Emboldened by the recent success of his StoneBridge Lofts condo building in the Minneapolis Mill District, long-time developer Jim Stanton plans to build 400 luxury condos on a nearby site. The Coon Rapids-based developer said that he's inked a deal to buy a 189,000 square-foot warehouse building that occupies nearly a full city block at the corner of 12th Avenue and 2nd Street South near the intersection of Washington Avenue and Interstate Hwy. 35W. Stanton will pay about $8 million for the site when the deal closes in mid May, he said. The property had been marketed by Thomas Lelich, a broker with CBRE Group.
The warehouse was mostly recently occupied by Cenveo Inc., a Stamford, Connecticut-based printing company. Stanton said he hopes to build 400 units in one or two towers, possibly in two phases depending on the strength of the market.There was no doubt that his timing was good when he built the 164-unit StoneBridge Lofts next to Gold Medal Park. The project was nearly sold out by the time construction was completed last year. About 10 blocks south, Stanton is about to start building Portland Tower, a 17-story with 112 units. The bulk of the units will range from $300,000 to $800,000.
Stanton, who has developed thousands of housing units in the metro, is still working on renderings and has to seek municipal or neighborhood approvals on the latest Mill District project.
