Downtown St. Paul building owner Dave Brooks had hoped to install a professional practice rink for the Minnesota Wild on top of the Alliance Bank Center parking ramp on Cedar Street. That's probably not going to happen now, and he's mostly OK with it. Here's why.
Brooks, a former minor league hockey player, is better known these days for the downtown real estate he's bought and filled with new tenants. Toss back a tequila at Barrio Lowertown, and you're in a Brooks building. But not the Brooks Building. That's also his, and it's down the street apace.
Brooks -- brother to legendary Olympic hockey coach Herb Brooks -- has never forgotten his love of hockey. Last year, he and a partnership purchased the "317 on Rice Park" building, which is situated practically next to his brother's statue. The building, a handsome event center, is also the home of the administrative offices for the Minnesota Wild, the state's official hockey team and St. Paul's most famous pro-sports team.
A few weeks before 2014 faded into 2015, Brooks bought the 16-story Alliance Bank Center for a reported $8.2 million with two short-term goals. First, he plans to add about 45 parking stalls in the basement. Second, he'd hope to woo the Wild to the roof of his adjoining 650-stall parking ramp, which they could use for a practice facility.
These days, the Wild are talking to the St. Paul Port Authority and city officials about perhaps taking over a portion of the vacant Macy's Department Store building between Cedar and Wabasha streets. The Xcel Energy Center is increasingly booked up with concerts and performances, squeezing the team's practice time.
"I don't think I'm in the running," Brooks told the City Hall Scoop on Saturday. "I'd like to have them on the top of my parking ramp ... but I can't compete with the Port Authority and St. Paul. They're digging into that Macy's site. Which is fine. We need another rink, anyway."
Port Authority officials -- who bought the building a year ago -- have intimated that some form of announcement on Macy's could happen any day now.
This isn't the first time that Brooks has sat down with Wild owner Craig Leipold to play "let's make a deal." When the team made intimations it was willing to relocate its practices to Edina or the University of St. Thomas, Brooks stepped in to keep them in downtown St. Paul.
"He's a St. Paul guy," said Brooks, referring to Leipold. "His heart is here now. I think he had second thoughts, because a lot of his players are living in Edina. ... I just talked to him and said, it would be nice if we can keep it in downtown St. Paul. And he agreed."
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