The Saint Paul Downtown Development Corporation (SPDDC) now has full ownership of the Alliance Bank Center building. The transition, announced Friday, is crucial for the future of downtown St. Paul and the city at large, city leaders say.

The redevelopment nonprofit announced in June it had bought the downtown property’s bank note, with intentions to take over from Madison Equities. It has not disclosed financial details.

The 300,000-square-foot building has been vacant since March. Madison Equities, its previous management company, closed the site abruptly, telling tenants through its LLC it could no longer afford building operations, per WCCO reporting at the time. City staff reportedly worked with the Saint Paul Downtown Alliance to move businesses elsewhere downtown.

The SPDDC, a subsidiary of the Saint Paul Downtown Alliance, has said it would evaluate rehabilitation opportunities. Upon securing the bank note, it remarked the property has seen years of neglect, with resulting structural problems.

SPDDC president Dave Higgins has described the building as vital to downtown. St. Paul mayor Melvin Carter agrees, expressing gratitude for the SPDDC’s acquisition and calling the site “critical to the future of our entire city” in a news release. New ownership “is the next key step in driving investment, revitalization, and growth of our tax base in the core of downtown,” he added.

The SPDDC will determine the building’s fate with community members and stakeholders; it is set to release details later this fall about community engagement. The group expects to take about 12 months assessing redevelopment possibilities.

Security responsibilities pass from the city to the nonprofit, too. The SPDDC has hired private property management and security partners, per the release. The building will remain closed “for the foreseeable future,” for safety reasons, as will most connected skyways.