In the Twin Cities, $250,000 buys you an average house. But not in Edina.
That's why developers behind Estelle, a pair of luxury condo towers near the Southdale and Galleria shopping centers in Edina, have a new plan. The slender towers, the first planned for 24 stories and the second for 20 stories, will house a more economically diverse group of residents than envisioned months ago.
One-fifth of the units will comply with Edina's affordable housing policy, developers Ryan Cos. of Minneapolis and Arcadia LLC of Edina, said Tuesday. They will present their revision of the $250 million project to the city's planning commission Wednesday night.
"Edina is not an inexpensive place to live," said Mike Ryan, market leader north region/president of Ryan A+E Inc.
The city's affordable housing policy, created two years ago, applies to all new multifamily developments of 20 or more units that require a rezoning or a comprehensive plan amendment. It says that all new rental developments will have at minimum 10 percent of the rentable square footage to be priced at 50 percent affordable rental rates or 20 percent of all rentable area to be rent restricted and occupied by those who earn less than 60 percent of the area median income.
New for-sale developments like the Estelle are required to ensure that a minimum of 10 percent of all livable area is for people who qualify for thresholds set by the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency.
To achieve such a goal, Edina is willing to offer developers a variety of incentives, including density bonuses.
For example, a one- to three-bedroom condo in the Estelle would sell for $250,000 to $350,000. Those buyers couldn't earn more than $90,400 for a one- to two-person household; for a household with three or more people the maximum income is $103,900.