City of St. Paul condemns downtown parking ramp, closes skyway connections
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The city of St. Paul has condemned a major downtown parking ramp, alleging the building owner has not been properly maintaining the facility.
The condemnation order is for the Capital City Plaza ramp on Fourth Street at Minnesota Street. The city said the ramp — with more than 900 spaces — will be closed, and its skyway connections shuttered, until the building is brought back up to city building codes.
The ramp is owned by Madison Equities, which also owned — but walked away from — the nearby Alliance Bank Center last month. The firm has been trying to sell its large portfolio of properties in St. Paul.
“Another week, another abandoned Madison Equities property,” St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter said in a news release Monday, announcing the parking ramp closure. “Their chronic neglect has caused serious harm that will impact our city for years.”
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The Capital City Plaza ramp opened in 2001 and has a complicated ownership history. The Pioneer Press reported that the ramp went to a foreclosure sale in 2022, where it was bought by Madison Equities.
Condemnation notices placed at the parking ramp’s entrances are dated April 3. In its news release Monday, the city said its inspectors “found several areas of concern, including blocked exits, exposed electrical circuits, inoperable equipment, and water leaks in the parking ramp.
“The city also discovered that Madison Equities had failed to routinely test its fire suppression systems, the structural integrity of the ramp, and the water backflow prevention system, which separates contaminated water from clean water. This lack of testing poses a risk to the shared potable water supply for all nearby properties,” the city stated.
The closure of the skyway connections to the Capital City Plaza ramp expands the closures already in place following the abandonment of the Alliance Bank Center. The closure area now covers more than three city blocks along Cedar and Minnesota streets, between Sixth Street and Kellogg Boulevard.
“The city is committed to the health and safety of our residents, businesses, and visitors,” Angie Wiese, director of the Department of Safety and Inspections, said in the city’s news release. “In addition to taking immediate action to condemn and vacate the Capital City Plaza parking ramp, our teams are working with all impacted community groups to ensure our community remains safe and welcoming.”
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