Onyx Apartments - 6725 York Ave - Edina

[RailBaronYarr]

I'm not sure why the city should cater to a particular class of people's expectations about their property's resale value (if it's even affected). I also disagree that streets with large apartment buildings are neither safe nor quiet - stand on a side street in Loring Park for example. "Safety" is also a major dog whistle. I'm not saying you're wrong that your typical American believes these things, just that we shouldn't let ourselves believe them just because they do.

The income discussion of new construction v constituent income+wealth is a valid point, of course. Not every neighborhood is pitting ultra-wealthy white homeowners against 100% workforce housing. Sometimes it really is apartments for techbros creeping into middle- or lower-income neighborhoods. However, call me a cynic but I doubt if Onyx (or any other apartment) had mandatory affordable units included it would make the type of people living on a block of these modest Richfield-style homes any less resistant to an out-of-scale design.

I guess there's also the part of me that really questions why a 6-story apartment with walk-up units catering to fairly well-heeled residents could pencil on the Onyx parcel but there's literally no demand for anything (even at a scale more palatable to SFH owners) on the east side of Xerxes. And as I wrote here, I have a hard time believing there isn't a ton of demand to live in 1-2BR rental units this part of town at the middle/lower income scale. In this particular case, both sides of the street are in the same school district, and my understanding is property taxes between the two cities aren't vastly different. It may not be long until these SFHs, despite their dated layout and alley-access, will become desirable enough to warrant flipping (or hell, teardowns). My sister's first house was on the 5800 block of Wooddale in Edina with a side-driveway single stall garage and a similar design to many of these homes. It sold for $300k with a finished basement.

Anyway, sorry to shit on this thread about a nearly-complete apartment project. I don't disagree that if given a visual choice between a 6-story wall and a 2-3 story one with a setback that my (raised in the suburbs) brain wouldn't prefer the latter. I just don't think there's much public good in regulating for that the next go 'round.

[sdho]

Regarding the east side of Xerxes: the Richfield comp plan does designate that land for future two-family housing. So far, I'm not aware of any interest in teardowns -- or in new smaller-scale development in the Southdale area at all. (The only thing that comes to mind is two small-scale commercial buildings at 70th & France.) I am told by some people more familiar with it that developers struggle to get financing for rentals in Richfield rather than Edina, given the precedent of fairly low rents in 55423. (There's only one newer market-rate building in the city, and it's still quite a bit cheaper than Southdale units.) So even in the same physical place, in the same school district, I guess there are some differences behind the scenes.

As these projects continue, it would be nice to see if Xerxes could become a viable, safe, "neighborhood-scale" counterpart to York. If I were looking for a new home, one of those homes on the east side of Xerxes would be great in my book: sidewalk and alley, and a walkscore that rivals many amenity-rich areas of Minneapolis. (An on-the-ground pedestrian experience that's still lacking, but getting better every year.) Lackluster midday transit and bike access to downtown would be the major turnoff.

[RailBaronYarr]

Not to perform thread necromancy here, but I spent a bit of time out near here this past weekend, and the frontage for Onyx along York is far worse than I expected it would be, and a much bigger concern IMO than the setback on the other side. If Edina had any hopes of making this stretch more pedestrian-friendly as it redevelops over the next 30 years, this was a bad first go.

[Anondson]

It really does have to be experienced in person to see the scope of counterproductive setback.

[sdho]

Not to perform thread necromancy here, but I spent a bit of time out near here this past weekend, and the frontage for Onyx along York is far worse than I expected it would be, and a much bigger concern IMO than the setback on the other side. If Edina had any hopes of making this stretch more pedestrian-friendly as it redevelops over the next 30 years, this was a bad first go.

Really? I mean, yes, it has a parking lot in front, but I think it's done reasonably well. There are 3 high-quality routes from the sidewalk to the front door. The only small thing I would have liked is for the York sidewalk to have some buffer from the lot.

Unfortunately, the "drivable urbanism" approach Edina has taken hasn't meant a lot (or any) zero-lot line developments. I'd prefer that, for sure. But I put this in the "pretty good" category, with a limited amount of surface parking and good ped access through the lot.

In the grand scheme of things, this is a bigger deal than the excessive lawn/setback on Xerxes. I just took issue with that because nobody seems to win. With York, tenants who want to be attractive to motorist customers win.