The brass at Thor Construction is targeting north Minneapolis.
For commercial development, jobs and housing.
And that's a good thing. Because the North Side, with the highest proportionate concentration of minorities and lowest incomes, is the weak link in the Twin Cities economy. Despite pockets of new commercial development along W. Broadway and Lowry Avenue, and a sprinkling of new houses, the core neighborhoods are still plagued by crime, high unemployment, boarded-up housing and resident flight thanks to the 2006-09 mortgage crisis.
Yet that dour theme since the 1980s is contradicted on some blocks and commercial corners. And there is hope of better days ahead.
Thor, the largest black-owned business in Minnesota, is negotiating for land with Hennepin County and plans to move its headquarters next year from Fridley to a vacant lot at Plymouth and Penn avenues. Thor principals also are forming a new company, Sm+rt Homes. It will site and sell high-quality, urban-style manufactured housing at up to 25 percent less than the cost of site-built housing to help fill at least some of the 500-plus vacant lots created when government razed abandoned, tax-forfeited property.
Home valuations are rising throughout north Minneapolis amid the housing shortage.
"I've seen nice manufactured product and this sounds fantastic," Constance Vork, a North Side resident and real estate agent, said of Sm+rt Homes. "The North Side market has come back. There haven't been as many teardowns. Housing prices are rising. Last weekend, my group had three listings sell after multiple offers in the Homewood and Old Highland neighborhoods. All three sold for over their listed prices of $150,000. We just don't have enough houses to sell."
The principals of Sm+rt Homes, Thor CEO Ravi Norman and construction manager Gary Findell, say their houses will demonstrate that modular housing, designed with an urban look and modern-day amenities, and high energy efficiency and garages, can be delivered, including lots, for $180,000 to $240,000 — a significant discount to the $300,000-plus houses that have been developed at several North Side sites by other developers.