A Metropolitan Council committee on Monday reviewed funding for $6.5 million in transit-oriented development grants for seven projects involving housing, plazas and public art — all near public transit. The Met Council will consider the requests on Nov. 12.
The developer Aeon, which is pitching a $15.8 million 65-unit affordable apartment development in Prospect Park, has asked for $1.4 million for site acquisition and demolition costs connected with the project.
The city of St. Paul has requested $650,000 for Vandalia Tower, a $4.6 million project that involves turning seven factory buildings along Vandalia Avenue into a campus setting with a 30,000-square-foot plaza. The project calls for new pedestrian links to transit stops and bike paths, and a plaza for stone seating areas, stormwater-fed fountains and landscaped "rooms."
An application from the city of Minneapolis is asking for $500,000 to help with a $56 million project that calls for 150 units of affordable housing for seniors, 105 independent senior living units and a 45-bed memory care unit. Called Mill City Quarter, the project is on 2nd Street S. between 3rd and 5th Avenues S. — not far from the Government Plaza Station served by both the Green and Blue lines.
The city also requested $1 million for environmental abatement to clear the way for 133 apartments that line the park that is part of the Downtown East mixed-use project. A third grant proposal, also for $1 million, calls for asbestos abatement needed to rehab the historic Plymouth Building into a boutique hotel.
Along the Northstar Commuter Rail line, the city of Ramsey has requested $580,000 to help with a $9 million, 47-unit affordable housing complex called Sunwood Village. Four units will be set aside for long-term homeless households.
Along the Southwest light-rail corridor, Hopkins hopes to win $1.33 million to help reconstruct 8th Avenue into the "ARTery," a pedestrian-friendly corridor replete with public art.
