Housing Projects Build on North Side's Residential Strength
The Twin Cities Business Journal
June 3, 2005
By Sarah McKenzie
When Thor Construction's founder Richard Copeland was born in 1955, his family lived in the Sumner-Olson housing projects on the edge of north Minneapolis -- a community recently bulldozed and replaced by Heritage Park.
Now, Copeland, head of Fridley-based Thor Construction, is one of the lead general contractors in reshaping his family's old neighborhood. "It's a responsibility I don't take lightly," he said.
Heritage Park, a 145-acre, $225 million development north of Olson Memorial Highway and west of Interstate 94, is the city's largest and most expensive residential development. When completed, it will have 900 homes -- a mix of apartments, single-family homes, townhomes and senior apartments.
While Heritage Park is the most significant and ambitious new project in north Minneapolis, community leaders and developers speak with optimism about the area's potential. They say several other housing projects in the planning stages stand to revitalize neighborhoods on the North Side.
Contrary to its perception as a beleaguered and crime-ridden area, north Minneapolis has more than a dozen diverse neighborhoods that differ significantly when comparing home-ownership rates and income levels. While the troubled areas have been under the media spotlight for years, there are bright spots that remain unnoticed.
The Hawthorne neighborhood has a median household income of $21,867 and a home- ownership rate of 35.7 percent. Meanwhile, the more-affluent Victory neighborhood on the border with Golden Valley has a median household income of $45,396, and roughly 90 percent of the neighborhood's homes are owner-occupied, according to the 2000 Census.
The new housing proposed for the area ranges from upscale condos, such as the new International Market Square Lofts near Heritage Park, to Central Community Housing Trust's plans for new apartments and townhomes at a historic maternity hospital at Glenwood and Penn avenues. The development is called Ripley Gardens.
The projects, however, are clumped along the main thoroughfare of West Broadway, along the Mississippi River and in areas with higher incomes. In rougher areas, the city is getting involved at trying to turn around troubled properties.
One of the biggest pending projects will be a major makeover of a 270-acre area northwest of downtown Minneapolis now home to the city's impound lot and concrete-crushing facility. A master plan for the site calls for new housing ranging from 1,800 to 3,800 units, park land, offices and retail. Construction would occur in phases over several years. Hoisington Koegler Group Inc., a Minneapolis-based urban planning and design firm, is helping Bryn Mawr and Harrison neighborhood leaders craft a vision for the redevelopment.
The new neighborhood and office park would be connected to Heritage Park via Van White Memorial Boulevard, a new roadway slated to run north-south through Bassett Creek Valley.
City Council Member Barbara Johnson, who represents the northwestern corner of the city, said Heritage Park will be a "good shot in the arm" for the area. She'd also like to see city officials turn their attention to possible housing development at the Upper Harbor Terminal, a barge-docking site on the Mississippi River off of Interstate 94 and Dowling Avenue.
Besides the new development, she points to an increased interest among younger families in buying older homes in the Camden area.
"Our biggest asset is our housing stock," she said.
Churches taking the lead
While the boldest plans are close to downtown, nonprofit groups and churches are taking the lead on new housing development along Broadway Avenue -- the major commercial corridor that cuts through north Minneapolis, stretching between Robbinsdale and northeast Minneapolis.
Members of St. Anne's Church are planning a new 60-unit affordable-housing complex on West Broadway between 26th and Queen avenues. The group, led by real estate investor Jeff Laux, a member of the north Minneapolis parish, plans to break ground this summer on the apartments.
Holding Forth the Word of Life Ministries International, a church at 2029 W. Broadway Ave., is also working on a proposal for a 60-unit apartment building for low-income families who have become homeless because of domestic violence, said Diane Thibodeaux, co-pastor of the church.
The church is partnering with Archie Givens, CEO of Edina-based Legacy Management and Development Corp., and Bloomington-based Welsh Cos. on the project.
After completing the apartment complex, Thibodeaux would like to focus on developing for-sale housing in the area. She's heartened by the city's efforts to revitalize West Broadway. "In the next four to five years, you're not going to recognize Broadway," she said.
High-end housing
Minneapolis City Council Member Don Samuels, who represents neighborhoods in north and northeast Minneapolis, agreed with Thibodeaux's call for more for-sale housing.
"I would like to see a string of $250,000 to $300,000 homes to balance our community," Samuels said, adding the area is already saturated with subsidized and low-income housing. "We don't support the quarantining of affordable housing in one community."
Samuels pointed to the Riverview Homes on West River Road as the type of housing he'd like to see replicated in other parts of north Minneapolis.
Tim Baylor, president of Minneapolis-based JADT Development Group, has built 29 high-end townhomes at 2313 W. River Road in the Harrison neighborhood.
The townhomes, built on the riverfront, are priced at more than $500,000. JADT plans to break ground on 59 condos and a 90-unit senior housing complex this summer, Baylor said.
In 2006, the developer plans another 150-unit condo development.
Minneapolis-based Brakins Homes Inc. has proposed another upscale housing development called Bassett Creek Woods near Theodore Wirth Park in the Willard-Hay neighborhood. The city's planning commission approved plans for seven townhomes on the 900 block of Washburn Avenue North.
Yele Akinsanya, a Nigerian immigrant who is developing Bassett Creek Woods with his wife BraVada Akinsanya, said the townhomes will have three bedrooms and be priced between $350,000 and $360,000. The couple is on a mission to increase home-ownership rates in north Minneapolis, he said.
While many community leaders embrace the plans for high-end housing, some have reservations. Clarence Hightower, president and CEO of the Minneapolis Urban League, is concerned that some areas will become gentrified. Homes priced below $100,000 are becoming increasingly hard to find, he said. "My concern is that some people will get priced out of the market."
City officials are working on increasing the number of home owners in the area through the Northside Home Fund -- a $42 million fund dedicated to improving the housing stock in north Minneapolis.
City development officials and community leaders plan to tap the fund to reposition vacant homes and help north Minneapolis homeowners improve their properties. Under a pilot project planned for the Jordan neighborhood, the city will target problem properties and, in some cases, acquire them through eminent domain and then put them back on the market.
One corner in the neighborhood, at 25th and James avenues, has been one of the city's crime hot spots. "Gang signs are etched into that street," said Samuels, who lives near the corner.
The pilot project seems like a good first step toward encouraging people to invest in the area, he said. Conditions on the corner have steadily improved in recent months after a very difficult summer in 2004, he said.
Solid homes, values
North Minneapolis has shared in the prosperity of rising home values in recent years.
The median sale price for a home, townhome or condo in north Minneapolis was $149,900 in 2004, according to the Realtor Public Policy Partnership, a group of Twin Cities residential real estate organizations. That was up 7 percent from 2003, a cool-down from the double-digit appreciation rates a few years ago.
Twin Cities-wide, the median sales price was $215,900.
Mayor R.T. Rybak predicts home values in north Minneapolis will rise even faster if city officials can put a dent in crime.
"Drive the streets of north Minneapolis and ask yourself if there are many other neighborhoods in Minneapolis that have that strong of housing stock," Rybak said in a recent interview. "So if we can get the crime issue addressed, if we can add some more basic amenities in the neighborhoods, this is the great new frontier for someone buying a home."
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