urbanMSP

http://www.rejournals.com/2015/12/15/do ... nneapolis/

I found this interesting: "Target residents will be those with incomes ranging between $50,000 and $60,000 a year." Any thoughts on what rents will be based on that guidance? It would be nice to see some units priced under $1,000, but I'm not that optimistic.

People making 50k who are willing to spend up to 40% of their take home on rent

Most places seem to have 2.5 or 3x requirements for your rent to gross monthly income, so that'd be $1400-$1600--pretty in line with other new market rate units.

Also 55k is the median income around here and and spending 30-40% of your gross on housing is pretty normal these days too.

Bad Waitress moving into the first floor.

https://www.facebook.com/12045625130325 ... =1&theater

I took a tour of this property a couple weeks ago and can say at this time the building in the back where the parking is is currently part of "phase II" as they refer to it as. Not sure of a timeline here, but as of right now it is not actively being built but is still planned.

Overall, it is a rather impressive property. They are doing their best to keep the feeling of the old warehouse, which can be tough. Especially considering IMO the building isn't all that unique or special, but because of this they are placing a much higher importance on incorporating what they can into the new. A good example of this are the old sliding doors, they are finding a way to keep these in the building and use them somewhere. Not all of them yet have homes but they are trying to find places for them.

Here are a few shots from the work being done:

View from the warehouse basement looking towards the new underground parking.


Wood work on ceilings of apartments



The new "party room" or "gathering space" addition on the roof, per contractors this is not visible from the street level.


More roof work


The basement


One of the condos/apartments

And when I say not unique or special, I'm not referring to the historical history but the building itself

Eyebrow arched windows, boxed off, and then filled in with a half circle.. that looks silly.

No, they're round arch on the exterior. What's wrong is that upper sash, should be a rectangular sash with an arched opening to meet up with the exterior shape. Fills that awkward gaps on the interior.

Oh wow, I didn't notice that exterior is actually a brickmold half circle arch.. That's even more strange! Half circle exterior, eyebrow inside.. wierd.


Edit, I see the back side of the building has on the exterior side the archtop windows. I'm assuming at some point a new brick facade with the half circle units was added to the two street facing sides. That's interesting.

The segmental (curve, eyebrow) actually supports the opening, the round arch top is more or less a decorative treatment in the final brick face. From a construction standpoint, the eyebrow uses less custom cut material and takes less time.

I toured this property again last month and as of then they are almost completely filled. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by the work that was done here. I think they did a real good job of preserving aspects of the old building and incorporating it into the new. From speaking with the developers and owners they took a lot of pride in doing so and were proud pointing out things they preserved. They have a lot of historical photos on display from the historical society. The furniture in the front lobby are replicas in design of the furniture that formerly came out of the building. The wood of the interior stairway is wood that was previously used in the building and rehabbed.

Here are some more photos:

Wow that skyline shots really shows how terrible the roads are in that neighborhood.

I think all of the pictures taken are beautiful. Thank you for sharing.

That's a fantastic looking building.

Wow that skyline shots really shows how terrible the roads are in that neighborhood.

Red Stag is a pretty awful place to eat outside because of the roads over here. Semis come screaming down First Ave just feet from your table, rattling everything, making it smelly and impossible to hold a conversation.

Wow that skyline shots really shows how terrible the roads are in that neighborhood.

Red Stag is a pretty awful place to eat outside because of the roads over here. Semis come screaming down First Ave just feet from your table, rattling everything, making it smelly and impossible to hold a conversation.

Three lanes in one direction on 1st is ridiculously wide for the amount of traffic - all the way up to the bridge there's rarely much of a wait, even during rush hour. Think of how much better the pedestrian experience would be if they pulled a lane and had a generous sidewalk (with landscaping even!).

Or a protected bike lane, or a transit-only lane...

Personal belief: a road diet won't happen here in the near future because none of the pro-road diet groups will ever agree on what to do with it.

Seems like most of the streets in this hood could be three lanes two directions (one lane in each direction plus turn lanes). Maybe primary streets like Central or Hennepin could have peak bus-only lanes and off-peak parking.