Two months after the rebranding of downtown St. Paul’s biggest hotel and the renovation of its ground-floor restaurant, a top-level question remains for the owners of the InterContinental St. Paul Riverfront: What will become of the old Carousel restaurant on the 22nd floor?

The rotating dining room with spectacular views of the Mississippi River and downtown St. Paul hasn’t functioned as a restaurant since 2006. After that, it was available as banquet space until October, when the former Radisson-then-Crowne-Plaza became the state’s first InterContinental hotel.

But until it’s renovated to meet the same standards as the first-floor Citizen Supper Club, the franchise agreement with InterContinental won’t allow the Carousel to reopen, said general manager Tim Blaschke.

The hotel’s new owners, the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, probably will decide what to do with it in the next year, but Blaschke said he thinks the Carousel is more likely to reopen as banquet space than as a restaurant.

Even though it would be the only downtown restaurant with a view of the river, Blaschke said there’s not a lot of demand for a rooftop restaurant, which is why the Carousel closed in 2006. He said people came there for special occasions but that wasn’t enough to sustain it.

“People still call and ask for reservations for Easter,” he said. “When we tell them it closed in 2006, they say, ‘No, I was just there last year!’ Well, no, you weren’t.”

Herb Tousley can sympathize. He is chief development manager for Exeter Group, the St. Paul company that’s converting the old downtown post office into apartments and a hotel. The Residences at Custom House will open in the spring, followed later in the year by a Hyatt Place hotel and an as-yet-unnamed restaurant.

Despite great views of the river from the upper floors, they’ve decided to situate the restaurant on the first floor facing Kellogg Boulevard with a patio on Jackson Street.

“One of the reasons we want to have our restaurant on the first floor is someone can walk right up and get into it rather than navigate through a building and up an elevator,” Tousley said. “A lot of those restaurants that have convoluted trails up to them don’t last over time.”

But Tousley believes in the attraction of a river view. Exeter is working with the city on its “river balcony” concept, an elevated walkway that would extend from Union Depot all the way to the Science Museum of Minnesota. The Custom House would connect with the walkway on the second floor.

“If and when that goes forward, we’re planning to have food service there,” he said. “Once the river balcony is in place it will be easy to access that space.”

A restaurant with a river view would be welcome downtown, said Terry Mattson, who is completing his second year as CEO of Visit St. Paul. Mattson previously was president of the convention and visitors bureau in Duluth, where redevelopment of the Lake Superior waterfront has helped revitalize the city.

“I think more and more you’re going to see ourselves bringing the Mississippi River into the fold as a way to market the community, as part of the brand,” Mattson said. “We have one of the most historic rivers in the world, historic architecture, great walkability and dining opportunities. Those are our top draws.”

Jaime DeLage can be reached at 651-228-5450. Follow him at twitter.com/JaimeDeLage.