Among the thousands of new apartments planned in Minneapolis, most are market-rate. Not all. Steve Minn, principal at Lupe Development, has plans to build a 91-unit apartment building for low-income renters.
The site is at 520 SE. 2nd St. in Minneapolis, just across from a condo building that Minn's group developed in 2005 called Flour Sack Flats condos. Minn recently selected a general contractor for the project, Black/Dew of North St. Paul, and he hopes to break ground in July for occupancy expected in early 2013. Leasing won't begin until six months before occupancy. Rents will range from $630 to $675 for a studio, and $745 to $891 for a one-bedroom unit.
The area is poised for massive change. The site is adjacent to a parcel where Doran Companies plans to build the Mill/Main luxury apartments, and is near the Pillsbury A Mill complex, where Dominium plans to redevelop the historic buildings into several hundred low-income rentals, primarily for artists.
Minn's project is within two historic districts, including the St. Anthony Falls Historic District and the East Side Milling Railroad Corridor Historic District. The building will have a rooftop deck, a solar system and a business center, and Minn said that he hopes to attract people who work downtown and at the University of Minnesota who might want to walk to work. The project is only a block to the Stone Arch Bridge, a former railroad crossing that links southeast Minneapolis to downtown.
