urbanMSP

Rehab/new building of 40-100 units of housing on the Old Home site at University and Western.

21. OLD HOME DAIRY

Aurora St. Anthony Neighborhood Development Corp. has signed a deal for the former Old Home Dairy site at 300--378 W. University Ave.and partnered with Sand Cos. Up to 100 units of mixed-income housing will be built near the Western Avenue light-rail station. The $32 million project would come in phases.

Plans are still in the predevelopment stages, but one of the original dairy buildings could be classified as historic, opening the gate to possible state and federal historic tax credits.

http://www.twincities.com/stpaul/ci_205 ... g-up-whats

A rendering is in this presentation to the Corridors of Opportunity committee on page 7.
http://www.metrocouncil.org/planning/CO ... hments.pdf

Rendering of the proposed Old Home redevelopment:

http://www.twincities.com/stpaul/ci_218 ... benefiting

My initial take is "blah". I would have preferred some attempt to incorporate the Art Deco aspects of the existing Old Home building into the proposed expansion.

I mean, they are... kinda... using deco step downs and step backs, but it looks like fauxstoric at it's worst unless they really use stone on the forward tower areas, and get some good detail in there...



I think they would have been better off making the taller more dominant part of their facade on the opposite corner rather than in the center next to the older building. That would give it a better corner appearance and compete less with the historic building. The old building is SO deco, elegant and simply understated that a Block E style imitation next door could go real bad. (something more like 222 with a tower on the corner would have gone nice)

Yeah! What ever happened to composition? Comp is a major player in what makes art deco so appealing and other great works of architecture. I'm not saying you can't have good architecture without a properly composed site so long as it's intentional rather than overlooked.

I would like it to take the shape more of something like the Ivy
http://assets.bizjournals.com/twincitie ... 80.jpg?v=1
... where the historic portion is preserved and complemented by something new and respectful. the location is great for something 8 floors tall.

City of Saint Paul <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, January 14, 2013

Old Home Plaza - Early Notification

1. Applicant’s Name: Sand Companies, Inc and Aurora St.Anthony
Neighborhood Development Corporation (ASANDC).

2. Project Description: The Old Home Plaza site consists of approximately 2
acres of vacant underutilized industrial land. The new development will
include converting the existing historic Old Home Dairy building and new
construction to create approximately 57 units of affordable live-work housing
near the Western Station light rail stop. In addition there will be
approximately 11,000 square feet of retail/commercial space.

3. Location of Project (street address): 370 University Avenue, Saint Paul, MN
55104
District Council # 8

4. Amount of Financial Assistance Being Requested: Approx. $1,558,361

5. Contact Person for Questions on Project:
Name: Diane Nordquist
Phone number: 651-266-6640
Email address: [email protected]

Found this presentation for "Old Home Townhomes": http://www.stpaul.gov/DocumentCenter/View/63602

Nice! Those are awesome! I want to see more of that. MOAR!

A conditional use permit was applied for which is requesting up to 65' height from 45'. possibly 57' height.

Drove by this site earlier this week and noticed fencing and a construction trailer on site.

It's not every day you see sword play on University Avenue.

I just received my new Monitor local news paper and there a bunch of University Ave development updates. The info isn't online yet but here's what it had to say about this project:

-This received a $177,600 grant from Metropolitan Council for soil remediation and soil vapor mitigation.

It's not every day you see sword play on University Avenue.

I'll go ahead and acknowledge this. -1

Drove by this site earlier this week and noticed fencing and a construction trailer on site.

Does anyone know if construction has actually started here yet?

Drove by this site earlier this week and noticed fencing and a construction trailer on site.

Does anyone know if construction has actually started here yet?

Nope. And the trailer on site has been there for about a year now, I believe.

I believe the town home portion of the project in the presentation document listed a Q2 2014 construction start time. granted, that document is nearly a year old now, so things might be a bit off on timing.

There's a sign on the side of the Old Home building calling this "Western U Plaza".

Scrolling down to page 13... this thing is big. It takes up the whole block, not just the University frontage.

Planning to break ground this summer with a 12 month construction period.

Also on a very loosely related note- does anyone know what the story is regarding the gorgeous-but-decrepit art deco structure on University and Griggs? That's one of my favorite buildings on University, and I honestly can't tell whether or not it's abandoned.