St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman had gushed about the proposed Penfield project — the 30-story condo/commercial tower planned for the former police station site in downtown St. Paul.

And today's Star Tribune story about the project abandoning condos in favor of a mixed-use development mentions that the project's website features the mayor in a video (No. 3) that calls it:

"... a tremendous project for the city of St. Paul. ... I think the Penfield is going to be a great place to live. And as soon as my kids are out of the house, my wife and I are going to be looking to move down there ourselves."

The newspaper reported that Coleman couldn't be reached Monday for comment about the project's failure to dent the weak housing market. Was he trying to duck the media?

Probably not. Coleman's spokesman Bob Hume said today that the mayor is out of the office this holiday-shortened week and still hopes that there will be a new, revised, major project on that site.

And if there is, presumably the mayor, and his wife, Connie, would still like to live there when the kids move out. — Joe Kimball