The verdict sounds like bad news for taxpayers, but it could have been worse. Sentinel Property Management Corp., which owns the floors beneath the downtown atrium, originally wanted to collect $4.5 million.
Louise Seeba, a city attorney, said last week's decision by a Ramsey County jury was a "great" outcome. There's a chance that tort immunity laws could protect the city from having to pay the verdict amount, she said.
"The city always properly maintained the property, and the jury's verdict reflects this position," Seeba said.
The trial capped five years of sparring among the city, New York-based Sentinel and caterer Michael Wong, who bought the park at 444 Cedar St. from the city in 2002. In a pending federal lawsuit, the city will argue that Wong's insurance policy should pay for the nuisance damages.
However, the fate of the space - once home to proms, reunions, band concerts and an iconic carousel - remains unknown. More than 250 varieties of plants and trees once thrived there under the park's glass roof.
About seven years ago, fix-up and maintenance costs prompted city officials to look for a way to unload the space. Officials estimated it would cost more than $2 million to repair the faulty glass roof, and the city's appraiser considered the property to have a negative value.
At the end of

2002, the city sold the park "as is" to Wong, of Minneapolis, who had been leasing the space for extravagant Asian-style weddings. The restaurateur paid the city $101,500 for the property.
But Wong's business never took off. Sentinel sued the city and Wong, saying both parties allowed the glass roof to fall into disrepair. Wong also failed to maintain his water features and planters, the suit alleged, causing water to spill onto the lower-floor offices.
Sentinel documented 30 water leaks, two of which they deemed "catastrophic" in court papers. The two leaks flooded one of the building's major tenants, the Minnesota Public Safety Department's division of emergency management.