Hot property: Courtyard Minneapolis West

COURTYARD MINNEAPOLIS WEST

600 Hwy. 169, St. Louis Park

Type: Hotel

Rooms: 162

Height: Seven stories

Developers: BPG Properties & CSM Corp.

Details: BPG Properties, the Chicago-based owner of the Metropoint office complex, has gained preliminary approval to construct a 162-room Courtyard by Marriott hotel on an open parcel within the 918,000-square-foot campus at the Interstate 394/Hwy. 169 interchange in St. Louis Park.

City officials this month gave preliminary approval to a request from BPG and its partner on the project, Minneapolis-based real estate developer CSM Corp., to set up a planned unit development (PUD) for a portion of the Metropoint campus. They also approved a preliminary plat to create four lots within the PUD area -- one of which would hold the new hotel, to be built on a vacant patch where a restaurant once stood.

The plans call for the hotel to be built next to Metropoint's landmark, 18-story 600 Tower. CSM officials indicated it would be built to fit in visually with the 1970s-style architecture of the existing office buildings, using plenty of stucco and glass and a minimal amount of brick. Part of the proposal is a large outdoor plaza on the hotel's east side that would surround a stormwater pond and serve an as amenity for hotel guests and Metropoint's office workers.

The hotel proposal comes after BPG embarked on a $10 million in improvements to Metropoint, formerly known as the Interchange Office Park, which it purchased for $86 million in 2006. The complex is across from General Mills' world headquarters and boasts such major tenants as Aetna, Wells Fargo, Prudential Financial, Epicor, Allianz Life Insurance and Corporate Benefit Services of America.

The hotel's construction timeline, however, is far from certain. John Ferrier, CSM's director of architecture, told the St. Louis Park City Council that market conditions would dictate when the project would proceed, but voiced optimism it could happen before 2011.

A BPG Properties official said the company didn't want to comment on the project.

Hotel construction, hot and heavy in the Twin Cities several years ago, has slowed. Only five new hotel projects were launched last year, vs. 11 in 2006 and 12 in 2007, according to data compiled by the Metropolitan Council.

DON JACOBSON

Don Jacobson, a freelance writer based in St. Paul, can be contacted at hotproperty.starribune@gmail.com.