urbanMSP

Is that better than selling the houses for dirt cheap to handy homeowners or even flippers? I don't see the appeal of tearing down a SFH just to replace it with a more modern SFH, unless the lot itself is in extremely high demand.

I like Columbia Heights program. It seems better than the one over in Ramsey County ("Opening Doors") which was money towards tearing down foreclosed homes purchased in certain areas. The RC program left the buyer to figure a lot out (demo, builder, etc) which can be very daunting to a young/new homeowner. Whereas in Columbia Heights it seems as though they have it all setup for you with the homes already demolished and a builder lined up. I like it.

There is a danger, however, of eventually losing too many starter homes (affordable housing) in the quest for bigger, fancier properties. There's also the danger of moving too quickly and ending up with a lot of empty lots as in North Minneapolis.

These programs do make me angry in that it's using government money to destroy wealth, and the expectation that people like me that can't afford a new McMansion are expected to live in stack and pack condos since the supply of single family "starter homes" is going down. Fortunately the economy tanked but before it happened a developer was trying to buy out the house I lived in and several others adjacent to it. I'm sure once me and my sister pass, since we have no family or relatives here the house will go on the open market and the new owner will level the house and rebuild, but for now I can live with the single bathroom small overall size.

Mdcastle these programs are not for developers. Both of these programs are for single family homes. Maybe you're confusing them with something else.

The point of my rant was I don't like it when affordable single family homes are destroyed, whether it's a developer or a city. There's absolutely nothing being built to replace them, seems most new single family homes start in the 200s.

Dilapidated houses that are left to rot by the property owners bring down the values of nearby properties and attract squatters and vandals. They are generally considered to be a liability to the community.

And lets see what happens if the local housing authority wanted to renovate those houses and rent them to low-income families. Probably wouldn't go so well.

Additionally, we are talking about an older, poorer inner suburb that probably wants to stay away from going downhill quickly. Poor suburbs are much worse off than poor cities, as they often times don't have a large commercial base to keep a respectable amount of revenue coming in. Ford Heights, IL, East Cleveland, OH, and Camden, NJ are all examples of suburbs that have either failed or are on the brink of failure and are the exact model of what Columbia Heights doesn't want.

There is a danger, however, of eventually losing too many starter homes (affordable housing) in the quest for bigger, fancier properties. There's also the danger of moving too quickly and ending up with a lot of empty lots as in North Minneapolis.

What I really worry about is the impact on the neighborhood character. There are a lot of homes all over the metro from 1940s-1960s that aren't fashionable at the moment, and have fallen on hard times. They get torn down. Generally the ones that replace them are drastically larger. A particular irritation for me is that most new homes have attached garages, clearly visible from the street. On a block with no "snouts" of front garages, that's a major change. The equivalent program in Richfield, Richfield Rediscovered requires a 2-car garage, at least 3 bedrooms, and at least 2 bathrooms. Since attached garages are generally favored at the moment, front-facing garage doors are almost inevitable, except on lots with alley service.

Then again, there are some really nice examples. There are two homes -- 7225 and 7229 1st Ave S -- near me in Richfield that do fit in *reasonably* well with the neighborhood, and were built as part of the Richfield Rediscovered program. (Although, curiously, sold to a developer first.)

That said, none of these issues are limited to city/HRA-led sales. The impacts of teardowns are just as legitimate of concern for private party sales.

Richfield should have put in alleys....

Richfield should have put in alleys....

Well, they did, on about 1/4 - 1/3 of the blocks. But it's pretty hard to undo that error. Good chunks of Lynnhurst and Linden Hills missing them, too. And unfortunately, sometimes you get that same effect there: https://www.google.com/maps/@44.92888,- ... -bpNFA!2e0. Still, I do see more houses with creative ways to avoid prominence of the garages.

A lot used for storage, just off Excelsior's main street (Water Street) is being proposed to be developed with a dense clustering of twin homes around a courtyard.

http://sailor.mnsun.com/2015/01/30/vict ... e-on-deck/

Hmm. Those might look nice. If they didn't have the garages I'd love them. There are town homes right near Excelsior Brew that don't have garages and they look really nice, they're adding more now.

They look just like San Francisco -- complete with the ground level garage! (Although in SF it'd probably just be one stall.)

It'd be great to see the garages better-hidden, but I'm not sure how viable that is with this tiny of a lot to work off of.

bizarre design choice, for Excelsior anyway.

Minnetonka's still reeling over the Highland Bank panic of 2014, so in order to prevent another attack of the five-story-high-rises smothering out the native habitat of barren surface parking, the city wants to conduct a "vision plan" for Ridgedale. Only three years after a previous study for the area.

http://eminnetonka.com/news/1264-ridged ... ebruary-18

The irony in all of this is that Minnetonka's residents -- largely wealthy right-wingers -- generally support the Conservative notion that governments get in the way of healthy free market enterprise and capitalism....yet that's exactly what they're asking for here: government intervention and master area planning that will dictate (over free market capitalism) what can and cannot be built here.

People don't like the government except when they benefit from it.

same with the hatred of lawyers

Tom Pham Strikes Back: Woodbury Edition http://minneapolis.eater.com/2015/2/10/ ... y-thanh-do

Tom Pham Strikes Back: Woodbury Edition http://minneapolis.eater.com/2015/2/10/ ... y-thanh-do

LOL, Good for him and Woodbury. They are a match made in heaven.