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ON A BRILLIANTLY SUNNY and <br />bone-chillingly cold February day, <br />contractors weathered the elements <br />while continuing construction of a <br />new all-electric community rising <br />in St. Paul’s far northeast corner. <br />The Heights will be Minnesota’s first <br />large-scale, all-electric mixed-use <br />development. But it is far from the <br />last. Just a few miles north, Ramsey <br />County and Arden Hills want Rice <br />Creek Commons to follow roughly the <br />same game plan in its construction of a <br />community with nearly 2,000 housing <br />units and dozens of businesses. <br />Xcel Energy’s new St. Paul Service <br />Center and a Twin Cities Habitat for <br />Humanity housing development are <br />under construction at The Heights, the <br />112-acre former Hillcrest Golf Club. The <br />St. Paul Port Authority is developing the <br />property using a plan the city created <br />that calls for building 1,000 housing <br />units and employing 1,000 workers. <br />Meanwhile, Rice Creek Commons’s <br />Joint Development Authority recently <br />approved sustainability guidelines for <br />the 427-acre community. Although <br />work has not yet begun on the Joint <br />Development Authority–planned <br />project, contractors may start <br />construction this year. <br />The Heights and Rice Creek <br />Commons will both mix ground-source <br />The Heights’ public realm <br />is envisioned to include <br />public art, carbon-neutral <br />site furnishings, and a <br />diverse range of native <br />plantings with integrated <br />stormwater management <br />to create interconnected <br />habitats along the trails <br />in the development. <br />Rendering by LHB. <br />The Heights and Rice Creek Commons <br />are forging paths to a carbon-neutral future <br />in Ramsey County <br />BY FRANK JOSSI <br />37