A transit link could be reinserted into regional planning if needed.
  • Commissioners thanked staff, the City of Arden Hills, and past JDA board members, and highlighted the value of pragmatic sustainability, housing voucher acceptance, workforce development, and opportunities for emerging and diverse developers.

Key Outcomes

  • No votes were taken; the workshop was informational.
  • RiversEdge: Staff will continue design firm procurement and private developer recruitment, with board actions expected later in 2026 and early 2027.
  • Rice Creek Commons: The JDA will consider a recommended hybrid development approach for the California parcel this summer.
  • Rice Creek Boulevard: Initial site work is expected in fall 2026, with a bid package coming in approximately six weeks.
  • Additional mini-workshops will be scheduled to provide ongoing updates on these projects.

Meeting Transcript

All right. Well, welcome everyone. Welcome to Ramsey County Board Workshop. Today's workshop is titled Community and Economic Development Meeting Workshops. We could focus on River's edge and right street comments. A quick courtesy reminder that this board workshop is recorded and it is live streamed on Zoom webinar. There will be no votes taken during this workshop. So let's start with introductions of commissioners and presenters around the table, and then the rest of the room. Mary Joe McGuire, Commissioner District 2. My Tang Chan, Commissioner District 6. Kelly Miller, Commissioner District 7. Josh Olson, Community Economic Development. Claudia Clay Camera Community and Economic Development. Carrie Collins, Tippity County Manager, Economic Growth and Community Investment. Lynn Becker County Manager. Clemens Baron. John Mass Powell will deputy director of public works. Mike Rogers, Public Works. Christy Cost any of this topic? How it's a chief operating offset? Building government relations. Ellen Larson, Pop Land Laties from Lance County. It's also at the country manager helping the work, so to speak. Your top box, yeah. All right, so thank you. So there's workshop follows the launch of Building Stronger Together to provide updates on two of Ramsey County's major development projects. These two projects are key components to the county goal of building a dynamic downtown and selling county owned land. Through these focus meeting workshops, the county board will hear how the Building Strong Together strategy is being activated and implemented through the ongoing planning, ongoing planning, development, and execution of these two transformative county layout projects. With that, I would like to turn it over to our presenters. Madam Fair Commissioners, I'll just uh give a quick intro to this, I guess, new style of workshops. We've got two kind of mini workshops, if you will, 45 minutes for each. Um, and the intent is not to necessarily get all the details uh about each project, but it's to get you up to speed on kind of where things are at, um, with the idea that this becomes kind of a multi-part series, uh, that we come back, you know, on some kind of regular cadence here and provide yet another mini workshop in a few months to keep momentum going on the projects and so that you can all see what staff are working on, what's advancing, and where there may be obstacles. And so uh we've got our redevelopment staff here, we've got other uh staff here with various expertise that are prepared to answer your questions. And um, so I'm going to fall back and let the kind of the revolving door of folks come through, and I'll turn it over to uh Director Josh Wilson. Thank you, Commissioners. Good afternoon. Um, I I hope uh today's uh briefing across these two mini workshops will give you a bit of a deeper dive into a number of the elements that um our teams uh both in community economic development and public works. So as much as that we put up their, you know, it's a CED, community and economic development meeting workshops. We really do believe that these are um shared projects between our two departments. Um today we'll as uh Chair Moran already mentioned, we're focusing on two of the high profile projects um led by your Ramsey County team. Um, each of the projects um are important and certainly centerpieces of these two elements outlined on your on your slides uh for building stronger together, building a dynamic downtown where you'll hear more about the River's Edge project and um selling county-owned land, which is where we talk about other projects across the county, including the big one uh out in Arden Hills uh Race Creek Commons. Um, but I I do want to take a moment just to preface this by saying these two all these two projects are large projects for us, and we're working on them. We're working on a number of other things too. Um, these two sites represent key key places, but we also have other projects smaller in scale in many instances across uh the rest of the project. And so we're excited to kind of bring forth those updates at future mini workshops where we can talk a little bit about how we're positioning those projects as we move forward, how they connect with other elements, whether they'd be programmatic or other department work. So really, as I said, you know, these other efforts kind of still fall under the large umbrella that is uh building stronger together. And you even saw earlier uh this morning at your board meeting an element that is not led by Ramsey County, but where we will be very involved in because it is an element that helps uh further um many of these projects in the case of the Kellogg uh bridge in downtown. So again, trying to kind of pond intended bridge across all these pieces. Um thanks for the sound effects, right? Um, but also uh as we kind of uh begin to illustrate uh how uh at the staff level, but also through our partnerships um across community are kind of working in these projects um forward.

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