West Side Flats is one of four major housing developmentsplanned or underway in downtown St. Paul. The project, with apublic and private cost of up to $200 million, is the largest everdone with the involvement of the City of St. Paul. The planinvolves public amenities, such as a park, restaurants and stores,along with offices, apartments and condominiums.

The development is planned for a 45-acre site bounded by theriver, Plato Boulevard, and Robert and Wabasha streets. The cityand Trooien's company, JLT Group Inc., own most of the land.``Ithink the housing we have underway in downtown St.Paul could haveas profound an impact on downtown as some of the largerdevelopments like the Science Museum, new hockey arena and theLawson Software building have had,'' says Brian Sweeney, St. Paul'splanning director.

Earlier this summer, U.S. Bancorp announced plans for a $50million office building and parking ramp on the flats. The servicecenter will house about 750 employees initially and as many as2,000 eventually. It will be built by Minnetonka, MN-based OpusCorp. at Robert Street and Fillmore Avenue.