Dan Hunt, president of the self-named company, tells GlobeSt.comthat the high-rise residential building, which was to offer24-hour, white-glove entry attendant service, terraced homes and aheated, multi-story garage, was thought up in late 2005. "However,the condo market has cooled significantly," he says. "We hadpurchase agreements for 70 of the condos [including three of the$3.6 million penthouse units], but we never got above 70."

Now, his firm has partnered with Opus Corp. to build a towerwith roughly 50 floors. The complex will have 500,000 sf of officespace, a 200-room hotel and 100 condos, with four floors ofunderground parking, Hunt says. The Nicollet name remains, but itcould change, he says. "The schematics of the building have beendone, and the office brokers are now out talking to prospectivetenants about the space. The next step is to get letters of intent,and finalize the drawings."

He says he's not worried about finding office users, that themarket is substantially better than it was a couple years ago, andthe fact that the property is right across from the Target Corp.headquarters. "There's no other plans on the drawing board for thismuch space in the area, and people will want to be close to Target,or in a newer building," Hunt says.