Everything's coming up Roseville

Roseville boasts four recreational lakes, a popular regional mall and the John Rose Oval -- lauded as the area's largest outdoor artificial sheet of ice.

And with gas prices around $3 a gallon, this first-ring suburb's location about 15 minutes from the downtowns of both Minneapolis and St. Paul is what makes it popular with many home buyers.

Roseville also offers a wide range of housing, said Pete Aplikowski, a sales agent for ReMax Results who specializes in the area. The average sale price, however, is slightly higher than that of some of its neighboring suburbs. Roseville went through a post-World War II building boom, which is why 1950s-era ramblers are the bread and butter of its market, Aplikowski said.

The city was established as Rose Township in 1850 and experienced two more growth spurts in the 1970s and '80s, resulting in scores of traditional split-level houses.

In January, the average sale price of a house in Roseville was $248,882, according to the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors. But many smaller houses on lakes are being torn down and replaced with ones valued at up to $2 million.

Although Roseville is fully developed, new projects are planned, including the 170-acre Twin Lakes redevelopment, which will connect to the city's parks and trails.

The city wants to transform a blighted industrial site into a mixed-use project comprising offices, a hotel and retail space. Proposed housing includes a senior cooperative.