Nedegaard died Nov. 30, 2006, shortly after the 2006 elections; with being forced into bankruptcy while suffering ravages of cancer being an intermediate event between the elections and his death. An interesting obituary publication, here, notes his long ties and beneficial efforts for Columbia Heights. Apparently he did much to improve things there, and his downfall was getting into the Ramsey Town Center promotion where he apparently was flim-flammed over whether there would be a Northstar stop in Ramsey. All the rhetoric preceding his commitment, out of Met Council and elsewhere, was of a "transit-oriented" thing, with walkability within and transit opportunity to reach greater distances.
He bought, at a premium price per acre, and then it happened that Ramsey was not accorded any Northstar stop; which remains the status quo.
Like starting to sit and having the chair pulled out.
Things mounted and press reporting suggests he did not have the most helpful or reliable bankers behind his effort in Ramsey.
Going broke on a risk is not any sin, and I urge everyone to read the item, again at this link, to have a perspective on other things he had done before meeting his Waterloo in yet one more risk-taking deal that was more hype than substance. More speculative hope, of some, than realistic thought or sound planning.
Bottom line. Nedegaard had a productive life and while battling a terminal illness he got entangled with wrong people in a wrong project at a wrong time with unrealistic if not wrong expectations. Others went down the same primrose path, more or less, but he was the one to put his wealth at risk in ways others avoided.
And the expectation of a train stop was handled in a way that harmed him far more than being anything like helpful.
We still have to see how, ultimately, the bone picking gets done, and who at what stage makes money off the RTC thing. And how over time such a thing comes about, is one thing we can all guess at now.
Then we wait and see.
Who will own what, acquired which ways once/if a commuter train stop is installed will be something we all can wait to see and learn from.
[photo from the linked item]