Address: 769 University Av. W., St. Paul

Type: Supportive housing

Units: 42

Cost: $11.3 million

Developer: Project for Pride in Living

Architect: DSGW Architects

Details: A late May groundbreaking is expected for a supportive-housing project in St. Paul aimed at homeless American Indian young adults.

The Ain Dah Yung Center, a St. Paul-based nonprofit agency, partnered with Minneapolis-based affordable housing developer Project for Pride in Living to construct a 42-unit building near the Victoria Street Green Line station on University Avenue West.

It received a critical boost last year when the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency provided $9.4 million in low-income housing tax-credit allocations for investors, covering the majority of its $11.3 million construction cost.

The project will be unlike any other Twin Cities housing due to its mission of serving Indians between the ages of 18 and 24, who comprise 22 percent of all homeless young people in Minnesota. Young Indians are vulnerable to the conditions that lead to homelessness but are resilient with timely support, backers said.

DSGW Architects has planned the new center to address this function with features such as a first-floor cultural center designed to accommodate sacred ceremonies; circular gathering rooms on all four floors; and large main kitchens opening into dining areas, encouraging residents to come out of their units and create "new healthy networks" of peers.