Type: Mixed use

Senior housing units: 64

Office space: 5,700 square feet

Developer: Episcopal Homes

Architect: Cuningham Group

Details: After plans for a six-story combination of senior housing and church office space near Loring Park were rejected by neighbors last year, Minneapolis officials granted approvals for a scaled-down version of Episcopal Commons.

Episcopal Homes, the Episcopal Church of Minnesota and St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral first floated redevelopment plans for 1730 Clifton Place in 2014. An existing office building would be demolished and replaced with a mixed-use building of market-rate senior housing, 10,000 square feet of church office space, a small retail element and new underground parking.

Neighbors objected to its height and its impact on traffic. The developers last year reduced the building's height to four stories, but the design encountered more objections.

Now, a third version, still at four stories, won a conditional use permit and a height variance on a unanimous vote of the commissioners. As redesigned by the Cuningham Group architects, the project has 64 housing units, but the amount of office space was reduced to 5,700 square feet.

The Rev. Michael Pipkin, a missioner with the Episcopal Church of Minnesota, told the planning commission the project is likely the most community-friendly proposal the city would see for the spot. In 2007, an eight-story residential high-rise was proposed but not built.

Groundbreaking is set for March 28, with completion expected early next year.

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