Type: Multifamily

Units: 195

Developer: Elsey Partners

Architect: Prime Design

Details: Construction on the first building of a new 195-unit apartment complex along 27th Avenue SE. in Minneapolis is set for a spring start after the project received final approvals from city officials this month.

The still-unnamed complex from Manhattan, Kan.-based Elsey Partners will kick off with the building of the southernmost of its two six-story phases along 27th Avenue, now the site of the former Smith-Sharpe brick foundry and an abandoned Soo Line railroad spur. That will be followed by a second six-story phase, scheduled to be completed by summer 2018.

The two sections are to be connected by a two-story link, designed in part to break up the "massing" of the buildings — as sought by Prospect Park neighbors and city planners — as well as to allow for the movement of air through a private, 4,100-square-foot outdoor plaza.

Elsey said the project is primarily aimed at students attending the nearby University of Minnesota, and so includes a bicycle parking space for each for the complex's 450 beds. As part of the first phase of construction starting this spring, the developer will build out the entirety of a 140-stall underground parking ramp, the private plaza and enhanced landscaping along 27th Avenue.

The unit mix is set for 42 one-bedrooms, 81 two-bedrooms, 42 three-bedrooms and 30 four-bedrooms, with amenities including on-site management, a workout facility, in-unit washer/dryers and granite countertops.

Don Jacobson is a St. Paul-based freelance writer. He can be contacted at hotproperty.startribune@gmail.com.