Mpls. seeks cash for Downtown East park as Radisson plan fizzles

The city of Minneapolis will need to find more money for a new downtown park now that Radisson has abandoned a planned hotel development nearby.

ryan radisson red
Ryan Cos. rendering of Red hotel and 200 apartments above a stadium ramp.
Ryan Cos.

The Radisson Red Hotel was part of a larger proposal from developer Ryan Companies that also included an apartment tower near the new Vikings stadium. That deal would have brought the city more than $5.6 million, which would help it create the new park.

Ryan says it's still interested in building the apartment tower, but declined to comment on how much less it could pay the city without Radisson as a partner.

"It was just a whole host of little things that contributed to an economic situation that didn't work out for the hotel," Ryan Vice President Tony Barranco said. He confirmed finding sufficient parking for hotel guests was one of those factors.

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The development would be connected to a 1,600-space parking ramp, but the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority and the Minnesota Vikings have first dibs on those spaces under a larger development agreement and the law that financed the new stadium.

Backers still have ambitious visions for the space.

"You've got an ice skating rink in the winter. You've got a movie theater in the summer, and you've got programming that changes depending on the atmosphere," said Jacob Frey, the Minneapolis City Council member who represents the Downtown East area.

"That's going to cost money. And clearly that's made a little bit more difficult by the backing out of Radisson," Frey said. "But now we're looking for other sources."