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MINNEAPOLIS, MN - January 21, 2004 - Nonprofit affordable housing developer Central Community Housing Trust celebrated the grand opening today of a three-story vertical addition to the historic downtown Minneapolis Lamoreaux building.

Located on First Avenue North and Seventh Street, the building now provides 39 efficiency apartments for people earning low incomes, in addition to the 34 existing single-room occupancy units.

Completed in 1912, the Lamoreaux building was designed by the noted Minneapolis architecture firm of Long, Lamoreaux, & Long, which also designed the Minneapolis City Hall and Courthouse and Dayton's department store. CCHT bought the building in 1991 and renovated it to create single-room-occupancy housing for formerly homeless persons.

CCHT first considered the vertical expansion in 2000. CCHT Senior Project Manager Kirk Moorhead says organization staff learned that the building was designed to be five stories, though only three were built. Structural engineers contracted by CCHT determined that the building could hold not two, but three additional stories.

One of the project's initial funders was the University of St. Thomas, which had committed to replacing affordable housing lost during the expansion of its downtown Minneapolis campus.

Construction began in September, 2002, and was carried out with the building fully occupied. The project was completed in December, 2003.

"This expansion helps address the critical shortage of housing for low income earners in Hennepin County," says Moorhead. According to Housing Minnesota, three out of four people earning less than $19,999 are spending more than 30% of their income on housing, the standard measure of affordability. The new units are affordable to individuals earning $16,110 to $26,355 annually.

Central Community Housing Trust (CCHT) is an award-winning nonprofit developer of quality housing for the Twin Cities Metro Area, providing homes for more than 2,000 people annually. Since 1987, CCHT has built and renovated 23 properties, totaling 1,200 units of housing. Its mission is to create and sustain quality affordable housing that strengthens lives and communities.

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