Where: Northeast corner, Third Street NW & 1st Avenue NW, Osseo

Type: Apartments

Units: About 70

Parking: 110 spaces Developer: The Beard Group

Details: Among the new wave of apartment projects springing up around the Twin Cities are those seeking to tap the synergies of the downtown "Main Streets" of older, first-ring suburbs.

The Beard Group has specialized that concept, with recent apartment projects going up in long-established suburban downtowns in Hopkins and Robbinsdale where blight had taken hold and city officials were seeking redevelopment to help revitalize the areas.

The same is true in Osseo, where the city was looking to redevelop the 1.25-acre "Block 6," located one block west of Central Avenue, the suburb's "Main Street." It consists of three vacant lots and two occupied single-family homes that the city would purchase and demolish under a redevelopment effort.

After winning $950,000 in Hennepin County and Metropolitan Council grants, the city put out a call for bids -- the Beard Group answered and this week the Osseo City Council approved a preliminary development concept put forward by the developer and architects Momentum Design Group.

Under Beard's current proposal for the Five Central Apartments, the building would consist of about 70 units, two more than an earlier version, including 30 two-bedroom units, 28 one-bedrooms, and six each of studio and three-bedroom units. Rents would range from $925 per month for a one-bedroom to $1,800 per month for a three-bedroom unit.

The project would also contain 14 income-restricted units. The units would have higher-end finishes, including granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, solid wood cabinets and 9-foot ceilings.

Developer Bill Beard told the council he intends to begin the site plan approval process in November with an anticipated spring groundbreaking.

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