A NEW CONDO TOWER AT 8TH AND PORTLAND

When we asked Jim Stanton early this month about his effort to acquire a site near the Mississippi River in the Minneapolis Mill District for a condo project with upward of 400 units, Stanton revealed a different project: a condo tower elsewhere on the east side of downtown.

Crews have since been busy with site preparations for the Stanton's Portland Tower at the corner of 8th Street and Portland Avenue S. in downtown Minneapolis. And on Thursday, Stanton hosted a ceremonial groundbreaking on the 17-story tower, which is adjacent to the Sexton Lofts.

Stanton, founder of Coon Rapids-based Shamrock Development, also said this week that RJM Construction of Minneapolis will be the construction manager. Stanton is also working with Oertel Architects, BKBM Engineers, Northland Mechanical and Parsons Electric.

The 338,000-square-foot mixed-use project will have underground and aboveground parking, retail space and 112 individually owned condominium units. Stanton said he plans to complete construction during the summer of 2016.

RJM, which is based in Minneapolis but has done work across the country, will manage construction of the core and shell of the tower, but the condo units themselves will be completed by a Stanton entity called Portland Tower LLC.

This will be Stanton's ninth Minneapolis condo project. The most recent was Stonebridge Lofts, which opened last year after a near sellout within a year of hitting the market.

Jim Buchta