River Cities Plans Condos on a Barge

David Nelson hopes to bring 350-person development to Stillwater in 2010, but locals shouldn't brace for a changing landscape around town.

Nelson is the founder of River Cities, a St. Paul-based development company looking to build the world's largest inland passenger ship - which plans to float 10,700 miles of the Mississippi River and its navigational tributaries. He plans to bring the "floating community" to Stillwater in 2010.

"I'm a big dreamer. I'm really a pretty persistent person," Nelson said of creating the $94 million residential boat. "I think it's fair to say no one's built a boat like this on inland water."

The Stillwater City Council plans to discuss the authorization of a permit for the condominium to dock in the city at tonight's meeting. The council meeting has been scheduled for tonight because of Tuesday's caucuses.

The boat, yet to be constructed, has been dubbed the Marquette and will be the first residential boat to cruise U.S. rivers full time. Plans call for 170 condominiums to be built on the steel river-barge hull, housing a community of 350 people who will stop at northern ports in the summer, with southern and Gulf Coast ports in the winter.

Residents will be able to buy condominiums in year-round, six-month or four-month cycles. Units range from 528-square feet to 924-square feet, costing $299,000 and $499,000 respectively for full ownership.

According to River Cities' plans, the two-barge Marquette will be 600 feet long and 108 feet wide, with capabilities to detach into two 54-foot-wide boats for the narrower waterways. The company expects to be floating the first half of the boat by the end of 2009. Nelson said about 15 percent of the first ship's units has been sold.

The boat features exercise equipment, a theater, walking path, library, putting and chipping golf areas, hot tubs, bicycles, kayaks and restaurants. The "floating homes" will also offer satellite TV and high-speed Internet. A concierge will help residents plan shore excursions as well as bird watching and fishing trips from the boat's pontoons and runabouts.

But the ship isn't a commercial cruise liner with pre-programmed, paid-for entertainment, Nelson said. Residents will have their own kitchens and will be able to cook their own meals and will be able to roam the boat as they please. The itinerary allows for a stop almost every night, with buses buffering the boat's ports of call.

"Let's say we were in Stillwater. The bus would haul people around town, maybe over to Bayport or perhaps, they might bring a crew of golfers out to the golf course," Nelson said.

For nearly two decades, Nelson, 55, has lived in a houseboat on the Mississippi River and formerly lived in Lake Elmo, where he had a hobby farm. A glance at a map of the Mississippi River and the inter-coastal waterways sparked the idea for the giant condominium boat, he said.

"What really happens when you move onto a boat is that you see the world a bit differently," Nelson said. "You life might be 15 percent harder, but it's 50 percent more rewarding."

Stillwater City Administrator Larry Hansen said the permit River Cities is seeking is fairly common, except he can't remember such a large boat coming through town.

"This is much larger than anything we've (approved)," he said.

In fact, Nelson wasn't sure the Marquette would be able to fit under the Historic Stillwater Lift Bridge or the new Interstate 94 bridge near Hudson, Wis. But after receiving all the permits from the Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Coast Guard, he knows the vessel will make it.

"When I heard about the new Interstate 94 bridge I said, 'Oh darn,' because I really wanted to go to Stillwater. But the new bridge is high enough that we can get there," Nelson said.