Plans for Ryan Cos. "East Village" development for the mostly vacant patch of land near the new Vikings stadium keep getting bigger and bigger.

Minneapolis-based Ryan has proposed a $400 million development on five city blocks on what is now mostly a barren stretch of asphalt. (Full disclosure: The Star Tribune owns the land.) City staff recommends that the committee, which meets Thursday, approve studying both scenarios.

The initial proposal included about 300 residential units, 1.2 million square feet of office space in two towers, 40,000 square feet of retail, a parking ramp, skyway connections to downtown, and a park spanning two city blocks.

But according to an Alternative Urban Areawide Review (AUAR) submitted by Ryan to the city's Zoning and Planning Committee, that's just the bare minimum. Actually, the "minimum scenario" set out in documents includes up to 410 residential units or 350 units and a 110,000-square-foot hotel, plus up to 1.4 million square feet of office space, and 80,000 square feet of retail.

The "maximum" development scenario calls for 2.9 million square feet of office space, 335 residential units, or 275 residential units and a 150-room hotel, 105,000 square feet of retail and 2,725 parking spaces. This scenario includes using a portion of the public park for development, which the Star Tribune reported on here.

One public comment was received from Hennepin County, which requested that a traffic study be conducted beyond the confines of the AUAR study and include the "cumulative" impact of the East Village Development and the Vikings stadium on the area.

Janet Moore covers commercial real estate for the Star Tribune.