Ripley Gardens grows on you
Star Tribune - May 24, 2008
In the middle of north Minneapolis, near avenues of foreclosed houses dirtied by trash and drug deals, lies something of an oasis. Large green spaces, a memorial garden, a two-level garage and -- affordable housing?
"The image that a lot of people have about affordable housing is pretty negative," said Matthew Hendricks, a project manager for Aeon Homes that developed Ripley Gardens.
"But some of these properties, you'd never think it was affordable housing walking by."
The $16 million, 60-unit living complex received the Adaptive Reuse Project award from the Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission Thursday.
The complex sits on a 1.9-acre site on the corner of Glenwood and Penn Avenues and blends both low-income and market-rate housing. It has been a huge boost for the Harrison neighborhood.
"A development like this provides quality and affordable housing for the community, it's a multi-million dollar investment in the community, and it leverages other investment dollars into the community," said Larry Hiscock, director of the Harrison Neighborhood Association.
"If they're able to be successful, it signals to other people that they can be successful," Hiscock added.
According to Hiscock, land next to the complex with an abandoned gas station and vacant lots was purchased by investors who seek to develop commercial retail space with 30 units of housing above it.
Ripley Gardens resident Yahya Abdulrahman, 52, agrees that the project has become an asset to the community. He said that even though he still sees drug deals and violence across the street, none of it spills onto his block.
"If a person keeps up their property well, you won't even walk on their grass because you see the value and time they put into it, and you respect it," Abdulrahman said.
A good living space can also fuel ambition, he said.
"If you're driving a Pinto, you feel like Pinto material," Abdulrahman said. "But if somebody gives you a Mercedes, you start thinking, 'Maybe I'm Mercedes material.' Living here has been that for me. It's allowed me to believe in myself."
The former south Minneapolis resident plans to get certified for alcohol and drug abuse counseling.
Abdulrahman, who left his job as a resource coordinator for the United Methodist Church four years ago to care for his 5-year-old special-needs son, uses government subsidies to help pay for his $965-a-month unit. His final rent for the roughly 1,400-square-foot unit with a fireplace and vaulted ceiling: $325.
Most units are very affordable. According to Hendricks, the 26 low-income apartments range from $390 to $1,000. An additional 26 market-rate properties, available to anybody, range from $800 to $1,200. The eight townhomes, built through Habitat for Humanity, begin with $130,000 mortgages and "hundreds" of hours of "sweat equity," or the effort devoted to a project.
"There are folks there that could easily afford to live somewhere else but choose to live there," said Hendricks, noting that there are a few tenants who earn more than $90,000 a year. "But then there are four apartments reserved for formerly homeless individuals."
Ripley Gardens sits on the site of a maternity hospital built in 1886 by Martha Ripley, one of the nation's first female doctors. It helped spark a revolution in the care of mothers and babies.
"The main word that everybody says when they come here is 'peaceful,' " Abdulrahman said. "Peaceful, night and day."
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