A hotel and apartment complex under construction across the street from the Xcel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul caught fire early Tuesday, resulting in its partial collapse.
No injuries were reported, said St. Paul Deputy Chief Roy Mokosso.
Flames were shooting high into the air and the glow could be seen for miles when firefighters arrived on the scene on W. 7th Street near 5th Street about 4:20 a.m., Mokosso said.
No one was inside the structure, which was "heavily involved" when crews arrived. They were forced to fight the blaze from the outside because of the flames and heat, he said.
"It advanced rapidly," Mokosso said, noting that the unoccupied building had exposed drywall and wood which allowed the fire to grow quickly. Part of the structure collapsed, he said.
Firefighters were going onto roofs of nearby buildings, including the two-building Catholic Charities Dorothy Day Place campus, to check for embers, according to dispatch audio. Windows of a nearby building on W. Old 6th Street were reported to have cracked from the intensity of heat caused by the fire.
William Mujica, of St. Paul, woke up around 4:25 a.m. and saw the large fire "turned into flying flames," he said. "Honestly, I felt the heat from about a mile out."
By 6:30 a.m., crews had put out most of the fire and were concentrating on dousing hot spots, Mokosso said. Debris littered several streets, and roads in the area of the fire were blocked off.
Ramps from eastbound Interstate 94 to 5th Street and northbound Interstate 35E to Kellogg Boulevard were closed for about two hours but have since reopened, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
The damaged buildings were part of a $69 million project led by Kaeding Management Group. Spokeswoman Amanda Clark for Doran Companies, a partner in the project, said it was notified about the fire early in the morning.
"It is such an exciting project. Obviously we are reeling. We are pretty devested by this," she said.
Doran planned to issue a formal statement later in the day with Kaeding Management in Bloomington.
Catholic Charities officails said they were assessing damage to their buildings. "We are so grateful to the St. Paul Fire Department for their quick work early this morning keeping our residents and guests safe by putting out the fire," said Wendy Underwood, a Catholic Charities vice president.
It wasn't yet clear what led to the fire, Mokosso said. Investigators were on the scene and will also be studying video from nearby surveillance cameras to determine its origin, he said.
Staff writer Dee DePass contributed to this story.
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