Galtier Plaza to be renamed after new tenant, Cray

Once beleaguered Galtier Plaza is not only getting a major high-tech tenant later this year but a new name as well.

[John]

Big Time! This is great news for lower-town and the whole downtown area!

[bob]

good job coleman

[Phid]

"Good job Coleman"? The city is essentially giving Cray $400,000 to stay in downtown. Whose money is this? The taxpayers, not Coleman's, not the city council's.

Is it too much to think that businesses would ever want to come to downtown because it's a good place to be, rather than because of offers of cash?

BTW, bad job on renaming Galtier Plaza. They're erasing a name with historic St. Paul roots...not good.

[Enough already]

Crazy. Erase a name linked to the city's past and replace it with a rather clunky-sounding name. I guess the Sears Tower is also now the "Willis Tower".
Worse, it is SUBSIDIZED! Galtier has been a sinkhole for subsidies, and it JUST DOES NOT WORK. It's outrageous that $400,000 of our hard-earned dollars were sunk into this deal. The past 2 decades Galtier has been the recipient of subsidy after subsidy. It's ludicrous.

[Catcher InTheRye]

Stupid St. Paul cannot attract enough companies without whoring out entirely. Now this name change will have to be replicated on maps, websites, etc...

[Catcher InTheRye]

Mayor Coleman has to go! Let's see him balance St. Paul's budget without LGA/state bailout money!

[Gumby]

Seymour died a while back. He wouldn't know if they re-named the place for him.

[Pat from Blaine]

So if I have this right Cray gets $400,000 loan from the City of St Paul. Keep
200 people working and the loan is forgiven.

So let's do some numbers. What is the rate the the City is borrowing this money. Let's guess at 4%. So the employees need TO ADD $10,000,000 to NEW spending in the City to make this work. So let's divide this number by five years and 200 employee. So $10,000,000 divided by 200 employees divided by five years equals $10,000 per person in additional spending. So if each person from Cray can account for an additional $10,000 person or more than this was a good idea.

I am using an estimate of numbers of ocourse and of course every dollar spent will not be taxed at same rate but maybe a higher rate. Think sales tax on food in area. But even at a 7.5% rate.

So everyone at Cray start spending your money because the Mayor knows not what he is doing and take advantage of it before these numbers are made public and the Mayor looks really stupid.

[drew15]

I don't know if renaming the tower is such a great idea in terms of drawing retail customers at least. What are they going to say, "go to the Cray Plaza; you know...Galtier Plaza." I haven't heard of Cray in probably 15 years. Good to know they are still in business though.

[Swede Larson]

at least i can spill Crey or Krey oh Kray i got it Cray like the fishies. That other name was some priest who forced the catholic church on the Indians

[gtVoyageur]

Phid wrote:

"Good job Coleman"? The city is essentially giving Cray $400,000 to stay in downtown. Whose money is this? The taxpayers, not Coleman's, not the city council's.
Is it too much to think that businesses would ever want to come to downtown because it's a good place to be, rather than because of offers of cash?
BTW, bad job on renaming Galtier Plaza. They're erasing a name with historic St. Paul roots...not good.

phid;

Think about it. If more than 200 Cray employees work and/or live in the St. Paul environs then spent most of their paychecks here that is some definite economic impact for St.Paul as well as tax revenues generated. Also, don't forget the residual business effect of having a corporation like Cray in downtown St.Paul. Probably other big businesses will follow.

The $400K the city 'loaned' Cray is penchant on maintaining 200+ employees working in St. Paul for a period of time. Don't forget, the next generation of supercomputer mainframes and 'super-servers' are due to be developed to meet the needs of an ever expanding cyberspace. That's why Cray needs a location to recruit and grow the new cyber wizards that are needed for such undertakings.

Have faith that the future brings promise to St. Paul, the state, and all of us. One can not just idlely sit by and let the present economic mess dictate our futures. Saint Paul is trying to be proactive for a bright future.
gtV

[Skip]

How much did St Paul shell out to bribe Cray to move downtown?

[Uncle Bobby]

What's the cost of having the building sit empty?
What's the added revenue (to the city) of the new patrons (to local business)?
What would the city have done with the $400K that would yield a better return on investment?

I'm glad that the genii who post here have no decision making power.

[Highland Nursery Attacked]

The Ramsey County Tax assesor has threatened 50 year old St Paul icon, the Highland Nursery with incredible tax increases saying a Walgreens or something similar would be a better use of the land.........Sadly, this sounds like "the audacity of hope, change we can believe in" doctrine in action. All small business are being threatened by Waxman-Markley and other government iniatives, the last thing a small business needs is threats from local government.

[Where is Scott Simon]

I'd love to hear Scott Simon's take on this. He was a vocal critic of re-opening the Galtier Cinema 4 using a public subsidy last year.

My opinion: this is incredibly foolish. Thank you Pat for posting those numbers. They definitely don't add up. I decided to swing on downtown St Paul today to see what was going on at Galtier. That place is depressing.

LoTo was an incredible boondoggle that placed a friggin' bar where the main entrance used to be -- no one can find their way into the building! LoTo sits empty on Friday nights, closing at 11 PM when other places close at 2 AM. The food is hit-or-miss. It's been more miss as of the last few times I was there - but it solely exists on a free rent subsidy from the city, so why am I not surprised? They're no good because they don't have to be any good.

The food court still sits half-empty. The previously cheery environment on the interior has been painted in drab shades of gray and blue.

I swung into one of the stores, which confirmed to me that when it rains outside, it also rains inside due to the leaky skylights that haven't been fixed since the place was constructed. Many neat and interesting architectural elements have been eliminated, destroyed, or covered up.
I am happy it gets a new tenant. I am not happy that the only way to get a new tenant was for more public money to be sunk into this place. Time has proven again-and-again that throwing public money at this turkey is an EPIC FAIL.

The "rosy" presentation given of this situation reminds me of how "rosy" Galtier's original plans to be a destination retail location were. The only time I remember Galtier surviving of it's own accord was when it was being run by Zaidan.

This is just bad, bad, BAD.

[Phid]

gtVoyageur wrote:

<quoted text>
phid;
Think about it. If more than 200 Cray employees work and/or live in the St. Paul environs then spent most of their paychecks here that is some definite economic impact for St.Paul as well as tax revenues generated. Also, don't forget the residual business effect of having a corporation like Cray in downtown St.Paul. Probably other big businesses will follow.
The $400K the city 'loaned' Cray is penchant on maintaining 200+ employees working in St. Paul for a period of time. Don't forget, the next generation of supercomputer mainframes and 'super-servers' are due to be developed to meet the needs of an ever expanding cyberspace. That's why Cray needs a location to recruit and grow the new cyber wizards that are needed for such undertakings.
Have faith that the future brings promise to St. Paul, the state, and all of us. One can not just idlely sit by and let the present economic mess dictate our futures. Saint Paul is trying to be proactive for a bright future.
gtV

I agree that bringing businesses into downtown is a good step. There's no doubt about that. The problem that concerns me is that the city has to hold out the taxpayer's money in order to accomplish this. In other words, the city's situation isn't good enough as it is to entice companies to come. Don't you see a problem with that?

Wouldn't it be much better if the city fixed its own policies (e.g. taxation) rather than have to promise to fork over cash and change the names of city landmarks?

[Phid]

Uncle Bobby wrote:

What's the cost of having the building sit empty?
What's the added revenue (to the city) of the new patrons (to local business)?
What would the city have done with the $400K that would yield a better return on investment?

It's not simply a matter of a "better return on investment". If companies are not coming to downtown on their own accord, without enticements, the implication is that there is something wrong with downtown. This should lead the city to take a look at its own economic policies that may contribute to the negative aspects of setting up shop there.

Failure to look at such policies could lead to other companies refusing to come to downtown unless they get sweetheart deals as well. Then, money that could be better invested in police or infrastructural needs are being sent to for-profit corporations.

[gtVoyageur]

Phid wrote:

<quoted text>
I agree that bringing businesses into downtown is a good step. There's no doubt about that. The problem that concerns me is that the city has to hold out the taxpayer's money in order to accomplish this. In other words, the city's situation isn't good enough as it is to entice companies to come. Don't you see a problem with that?
Wouldn't it be much better if the city fixed its own policies (e.g. taxation) rather than have to promise to fork over cash and change the names of city landmarks?

phid;

In these economic times a little inticement to attract big business is in order. You have to take a chance and invest in the future. That's what St. Paul did with Cray Research.

Now the real proof of the business 'pudding', so to speak, is St. Paul reforming or reorganizing its taxation structure for the future. In this way, business and people can flourish and prosper.

If inane vitriolic political views can be put aside and the city plans for progress great things can happen. All it takes is some creative problem solving and positive thinking for progress to really be fruitful for St. Paul.

This Cray acquisition to downtown St. Paul is the first step toward a prosperous future if the city works hard to maintain some forward thinking.
gtV

[Overnighter]

THE DFL HAS DESTROYED ST PAUL. IF WE GET A DFL GOVERNOR BUSINESS WILL LEAVE THE STATE EVEN MORE! ND BUYS JOBS FROM MN USING THE CITY TAX BASE AND HAS NO SHAME IN DOING IT! THE POLITICIANS IN THIS STATE DO LITTLE TO PREVENT IT, DISALLOWING TPAW'S JOBZ THING.

[Just Sayin]

"In Minneapolis, the 56-story halo tower originally called First Bank Place and then renamed 225 South Sixth Street is now called Capella Tower."

The name was changed to 225 South 6th because there was a fear that "US Bank Place" made it too big a target post-9/11