Apartment Construction Boom (2011-??)

[lordmoke]

I love that they were actually able to quote someone saying, "I don't like new stuff." Wow. Great piece, though!

[twincitizen]

Boom goes the dynamite: http://www.startribune.com/local/minnea ... 69261.html

Two immediate knee-jerk reactions: 1) The "Visit Brainerd" commercial before the video is adorable 2) Almost all the quotes in the article make me cringe.

Did you watch the video? They interviewed a bunch of people working at chain restaurants/stores who complained about losing that local vibe. Seriously.

[FISHMANPET]

Places like Cafeteria seem to be the exact thing that most of these people are complaining about. It's not a chain, but it's a very expensive, very corporate product. And places like Cafeteria are there in Uptown because that's where they can make money. They attract the well to do young professionals, and that's who the neighborhood caters to, at least in that highly localized area.

[gahwi003]

"I don't like new stuff." Wow.

I almost lost it when I herd that

[mister.shoes]

@mattaudio: Why do you even bother trying to talk sense into STrib commenters? (And why do I bother reading them?) Doesn't your forehead hurt from bouncing off your desk?

[lordmoke]

@mattaudio: Why do you even bother trying to talk sense into STrib commenters? (And why do I bother reading them?) Doesn't your forehead hurt from bouncing off your desk?

The saddest part of this is that ST comments are WAY more intelligent than those on most other local news sites.

[twincitizen]

The really crazy part about the Strib comments being more intelligent than those on PiPress, etc is that those other local outlets use Facebook commenting (i.e. people's real identities). I am amazed by the crazy stuff that people will say, despite possibly giving out their last name, city of residence, employer, etc. It really makes me wonder how much moderation the Strib does of their comment boards (probably a lot!)

[helsinki]

Evidence that the rental market is not yet approaching saturation:

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2013/04/0 ... this-year/

"At the moment, it’s harder to rent an apartment in Minneapolis than in Seattle, Denver, and even San Francisco."

[ECtransplant]

I was conjecturing to a friend the other day that if when all these new units come on line they don't make much of a dent in the vacancy rate, we could see some really big residential proposals

[twincitizen]

Once the really big projects open at the U, I could see that market slow down quite a bit. UTEC, WaHu, Bridges, and Opus' Dinkytown project could very well saturate the market for luxury rental around campus. Downtown, North Loop, and Uptown (or eastward along the Greenway, more accurately) will probably continue to see new proposals. The completion of the Nicollet Ave & Midtown transitway studies could direct some investment that way in a few years.

For Uptown especially, there really aren't that many units in the pipeline. Track 29 and Elan will open this August/September, followed a few months later by The Walkway and LIME in early 2014. That's only around 5-600 units. The only other residential projects in the pipeline are the 2 future phases of Elan, adding another 200 units apiece. That's really not that many, in the grand scheme of things. Although if nothing else is proposed in 2013, I'd say that makes it very likely that Elan center & west blocks will get developed sooner rather than later.

[mattaudio]

I wonder if the area near the Prospect Park station will see more growth in regular apartment and condo construction and not just student housing. With the green line, it seems like a natural spot for couples who work in each downtown, etc.

[RailBaronYarr]

Once the really big projects open at the U, I could see that market slow down quite a bit. UTEC, WaHu, Bridges, and Opus' Dinkytown project could very well saturate the market for luxury rental around campus. Downtown, North Loop, and Uptown (or eastward along the Greenway, more accurately) will probably continue to see new proposals. The completion of the Nicollet Ave & Midtown transitway studies could direct some investment that way in a few years..

Isn't the point then that large, non-luxury units could open up, or small non-luxury units?

[Andrew_F]

I agree, twincitizen. The U of M housing market seems to operate pretty much separately from the rest of the city. If the market remains strong after everything comes on, I would be pretty surprised.

As far as Uptown and the rest of South Minneapolis goes, I think there is still room to add a lot of units, honestly. Downtown is the question mark here, I think, as it is sort of untested waters.

[twincitizen]

I wish I had a source, but there was a F&C article from a few weeks ago stated that a "balanced market" has around 5% vacancy. I was cleaning out my work bag and found a post-it that I had scribbled down the following figures, courtesy of Marquette Advisors:

Metro 2.9%
Minneapolis 1.8%, but absorption rate of new units slowing
St Louis Park 3%
Edina 4%

[minnyapple]

So let me start this by saying i don't know anything about the building so don't judge too much if this is totally stupid. My question for anyone is what is in the Minneapolis Lumber Exchange building? Why doesn't someone develop/renovate it into affordable apartments? Something else in there? City owned? Cost too much money? What do you think. Thanks

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumber_Exchange_Building

[mattaudio]

Only the best greek lunch spot in town.

I think it got some sort of 80s rehab when they filled in the U with an atrium and built the back section, and connected with the old Longhorn Bar on the 5th St face of the Xcel Ramp.

[seanrichardryan]

It's owned by Sherman and is much more updated than it appears.

[minnyapple]

Oh ok. Thanks for the info guys.

[lordmoke]

April update on the market from F & C (unlocked):
http://finance-commerce.com/2013/04/bui ... -in-april/

[TWA]

I still think the demand for housing in Uptown is still much higher than the supply. I think there will be a steady and continual growth in that part of Minneapolis for a long time to come. I say steady because those zoning regulations seem to be some of the most strict in the metro so projects seem to take longer to approve.

On a separate note, I would be interested to see if developers had some things in the works but are holding off hoping to get definitive answers from the gov't about routing for LRT and streetcar lines