Re: Onyx Apartments - 6725 York Ave - Edina
Posted: January 24th, 2017, 1:12 pm
I'm not sure why the city should cater to a particular class of people's expectations about their property's resale value (if it's even affected). I also disagree that streets with large apartment buildings are neither safe nor quiet - stand on a side street in Loring Park for example. "Safety" is also a major dog whistle. I'm not saying you're wrong that your typical American believes these things, just that we shouldn't let ourselves believe them just because they do.
The income discussion of new construction v constituent income+wealth is a valid point, of course. Not every neighborhood is pitting ultra-wealthy white homeowners against 100% workforce housing. Sometimes it really is apartments for techbros creeping into middle- or lower-income neighborhoods. However, call me a cynic but I doubt if Onyx (or any other apartment) had mandatory affordable units included it would make the type of people living on a block of these modest Richfield-style homes any less resistant to an out-of-scale design.
I guess there's also the part of me that really questions why a 6-story apartment with walk-up units catering to fairly well-heeled residents could pencil on the Onyx parcel but there's literally no demand for anything (even at a scale more palatable to SFH owners) on the east side of Xerxes. And as I wrote here, I have a hard time believing there isn't a ton of demand to live in 1-2BR rental units this part of town at the middle/lower income scale. In this particular case, both sides of the street are in the same school district, and my understanding is property taxes between the two cities aren't vastly different. It may not be long until these SFHs, despite their dated layout and alley-access, will become desirable enough to warrant flipping (or hell, teardowns). My sister's first house was on the 5800 block of Wooddale in Edina with a side-driveway single stall garage and a similar design to many of these homes. It sold for $300k with a finished basement.
Anyway, sorry to shit on this thread about a nearly-complete apartment project. I don't disagree that if given a visual choice between a 6-story wall and a 2-3 story one with a setback that my (raised in the suburbs) brain wouldn't prefer the latter. I just don't think there's much public good in regulating for that the next go 'round.
The income discussion of new construction v constituent income+wealth is a valid point, of course. Not every neighborhood is pitting ultra-wealthy white homeowners against 100% workforce housing. Sometimes it really is apartments for techbros creeping into middle- or lower-income neighborhoods. However, call me a cynic but I doubt if Onyx (or any other apartment) had mandatory affordable units included it would make the type of people living on a block of these modest Richfield-style homes any less resistant to an out-of-scale design.
I guess there's also the part of me that really questions why a 6-story apartment with walk-up units catering to fairly well-heeled residents could pencil on the Onyx parcel but there's literally no demand for anything (even at a scale more palatable to SFH owners) on the east side of Xerxes. And as I wrote here, I have a hard time believing there isn't a ton of demand to live in 1-2BR rental units this part of town at the middle/lower income scale. In this particular case, both sides of the street are in the same school district, and my understanding is property taxes between the two cities aren't vastly different. It may not be long until these SFHs, despite their dated layout and alley-access, will become desirable enough to warrant flipping (or hell, teardowns). My sister's first house was on the 5800 block of Wooddale in Edina with a side-driveway single stall garage and a similar design to many of these homes. It sold for $300k with a finished basement.
Anyway, sorry to shit on this thread about a nearly-complete apartment project. I don't disagree that if given a visual choice between a 6-story wall and a 2-3 story one with a setback that my (raised in the suburbs) brain wouldn't prefer the latter. I just don't think there's much public good in regulating for that the next go 'round.