Uptown neighborhood apartment complex to get Aldi, not Trader Joe's

A much-coveted site in south Minneapolis will get 77 apartments atop a 20,000-square-foot Aldi store near where a Trader Joe's had been proposed.

Years in the works, Master Properties shared its revised plans for the Rex 26 apartment project with the Minneapolis Planning Commission this week. The project is slated for a site on the east side of Lyndale Avenue at 26th Street S. on a 0.73-acre site that was once the home of Rex Hardware, which was demolished.

The developer has asked the city for several variances and a conditional-use permit for a five-story structure in an area where the limit is four stories. The site includes a total of six lots; two are currently vacant and four of the lots have houses that will be demolished. Originally, the developer wanted to build a six-story building.

Because the first floor of the building is 20 feet high, it counts as two stories, so the project actually has only three floors of apartments above the Aldi; city code considers it a five-story building.

Other key elements:

• A proposed outdoor community space on the third floor facing Lyndale Avenue.

• Primary exterior materials of brick, flat metal panels and a pressed metal panel.

• 152 parking spaces in two floors of underground parking to be shared by residents and shoppers. Passenger vehicles and delivery trucks would access the site off Lyndale Avenue S. Vehicle traffic would exit the site via a curb cut on West 26th Street.

Read more 'Just Listed' at startribune.com/justlisted