Commons at Penn

[woofner]

The CDC will be voting on allocating $5m in bonds to the Commons at Penn project, "a four-story, mixed use building containing 45 units of affordable housing and approximately 4,500 square feet of community and programming space" at the corner of Penn & Golden Valley Rd. That $5m is more than half the budget, so I think there is a pretty good chance of this going forward soon if the bonds are approved. Here is a rendering (the fourth floor is set way back I guess):

Commons at Penn.jpg

[mplser]

I was JUST going to post something in the fantasy thread about how Penn and Golden Valley road should become the next 24th and Bloomington! They built elder housing for natives at 24th and Bloomington and I think they turned out great. Really transformed the corner.

I have a friend who lives on Golden Valley road just a block down from here, and I used to hang out there all the time when we were kids. This neighborhood is due for some development. There's certainly enough empty lots for some significant development opportunities (especially after the tornado).

[dmdhashw]

The rendering seems nice. Interesting to see a three-story development.

[Nick]

I don't want to be a negative Ned, but I don't really feel like subsidized housing and "community space" are really what North Minneapolis needs. I don't pretend to know what would be a better idea, but every major street in the area is already lined with non-profits and subsidized housing (plus vacant space, of course).

[Moderato]

This will be okay. After living about six blocks from this interesection for the last seven years, I have to concede that this will be vastly better than, say, the vacant lot and boarded, burned-out Dream Homes house on the northwest corner. My standards have just sunk so low that pretty much I'll take what we can get.

[min-chi-cbus]

^What do you suggest instead?

[Nick]

^What do you suggest instead?

No clue. But the status quo isn't working. For a while now I've wondered about the other neighborhoods in the city that get a bad rap, compared to North Minneapolis. Midtown, Cedar-Riverside, they all have social services and subsidized housing as well. But they also have a ton of legitimate commerce going on. It's not always pretty and the signs usually aren't in English, but it's commerce and there are new cars. North Minneapolis really has very little legitimate business anything going on compared to the rest of the city, including ones that have lots of low-income households.

[woofner]

It would be nice if they built it so that the "community and programming space" were convertible to retail. The watercolor I posted makes it look like that won't be the case, but then it's also missing the fourth floor that probably is there. There are a couple retail spaces across the street (although they may be gone by now, considering the rate at which the City tears down buildings on the northside) and this isn't far from W Broadway, so the retail scene would have to be pretty different for it to be really needed here. But I think the building would look better with a space that looks like retail, anyway.

Any new housing built in this area is a plus, if you ask me.

[lordmoke]

Neat info on the project:
http://finance-commerce.com/2012/11/ex- ... s-rentals/

[woofner]

Good article but it would have been nice if they'd clarified whether the building would be three stories (as seen in the rendering) or four stories (as stated in the City staff report).

[min-chi-cbus]

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/n ... using.html

Did anyone else realize that Devean George -- former Benilde St. Margaret, Augsburg College and LA Laker champ -- is leading this development? How awesome is that?! This is exactly what I would do with money if I had it like George does -- bring it back to my city and my neighborhood and invest in the community while supporting my own business. I think it's really great!

[min-chi-cbus]

Neat info on the project:
http://finance-commerce.com/2012/11/ex- ... s-rentals/

I see you brought it up first, my bad....

Still, very cool of George to do this with his post-NBA career!!

[Nathaniel]

It would be nice if they built it so that the "community and programming space" were convertible to retail ...

100% agree. I'd advocate to pursue some type of local zoning language that not only encourages but practically requires certain types of spaces to be convertible. While I would be happy to never see another Walgreen developed, if they are going to be built, to require a certain level of convertibility to other retail / other uses. For example; a Walgreens with structural beams and windows placed in a way it could eventually become 3 storefronts. If Walgreens goes under, what will we do with all the 8,300 empty stores?

Big Box Reuse (http://www.bigboxreuse.com/) is a great in some cases, but we only have a few SPAM Museums, indoor Go-Kart Tracks and Mega-Evanlegical Churches willing to fill all the depressingly empty K-Mart and Wal-Mart boxes.

[Didier]

I just read about the Deavon George connection too. Cool stuff.

[lordmoke]

Still alive!

Plans: http://minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/pub ... 125065.pdf

[grant1simons2]

Construction on this starts tomorrow

[lordmoke]

Nice little video on this from WCCO:
http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/video/329 ... nneapolis/

Sounds like the developers have more plans for the neighborhood! The development also now includes a space for the Wirth Co-Op.

[Anondson]

The developers are planning 64 more units across Golden Valley Rd from Commons at Penn.

https://twitter.com/BusinessMN/status/9 ... 9102111745