With no small amount of pride, property managers associated with Madison Equities led tours of the Degree of Honor building in 2021, showing off the former office building’s full-scale conversion into 78 housing units.
Built in the 1960s by an insurance company and women’s organization, the 10-story, granite-exterior “skyscraper” was the first building in downtown St. Paul to boast of its own air conditioning, among other highlights of its era.
The three years after its grand reopening as residences were not kind to the Degree of Honor building, leading some unhappy tenants last August to attend community meetings related to another ailing Madison Equities property in the same general corner of downtown — the troubled Lowry Apartments — which have since been condemned and boarded up by the city.
The death of Madison Equities principal Jim Crockarell in January 2024 appears to have sped the decline for the Degree of Honor, the Lowry Apartments and the company’s many other downtown properties, nine of which were put up for sale together weeks after his death.
Minnwest Bank acquired the Degree of Honor building last December for $9.58 million in a deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure sale, but it didn’t hold onto the property for long. The building has been sold again.
In late June, Altitude Capital Partners, a Chicago firm, purchased the Degree of Honor building from Minnwest Bank for $11.1 million, under the name 325 Cedar Acquisition, LLC, according to state sales records. The transaction, involving a new mortgage and limited warranty deed, included a $1.67 million downpayment.
The Degree of Honor building held an estimated market value of $15 million in 2022 and $12.57 million in 2025, according to Ramsey County property records.
For Altitude Capital Partners, this is at least the third recent residential purchase in downtown St. Paul.
The same company this year previously acquired The Jax, a 48-unit apartment building at 253 Fourth St. E. in Lowertown for $8 million, and last December paid $9 million for R7 Lofts, a boutique 48-unit apartment building at 133 E. Seventh St. in Lowertown, according to Finance and Commerce.
A call to Altitude Capital Partners was not immediately returned on Thursday morning.
Other Madison Equities properties that were put up for sale in April 2024 include the First National Bank building, the Alliance Center, 375 Jackson Square, the U.S. Bank Center, Empire Building/Endicott Arcade and Park Square Court. Some properties, like the U.S. Bank Center and Park Square Court building, are now under court-ordered receivership.
Related Articles
Science Museum of Minnesota lets go 43 people, downsizes by $7 million
Richard D. Thompson has stepped down as History Theatre’s artistic director
City promotes new off-leash dog area with ‘Yappy Hour’ at Kellogg Mall Park
City asks: Why are St. Paul’s Green Line stations going offline during Yacht Club music festival?
Pioneer Press wins four awards at annual MNSPJ Page One banquet
MCCLEAN, Va. (AP) — The average rate on a 30-year U.S. mortgage edged up this week, ending a five-week decline in borrowing costs for homebuyers.
The long-term rate ticked up to 6.72% from 6.67% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.89%.
Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also rose. The average rate increased to 5.86% from 5.80% last week. A year ago, it was 6.17%, Freddie Mac said.
High mortgage rates can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers and reduce their purchasing power. That’s helped keep the U.S. housing market in a sales slump that dates back to 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from the rock-bottom lows they reached during the pandemic.
Last year, sales of previously occupied U.S. homes sank to their lowest level in nearly 30 years. They’ve remained sluggish so far this year, as many prospective homebuyers have been discouraged by elevated mortgage rates and home prices that have continued to climb, albeit more slowly.
Related Articles
Investors snap up growing share of US homes as traditional buyers struggle to afford one
Average long-term US mortgage rate falls to 6.67%, the lowest level since early April
How homebuyers are using new technology to aid their purchase
Housing red flag: Data show increase in cancellations of home purchase agreements versus a year ago
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac ordered to consider crypto as an asset when buying mortgages
Sir Paul McCartney will return to the Twin Cities for what could be his final time when he headlines U.S. Bank Stadium on Oct. 17.
Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. July 18 through Ticketmaster.
McCartney, who turned 83 last month, has taken long breaks between local performances. He first played here in 1965 when the Beatles headlined the old Met Stadium, and he returned for shows in 1976 (St. Paul Civic Center with Wings), 1993 (Metrodome), 2002 and 2005 (both at Xcel Energy Center), 2014 (Target Field) and 2016 (two nights at Target Center).
A native of Liverpool, McCartney changed the world as a member of the Beatles. With John Lennon, he wrote the bulk of the Beatles’ songs and spearheaded 1967’s “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” But McCartney also pushed the band to record the back-to-basics “Let it Be” album, an ill-fated project that helped bring on the Fab Four’s demise and was revisited by director Peter Jackson in 2021 with the hit docuseries “The Beatles: Get Back.” Shortly before “Let it Be” hit stores in 1970, McCartney announced he had left the group.
Of all the Beatles, McCartney found the greatest success in the ’70s, fronting Wings and breaking records with his 1975-76 world tour. He spent much of the ’80s and ’90s focused on recording and other projects, mounting only two major tours in 1989-90 and 1993.
His current outing, dubbed “Got Back,” began in 2022 and included a two-night stand at Boston’s Fenway Park that drew more than 71,000 fans. In 2023, he played two shows in Mexico City in front of more than 118,000 people and three shows in Sao Paulo for a combined crowd of nearly 150,000.
McCartney’s schedule this year includes 19 North American dates, including stops in Las Vegas, Denver, Des Moines, New Orleans, Atlanta, Nashville and Montreal. In February, McCartney delighted fans when he played three nights at the 500-capacity Bowery Ballroom in New York City, each with just a day’s notice, to warm up for his gig closing the “Saturday Night Live 50: The Anniversary Special.”
In concert, McCartney typically spends up to three hours on stage and plays around three dozen songs from his entire back catalog, including his work with the Beatles and Wings. He released his 18th solo album, “McCartney III,” in 2020, although he hasn’t been playing anything from it in concert.
GENEVA (AP) — Two-time Olympic champion runner Caster Semenya won a partial victory at the European Court of Human Rights on Thursday in her seven-year legal fight against track and field’s sex eligibility rules.
The court’s 17-judge highest chamber said in a 15-2 vote that Semenya had some of her rights to a fair hearing violated at Switzerland’s Supreme Court, where she had appealed against a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in favor of track’s World Athletics.
However, on the question of Semenya being discriminated against in Swiss courts, the European court in Strasbourg, France, did not pronounce — to the frustration of four of the 17 judges in a partial dissent to the majority view.
Her case should now go back to the Swiss federal court in Lausanne. It will be watched closely by other sports which have passed or are reviewing their own rules on eligibility in women’s events.
Semenya later posted on social media a photo of herself in the court chamber with a message a three raised fists symbolizing her fight for justice.
South Africa’s Caster Semenya leaves in the European Court of Human Rights Thursday, July 10, 2025 in Strasbourg, eastern France. (AP Photo/Antonin Utz)
South Africa’s Caster Semenya speaks to lawyer Gregory Nott, right, in the European Court of Human Rights before a decision over sex eligibility rules in sports, Thursday, July 10, 2025 in Strasbourg, eastern France. (AP Photo/Antonin Utz)
South Africa’s Caster Semenya sits in the European Court of Human Rights before its decision over sex eligibility rules in sports, Thursday, July 10, 2025 in Strasbourg, eastern France. (AP Photo/Antonin Utz)
FILE -South Africa’s Caster Semenya celebrates after winning the gold medal in the final of the Women’s 800m during the World Athletics Championships in Berlin on Aug. 19, 2009. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, File)
South Africa’s Caster Semenya, center, answers reporters with lawyer Gregory Nott, left, after Semenya won a partial victory at the European Court of Human Rights on in her seven-year legal fight against track and field’s sex eligibility rules, Thursday, July 10, 2025 in Strasbourg, eastern France. (AP Photo/Antonin Utz)
1 of 5
South Africa’s Caster Semenya leaves in the European Court of Human Rights Thursday, July 10, 2025 in Strasbourg, eastern France. (AP Photo/Antonin Utz)
The original case between Semenya and track’s governing body based in Monaco was about whether athletes like her — who have specific medical conditions, a typical male chromosome pattern and naturally high testosterone levels — should be allowed to compete freely in women’s sports.
Europe’s top human rights court did not take up other aspects of the appeal filed by Semenya, who was in court Thursday to hear the judgment read. It awarded her 80,000 euros ($94,000) from the state of Switzerland “in respect of costs and expenses.”
The European court’s ruling does not overturn the World Athletics rules that effectively ended Semenya’s career running the 800 meters after she won two Olympic and three world titles since emerging on the global stage as a teenager in 2009.
Swiss court’s lack of rigor
The key legal point in Semenya’s win was that the Swiss Federal Court had not carried out a “rigorous judicial review” that was required because Semenya had no choice but to pursue her case through the CAS’s “mandatory and exclusive jurisdiction.” the Strasbourg judges ruled.
Governing bodies of sports oblige athletes and national federations to take their disputes to the sports court in the International Olympic Committee’s home city Lausanne.
“The court considered, however, that the Federal Supreme Court’s review had fallen short of that requirement,” it said in a statement.
Related Articles
Minnesota connections abound on WJC Summer Showcase roster
Lolo Jones’ Olympic Training Center ban rescinded
NHL finalizes agreement for players to participate in 2026 Olympics
Motzko fills out Team USA’s World Juniors coaching staff
Russian athletes excluded from luge at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics
In dismissing other elements of the South African runner’s case, including if she had been discriminated against, the court judged it “did not fall within Switzerland’s jurisdiction in respect of those complaints.”
World Athletics, led by its president Sebastian Coe, has said its rules maintain fairness because Semenya has an unfair, male-like athletic advantage from her higher testosterone. Semenya argues her testosterone is a genetic gift.
World Athletics and CAS did not immediately respond to the ruling. The IOC declined to comment on a case it is not directly involved in.
Second legal lap at Strasbourg
Thursday’s win followed a legal victory from the same court two years ago for Semenya.
That judgment which said she had faced discrimination opened a way for the Swiss supreme court to reconsider its decision to dismiss her appeal against the CAS verdict in favor of World Athletics.
At CAS in 2019, three judges ruled 2-1 that discrimination against Semenya was “necessary, reasonable and proportionate” to maintain fairness in women’s track events.
World Athletics drew up its rules in 2018 forcing Semenya and other female athletes with Differences in Sex Development to suppress their testosterone to be eligible for international women’s events.
Pro-Semenya judges
Four of the 17 judges filed a partial dissent to the majority opinion, arguing their court should have been able to pronounce on “substantive conclusions” reached by the CAS that went against Semenya.
World Athletics eligibility rules “specifically targeted the applicant, since they concerned only the events in which she competed — indeed, the fact that they amounted to a kind of ‘lex Semenya’ clearly demonstrates the arbitrariness of those regulations as a whole,” the four judges wrote.
“We are disappointed that her expectations have not been met,” said the dissenting judges, who included the chamber president, Marko Bošnjak from Slovenia.
Semenya’s track results
Semenya last competed internationally in the 800 in 2019, winning at the Prefontaine Classic meeting on the Diamond League circuit in Eugene, Oregon. It extended her winning streak to more than 30 consecutive races when the rules made her ineligible.
Her winning time then of 1 minute 55.70 seconds was faster than the gold medal-winning time at the 2024 Paris Olympics but not the 1:55.21 run by Athing Mu of the United States at the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021.
Semenya returned to Eugene in 2022 to race in the world championships over 5,000 but did not advance from the heats.
She is now 34 and has moved into coaching. She said recently her ongoing legal fight is about a principle rather than her own running career.
