Plans are taking shape for an affordable housing development in St. Anthony, where a nonprofit developer is looking to build a 70-unit project only a stone's throw from the city's now-shuttered mobile home park.
Neighbors packed the community center Monday night for a first glimpse of the $18 million project, still in its infancy. The land is owned by Bremer Bank, which plans to replace its existing building with a smaller, stand-alone branch office near the new apartment project.
Aeon, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit, wants to build income-restricted apartments on a 1.8-acre site next to land that for decades housed Lowry Grove mobile park. The park was closed last year, displacing residents in nearly 100 households — many of them low-income — and will soon be replaced by market-rate apartments, senior housing and an assisted-living facility.
On Monday, Lowry Grove anchored much of the community's feedback about the separate project next door. Some said they want the apartments to be even more affordable.
Aeon, which has not yet submitted a formal land-use application, is proposing a four-story building with 16 one-bedroom units, 36 two-bedroom units and 18 three-bedroom units affordable to those who earn 60 percent or less of the area median income.
Depending on income level, rents would range from $531 for a one-bedroom apartment to $1,471 for a three-bedroom.
Several people noted Monday that the rents would be out of reach for larger families forced from Lowry Grove, who paid about $450 monthly before the park closed.
Antonia Alvarez, a Lowry Grove community organizer and former resident, decried the area's lack of affordable options and asked whether her former neighbors would get preference in the new rentals. "One hundred families lost their homes," she said.
