urbanMSP

CEDARst, the Chicago-based developer who bought the Duffey Paper building on Washington after the affordable housing project fell through, has purchased the remaining Duffey properties on 3rd St for a three-building apartment development.
The Bizjournals article is locked, but the plan is for 310 apartments and 22ksf of retail space between the two warehouses at 3rd St and 6th Avenue, and a 284 space parking ramp wrapped in 34 more apartments and 20ksf of retail space on the existing parking lot at 7th and 3rd, adjacent to the new Nordic parking ramp.

Bowling alley. Ice rink on the roof. 534 apartments when you count the building on Washington

It's insane. I'd be very impressed if they can pull of that list of amenities AND get the rents they need. .

Too much to hope for the two renovations to get underway and then the parking ramp falls through...?

Serious comment: this is really ambitious. Because each building seems somewhat reliant on the others for the full suite of amenities, I imagine they will have to launch them somewhat concurrently. That'll be a big undertaking. Also the design of the parking ramp will be a point of contention, given its context. Curious what they will come up with. This seems one of the more challenging development proposals that Minneapolis has seen in a while.

The first Duffey project begins in 30 days. Nice.

Am I reading this right that CEDARst has even more planned for the Twin Cities?

Interesting to see them make a move in the Twin Cities. They've pushed the envelope of developing in less popular areas with a focus on re-use.

Bowling alley. Ice rink on the roof. 534 apartments when you count the building on Washington

Psst. Put a curling rink in the basement.

The Development Tracker reports on plans for 2 of the Duffy Paper buildings as well as an apartment lined ramp for the surface lot.

Tons of retail, tons of interesting amenities, good looking buildings, not a crazy amount of parking. I like it. Thought it deserved its own thread.

https://www.tdtmpls.com/news/2020/6/15/ ... op-project

I see this changing the character of the neighborhood,

Packet: https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/download ... fy%20Paper

CPED staff requests:

The new construction building on its own does not comply with the minimum floor area ratio in the B4N district. The applicant is seeking a variance to reduce the minimum floor area ratio from 2 to 1.54. Parking area is not counted toward the minimum floor area requirements. Staff is requesting feedback on this variance application

This is a kind of funny moment when the surrounding context actually supports an increase in the development intensity of this parcel. The new construction in this development is primarily parking wrapped with housing, but it is only five stories—meaningfully shorter than its surroundings, including the housing-wrapped parking structure of The Nordic. It is curious that the developers here really seem to have run out of ideas once they reached the top of this new building; there is no rooftop amenity proposed, and the housing component does not reach higher than the parking structure behind.

I am a broken record on these things, but I hope the CoW would encourage at least an additional one to two floors on the new construction parcel, which potentially could even be double-loaded. That would help bring the height up to match its surroundings, and far more importantly would add more residential units to this area. There's also an opportunity for more creative thinking about rooftop amenities, perhaps connecting to the semi-public space alongside The Nordic.

I really do like the design however. If they VE out those industrial modern windows, I'll be disappointed.

Broke out the calculator, and it looks like two more floors that are a copy of the second floor (or one more double-loaded floor if the parking ramp doesn't get taller) would get them to the 2.0 FAR minimum and not require a variance. Hopefully the CoW pushes for that.

I'm super curious about the "member's area" in the 300 building, which seems like a (downsized) version of the lifestyle centers Life Time is building now. Between the separate lobby and elevator, and just the sheer size, I've gotta assume memberships will be available to the public, not just for residents of this complex, right? Seems like a lot of stuff for just 350 units.

I think that residents of their other development on Washington would also have access to these amenities.

I was also confused by the lack of anything on the roof of the new construction... even a green roof or grill area would be appreciated by the residents I'd think.

I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but the plans for the new building (246 7th Ave) sure look like it's going to be a grocery store. There's separate parking access and ~18,000 sqft. My question is which one? Aldi? Cub? another Lund's? or maybe the first small-scale Hy-Vee?

I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but the plans for the new building (246 7th Ave) sure look like it's going to be a grocery store. There's separate parking access and ~18,000 sqft. My question is which one? Aldi? Cub? another Lund's? or maybe the first small-scale Hy-Vee?

A downtown ALDI would be great.

I would say a Cub is mostly likely? They seem to be having success with their other location off of Hiawatha. I could see them being successful. Maybe a Hyvee? For some reason I doubt Alidis.

Any would be a huge win for the area as both target and whole foods are a hike away. I dont see Hyvee as they are more catered to large formats in the brubs(and have slowed there expansion here) but an aldi like the one in lynlake or a small format cub would be great.

What are the chances of a small form Target with a CVS? They could cater it to the neighborhood, more than Nicollet location is.

Yeah, I'd thought a new mini-Target might make sense here, even though the main downtown Target isn't too far away as the crow flies.

Apparently the Uptown Target is at 21k SF, for comparison.