By Shannon Fiecke

The producers of Super Bowl extravaganzas say they have an exciting venture in store for the gigantic empty shell in Shakopee’s Valley Green Business Park.

Paul Ridgeway Sr. and Jr., Twin Cities’ gurus of event planning and marketing, are in the process of buying a never-occupied former ADC Communications building in eastern Shakopee.

The Ridgeways — owners of the Minnetonka-based event-management business Ridgeway International — aren’t ready to go public with their plan yet, but someone let the cat out of the bag early about the venture.

The Minneapolis-St. Paul Business JourValley Corporate Campus: A fence closes off a County Road 101 frontage road leading to the never-completed 490,000-square-foot office and warehouse building, mothballed in 2001. (Staff photo by Shannon Fiecke)nal ran a story last week, reporting that the Ridgeways plan to turn the 490,000-square-foot vacant structure into a wholesale and retail mall of goods imported from China and other countries.

Although he’s not a liberty to discuss the details yet, in an interview with the Shakopee Valley News, Paul Ridgeway Jr. called it "an awesome project" with the involvement of big players.

He described the venture as more of a business-to-business-focused development, not so much a retail endeavor.

Citing anonymous sources, the business journal said the Ridgeways signed a contract in September to purchase Valley Corporate Campus.

The facility was originally designed to house a manufacturing and office facility for ADC Communications. But due to a downturn in the economy, ADC halted construction of the facility in May 2001, leaving it only about 65 percent complete.

The facility, which includes 109 acres, was sold in 2004 to Roseville real- estate investor Charles Mattson for $11.5 million.

In fall 2006, Liberty Property Trust was prepared to purchase the campus for $21 million and redevelop the site, but the deal fell through. The campus is listed for sale at $28.5 million.

Ridgeway said plans for the site will be unveiled in coming weeks. He called it a big project, with "lots of things" in the works, requiring much dialogue with the city of Shakopee.

The Valley Corporate Campus represents nearly half of the vacant industrial space last year in Shakopee.

If the project includes a retail component, which is not permitted in industrial-zoned property, the Ridgeways would have to get special approval from the city.

 A consortium of people are involved in the project, Ridgeway said, including Minneapolis architect Ralph Rapson, designer of the original Guthrie Theater, and Dennis Doyle, CEO of Welsh Cos., a multi-faced real-estate firm.

Ridgeway called this a "unique opportunity" and said his company’s brand development and marketing expertise will have an important role to play.

"It’s a really exciting project, not only for Shakopee, but for the state of Minnesota," Ridgeway said. "I’m looking forward to sharing more information in the near future."

- For more on this possible development, read this week's print edition of the Shakopee Valley News, available at area newstands.