The condo market isn't particularly good right now, but if St. Paul developer, David Nelson, has his way, he's going to build a 180-unit floating condo community complete with two restaurants and a grocery that will ply the intercoastal waterways and rivers of the United States. He's trying to sell the units using various ownership models, including partial ownership. Prices range from $55,000 to $1.8 million with shared expenses ranging from $1,200 to $2,2000. per month, and that includes a fleet of cars and bikes that residents can use for shore excursions. He said that a one-bedroom unit will go for about $400,000, and the boats will cover more than 10,000 miles on all the major rivers of the U.S.

Nelson, who has lived on a boat on the Mississippi River for 22 years near downtown St. Paul, is in the presale stage of the marketing process and has built out model units to show prospective buyers what life could be like on the Marquette, which he hopes to build in two part starting next year. He said that 10 percent of the units are presold. Want to have a look? Nelson is working his way down the Mississippi River and will be at the Lake City Marina this weekend. For information and to follow his progress, go to http://www.rivercitiescondos.com.

Here's an artist's rendering of the completed project on the Ohio River: