Address: 2212-2320 NE. Jefferson St., Minneapolis

Type: Workforce housing

Units: 118

Developer: Newport Midwest LLC

Architect: LHB

Details: After working for two years with the Holland Neighborhood Improvement Association and landing financing assistance from the city, Hennepin County and the Metropolitan Council, developer Newport Midwest is looking for a spring construction start on the Hook and Ladder Apartments in northeast Minneapolis.

Hook and Ladder’s 118 units are to be built as “workforce housing” with rents affordable to tenants making no more than 60 percent of the neighborhood’s median income. The 2-acre location currently hosts light industrial uses fronting the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe railroad tracks, a few blocks south of the Shoreham Yards rail hub.

Designed by LHB, the apartments will feature two buildings, each with 59 apartments. One will be built to conventional green building standards, while the other will boast something new to multifamily housing development in Minnesota — “Passive House” certification. These criteria call for an “ultratight” building requiring little energy for heating and cooling coupled with advanced ventilation design to improve air quality.

The side-by-side buildings are being showcased as a demonstration for more use of Passive House standards in multifamily construction.