Ryan Cos. and Shorenstein are working together to build a boutique apartment building with about 165 units on a surface lot at 100 Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis.

San Francisco-based Shorenstein, a real estate investment firm, will be the owner and Ryan will provide construction and development services.

This site is sandwiched between the 222 Hennepin Whole Foods/luxury apartment project, which was developed by Ryan and recently sold to a Washington-based investor, and the Federal Reserve Bank.

The project will transform the block, which has a concrete parking garage that sits off center on the block, and a large surface lot. It'll have a low-rise apartment building that will face Hennepin Avenue and be slightly taller than the parking ramp and a narrow strip of land on the opposite side of the parking ramp along First Avenue will get a separate smaller building with several side-by-side walk-up units with tuck-under garages. There will also be retail along Hennepin Avenue at the corners of First and Second Avenues.

Renderings haven't been made public yet, Ryan presented its plans to a neighborhood group and will begin the municipal approval process immediately in hopes of starting construction before end of the year, according to Tony Barranco, Ryan's vice president of development, office and mixed-use in its north central region. Construction is expected to be completed in spring 2017 with average rents in the low $2 per square-foot range.