Minnetonka Area – General Topics

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Anondson
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Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Postby Anondson » May 24th, 2021, 6:14 pm

That quote was something else. My eyes rolled so hard.

I mean, if someone built a parking ramp by it self and charged monthly parking, and then there were two different developers who built apartments adjacent to the parking structure. One was the 100% affordable unit, and the other developer was the 14 story market rate tower with a pool.

Then the parking structure owner reached agreements with the two apartment builders to allow the residents to park in the structure, paid with including the parking fees on the rent. Would the city have flinched?

uptownbro
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Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Postby uptownbro » May 24th, 2021, 7:59 pm

I have toured multi building luxury apartment complex's where you couldn't use the other buildings amenities.
I get having some shared ones but also its a pool in MN which can be used for all of 3-4 months maybe

QuietBlue
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Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Postby QuietBlue » May 26th, 2021, 7:42 am

I guess I'll be the contrarian, then, because I don't see the point of segregating the units unless it's to make the people in the more expensive units feel better about not having to mingle with poor people.

I live in an apartment building that is mostly market-rate, but also has some units that are specifically affordable housing units as well. A casual observer would not know which are which and the tenants have access to every amenity the rest of us do. There is zero reason why affordable units can't be integrated with market-rate in a complex of this size.

Anondson
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Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Postby Anondson » May 26th, 2021, 7:56 am

Financing.

Tax credits get used for the separate entirely affordable building. That takes a lot of time. While market rate gets off the ground promptly.

Mix affordable units in everywhere and everything screeches to a slow down?

QuietBlue
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Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Postby QuietBlue » May 26th, 2021, 8:08 am

Even if you absolutely have to build separate physical buildings for financing reasons, though, there's no reason not to allow shared access to the amenities. That is a deliberate choice they're making.

alexschief
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Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Postby alexschief » May 26th, 2021, 10:45 am

I go back and forth on this, because integration really matters, but it mainly matters in terms of public spaces and access to those spaces, like schools, parks, pools, transit, and so on. Actually having affordable units embedded in market rate buildings is good and should be encouraged, but not (I think) at the expense of critical project financing.

But separate buildings also usually means separate amenities, and in a location like this, those private amenities are often going to stand in for the public amenities where integration is critical. So building two buildings as part of a single project, and then restricting the amenities use to the market rate building only, is a problem.

twincitizen
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Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Postby twincitizen » May 26th, 2021, 1:21 pm

It seems the mistake the developers made was presenting this as one project, when it's really two projects by two separate developers. The next mistake they made was reactively pulling the project instead of stepping back and trying to educate the Planning Commission on the financing of these projects. Also, the Planning Commission can make all the sharp-tongued comments they want...the City Council has the final say, and likely wouldn't blow up this massive investment so hastily. The decision to pull the project based on comments by a body that only makes a recommendation to the Council is pretty odd. Unless the developer was also getting signals from the Council that it wasn't likely to pass...

Mdcastle
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Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Postby Mdcastle » May 26th, 2021, 8:08 pm

If you allow people from both types of units to use the amenities, then you have to make the amenities twice as big / twice as many. Which makes the entire project less feasible.

Maybe the affordable units are smaller, and it doesn't work to mix large and small units in the same building. At least in Bloomington affordable units are allowed to be smaller than market rate units, which is what made the Crowne Plaza conversion project feasible.

QuietBlue
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Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Postby QuietBlue » May 27th, 2021, 7:38 pm

It seems the mistake the developers made was presenting this as one project, when it's really two projects by two separate developers. The next mistake they made was reactively pulling the project instead of stepping back and trying to educate the Planning Commission on the financing of these projects. Also, the Planning Commission can make all the sharp-tongued comments they want...the City Council has the final say, and likely wouldn't blow up this massive investment so hastily. The decision to pull the project based on comments by a body that only makes a recommendation to the Council is pretty odd. Unless the developer was also getting signals from the Council that it wasn't likely to pass...
The PC was definitely aware of the financing situation; it was mentioned multiple times and it was acknowledged that it limited the options somewhat. And they weren't trying to "blow up" anything -- they supported the project, but had concerns about the separate facilities (and a few other things too). I wish they had probed more into the insurance/liability issue that was mentioned as a reason for the pool separation, since that didn't seem to be an issue for other amenities.

I think part of the issue too is how some of the amenities (i.e. everything in the courtyard) were planned to be shared, just not all. So it would have made the idea of it being two wholly separate buildings harder to pitch when they weren't intended to function that way. Had they really treated this as two separate projects entirely, and designed them as such, then yeah, I suspect they would have had an easier time.

Anondson
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Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Postby Anondson » August 11th, 2021, 4:49 pm

Doran’s 350 unit apartment building near Opus Station set to break ground in a month.

https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... ments.html

Korh
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Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Postby Korh » October 30th, 2021, 10:23 am

Anyone know if their planning to add a sidewalk/trail on Smetana?
I've driven on it a few times now that it's open again and I've seen some space on the new bridge but the way it's set up it looks like it'll veer off to the rest of the trails in the circles rather than going all the way up to shady oak road.

Anondson
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Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Postby Anondson » June 13th, 2022, 1:28 pm

The Doran project is well into the concrete work, and the 1980s office next door has been bought by Buhl for a mixed use project on 7 acres.

https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... ments.html

Upgrade the office and build 215 units on the parking lot.

So much activity happening at the Opus station yet nothing at the Shady Oak station. It seems the combo of LRT+Highway is vastly more attractive than LRT plus walking distance to Downtown Hopkins. At least to financing and builders.

Trademark
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Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Postby Trademark » July 11th, 2022, 1:41 pm

https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/ ... -capacity/

A NIMBY Reposne - hometownsource.com/sun_sailor/free/letter-keep-church-land-low-density/article_05127346-cafd-11ec-ab57-67ef479a5fab.html

DanPatchToget
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Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Postby DanPatchToget » July 11th, 2022, 4:03 pm

That proposal is nowhere near high density, and I highly doubt an increase in traffic from that proposal would be noticeable. Classic example of NIMBYism where they say they support something unless it's near their property.

thespeedmccool
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Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Postby thespeedmccool » July 11th, 2022, 5:26 pm

What an awful headline.

"... as [Minnetonka] reaches max capacity"

Who wrote this, a farmer?

jonnyengel
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Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Postby jonnyengel » July 12th, 2022, 8:49 am

"According to a Concept Plan submitted to the city, a parking lot and open space could become two, six-unit townhome buildings, while two single-family homes could be constructed on vacant lots on Elm Lane."

NIMBY yard signs for 14 units on vacant land???

alexschief
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Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Postby alexschief » July 12th, 2022, 9:43 am

What an awful headline.

"... as [Minnetonka] reaches max capacity"

Who wrote this, a farmer?
I wouldn't have chosen that headline, but if you read the first three sentences, it's clear that what they mean is that Minnetonka has an extremely low vacancy rate and that more housing is needed.

Anondson
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Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Postby Anondson » August 15th, 2022, 10:45 pm

New proposal for 10701 Bren Rd E, shaved down from the earlier 13 story proposal.

https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... -opus.html

Anondson
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Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Postby Anondson » October 17th, 2022, 10:39 am

I was nearby and drove through the Opus park and past the station.

It’s a remarkable make over of the station area. 3 apartments under construction within a block walk from the station. 1 other across the road is basically complete and people moving in. Then another finished a year ago that’s about a block away from the station.

Plus one more known proposal across the street from the station.

There is so much more even yet that could see redevelopment in Opus.

DanPatchToget
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Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Postby DanPatchToget » January 22nd, 2023, 2:09 pm

Luxury apartments proposed to replace a low-density office building near Wayzata Boulevard & Ridgedale Drive.

https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... e=facebook


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