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Townhouses planned for 49th and Vernon in Edina

For the Minnesota Star Tribune

April 19, 2013 at 4:15AM

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

5109-5125 W. 49th St., Edina

Type: Townhouses

Units: 16

Developer: Hunt Associates

Architect: BKV Group

Details: Minneapolis-based developer Hunt Associates has received preliminary approvals to tear down a pair of small, 1950s apartment buildings and an adjacent single-family house near Hwy. 100, replacing them with 16 attached townhouse units.

The Edina City Council on Tuesday OK'd a preliminary planned unit development rezoning and an amendment to the city's comprehensive plan to accommodate the Vernon Avenue Townhouses after asking for and receiving a series of changes.

The proposal was praised by the city's planners as a creative use of the property in part because it would "engage" a stretch of Vernon, one of Edina's busiest and most visible thoroughfares — the current apartments face quiet W. 49th Street. The plans would reorient the layout to make Vernon a focal point, erecting eight of the attached units along the street.

Hunt said the project would act as a buffer between the single family homes to the north and the GrandView commercial district to the south, while also adding a new public sidewalk/bike trail along the western edge of the property to connect the two areas.

The medium-density townhouse proposal came after the city's Planning Commission last year rejected 98- and 60-unit senior housing pitches from the developer for the site.

The two-story units, aimed at "younger empty-nesters," would range in size from 3,120 to 3,600 square feet and feature individual tuck-under garages.

Don Jacobson is a freelance writer in St. Paul. He can be contacted at hotproperty.startribune@gmail.com.