 |
One of the biggest residential developments in Minneapolis cleared its first hurdle at city hall. St. Louis Park, MN-based Bader Development’s $100 million-plus proposal was approved by the Minneapolis Planning Commission on Monday.
The company wants to construct four new buildings with a total of 744 new apartments around an existing one at 3430 List Pl., a 22-story, 113-unit apartment tower built in 1962.
Bader purchased the property in December 2016 for $31.5 million. It is located one block west of the largest in Minneapolis’ chain of lakes, Bde Maka Ska, and will be directly adjacent to West Lake Street station on the proposed $2 billion, 14.5-mile extension of the Green Line light rail line that would connect downtown Minneapolis with Eden Prairie.
Bader’s project will go up for final review by the city council in August. However, the fate of the aforementioned rail line could impact the company’s plans. The rail extension has repeatedly stalled, most recently due to a federal law suit lodged by the freight carrier, Twin Cities & Western Railroad (TC&W). The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners voted five to one on Thursday to settle with the railroad, and are poised to resolve the suit, but still face regulatory approvals and an uncertain future as regards to funding.
It is currently budgeted with the hope that the Federal Transit Administration will pitch in $928.8 million, about half of the total cost.
Back at Minneapolis city hall, a number of residents currently living around Bader’s site voiced concern about the glut of traffic that may ensue if the development went forward and the light rail extension did not.
Though he acknowledged that such a scenario is possible, President Robb Bader preferred to presume otherwise.
“If the light rail were to be rejected outright, we would review our plans with that new information,” Bader said in a prepared statement on Wednesday. “We are very supportive of the proposed light rail and optimistic that it will be approved.”
If that is the case, Bader’s project will unfold over four phases from 2019 to 2026:
Phase A would entail a 243-unit, 26-story building. Construction would begin in 2019 or 2020, and finish in 2022.
Phase B calls for a 256-unit, 26-story building. Construction would begin between 2022 and 2024, and finish in 2026.
Phase C will be the first to go up. It would include a six-floor, 124-unit building. About 20 percent of the units will be affordable for renters making at most 60 percent of the area median income, which currently stands at $94,300 in 2018, according to the Metropolitan Council. Construction would begin between 2019 and 2021, and finish in 2023.
Phase D will begin between 2022 and 2024, and finish in 2026. It would involve a seven-story building with 121 units, 100 percent of which will be affordable for renters earning a maximum of 60 percent of the local median income. Bader could also add a retail component into the mix at some later date.
The first residents would move in during 2022, a year before the light rail is scheduled to become operational. Other than the units that are classed as affordable, the pricing for the bulk of the apartments is still in flux, though executives at Bader say the development will offer a variety of rent ranges.
Bader is still assembling the land needed to go through with the plan in its entirety. It has a purchase agreement with the city of Minneapolis, Metropolitan Council and Hennepin County to buy a vacant 0.9-acre parcel to the north, which would bring the total site area to 5.4 acres.
