Developer from St. Paul floats riverboat condos

Updated: September 20, 2007 - 9:52 PM

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If you've ever dreamed of living on a houseboat on the Mississippi River, St. Paul developer David Nelson just might have a deal for you. Nelson wants to build a $90 million residential dreamboat that would make the entire river its back yard.

The ship, called the Marquette, would have 190 units -- from 492-square-foot studios ($299,000) to 808-square-foot apartments with two bedrooms and two baths ($499,000). Yearly fees would range from $6,700 to $23,100 -- comparable, Nelson said, to similar residential cruise ships.

Nelson said he's not looking for any city subsidies but he needs to sell 60 percent of the units before his dreamboat can become a real boat. So far he has six reservations from customers in Florida, California and Minnesota.

He said Thursday that he hopes to make the ship the first residential cruise ship to travel more than 6,000 miles of inland waterways continuously throughout the year. It will start its journey in St. Paul and cruise along major waterways like the Mississippi before ending up as far south as Port Isabel, Texas.

He and his wife plan to live on the boat, too, he said.

Plans call for the boat to have a deli, a restaurant, a grocery store, a fitness center, theaters and a beauty salon.

Nelson, 54, said he's never put together a large project like the Marquette. When he was 30, he built a subdivision in Lake Elmo.

"We're selling real estate, but what we're really selling is a lifestyle," he said. "This is a totally different way of life."

MYRON P. MEDCALF