Senior housing coming to Mill District

Senior housing coming to Mill District

After years of planning, construction is underway on a mixed-use project in the Minneapolis Mill District that will be the first in downtown to combine income-restricted rental apartments with senior housing.

Eagle Iron Partners, the master developer, will build a six-story building with 150 units and about 15,000 square feet of retail space. The building will be next to a five-story, market-rate senior apartment building called Abiitan Mill City, which will be developed by Ecumen, a senior housing nonprofit, and have 151 rental units specifically for seniors, including independent living and memory care units. The project will also have a fitness center and restaurant that will be open to the public.

The two-block site is at the corner of 2nd Street and 3rd Avenue S. near the Mississippi River and just down the street from the Guthrie Theater. It's one of the last open parcels of land in the Mill District and is now a surface parking lot.

Matt McNeill, director of business development for Ecumen, said that site work is underway, including securing the site and preparing for excavation. Crews are now focusing on environmental cleanup, which will take at least a month. Then crews will start work on footings and foundation. Both projects are scheduled to open in fall 2016. For information go to millcityquarter.com or abiitan.org.

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June is the month for sales, bargains

Those are sales that run nationally, but independent, local retailers offer even better bargains. Here are a few:

• On June 12 to 14, Cooks of Crocus Hill treats its customers to its annual yard sale in front the St. Paul store at 877 Grand Avenue. Co-owner Marie Dwyer and her staff haul out cookbooks, cookware, knives, linens and gadgets and discount them 50 percent to start and up to 80 percent as the weekend progresses. Used stuff from the cooking school is "dirt cheap," Dwyer said.

• I wish more Twin Cities neighborhoods were as savvy at customer appreciation as 50th and Xerxes in Minneapolis. During its Summer Shop & Stroll sale June 19 to 21, participating shops take 20 percent off storewide, including Gallery 360, Vinaigrette, Minnesota Honey Co., Loft Antiques, Hunt & Gather and Dunn Brothers Coffee.