Grain Belt Terrace
1215-19 Marshall Street Northeast, Minneapolis
Type: Apartments Units: 151 Developer: Everwood Development Architect: Kaas Wilson Architects
Details: After years of trying to put together a viable redevelopment effort for the city-owned historic Grain Belt Brewery office building and an adjacent 2.5-acre lot on Marshall Street N.E., a proposal from Vadnais Heights-based Everwood Development has moved closer to the finish line after receiving city approvals.
Under the Grain Belt Terrace proposal, the 1893 office building that once was the nerve center for the mammoth Grain Belt brewing complex will be rehabilitated for office space and the lot would become home to a pair of market-rate apartment buildings holding 151 units.
The project would also incorporate a plaza featuring the preserved foundations of the Orth brewery, which was the city's first brewery and a corporate predecessor of Minneapolis Brewing Co., which became Grain Belt, as well as a block-long pedestrian promenade that preserves views of the complex's landmark brew house, which was sold to Ryan Companies in 2001 and renovated.
The city last year granted development rights for the properties to Everwood, which is to buy them for $1.4 million, after several earlier attempts with other would-be developers fell through. After the Grain Belt Terrace plans underwent some fine-tuning, the Minneapolis Planning and Heritage Preservation commissions each signed off on them late last month, giving the effort a long-sought green light.
The renovated office building will become the new home for Kaas Wilson Architects, who drew up the designs for the effort, while the apartments will be built without a public subsidy, according to city documents.
Don Jacobson is a freelance writer in St. Paul. He can be contacted at hotproperty.startribune@gmail.com
