Minnetonka Area - General Topics

Twin Cities Suburbs
alexschief
Wells Fargo Center
Posts: 1153
Joined: November 12th, 2015, 11:35 am
Location: Minneapolis

Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Post by alexschief »

An insane amount of parking, of course. I don't expect developers to overnight start building zero-parking buildings in this area. But I would hope that the light rail might be an invitation for some risk taking. Doesn't look like it with this project, but then again, it is Doran.
QuietBlue
Target Field
Posts: 557
Joined: September 14th, 2012, 8:50 am

Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Post by QuietBlue »

It's less than two spaces per unit, so it's reasonable for the area. People will still need to drive to places and there's no street parking around it.
Anondson
IDS Center
Posts: 4747
Joined: July 21st, 2013, 8:57 pm
Location: Where West Minneapolis Once Was
Been thanked: 6 times

Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Post by Anondson »

The abundance of development at the Opus Station is being noticed.

https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... pment.html
User avatar
mckilanowski
Block E
Posts: 16
Joined: September 29th, 2015, 10:26 pm
Location: Hopkins (Avenues West)

Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Post by mckilanowski »

Korh wrote: October 14th, 2020, 6:36 pm I know the drivers at my work have an old rumor that the circles where partly designed by some European drifting team
I thought it was based on the Olympic rings?
Gibb's first addition. If you know, you know.
GILBball
Metrodome
Posts: 89
Joined: October 9th, 2012, 8:10 pm
Location: Lyndale, Minneapolis

Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Post by GILBball »

Big one proposed for Opus Station:

https://eminnetonka.granicus.com/MetaVi ... a_id=91779

With all the housing going in here, if they're not careful, they could end up with a real neighborhood on their hands!
Anondson
IDS Center
Posts: 4747
Joined: July 21st, 2013, 8:57 pm
Location: Where West Minneapolis Once Was
Been thanked: 6 times

Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Post by Anondson »

Nice.

A few years back there was the proposal too redevelop the entire north side of Red Circle Dr. from Shady Oak to Bren Rd E. There were some options that had taller towers.

That fell through. But Doran picked a piece of the strip and that proposal is moving along.

I’m glad there is a proposal to fit in a tower taller than 6-7 stories in the Opus station area.

I think it’s a better solution over all to have the Shady Oak to Brent Rd strip redeveloped in pieces rather than one monster block, even if these small parcels are still big monoliths.
alexschief
Wells Fargo Center
Posts: 1153
Joined: November 12th, 2015, 11:35 am
Location: Minneapolis

Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Post by alexschief »

I'm a broken record, and yes I know that this location essentially mandates driving for almost all trips, but my eye still twitched a bit when when I saw 530 parking spaces for 345-380 housing units, directly next to an LRT station.

Development in places like this, as opposed to places with no transit access, is a good thing. But the term "TOD" compresses a lot of different situations. There's just a huge difference between development in the Opus area and development at a place like the West Lake Station, or even the Eden Prairie Town Center Mall, where you can actually access all your daily necessities within walking distance and then LRT is your ticket to greater regional mobility.

In contrast, Opus is essentially an auto island with an LRT station, where maybe you work in the Opus business park, but most likely LRT is just a niche transportation option and not something that anyone can practicably build a lifestyle around. In places like Sweden, where there are public housing towers at many metro stops, there's always a grocery store on the ground floor, hopefully more amenities like that can come to the Opus area if it will really start to gain residential density.
Anondson
IDS Center
Posts: 4747
Joined: July 21st, 2013, 8:57 pm
Location: Where West Minneapolis Once Was
Been thanked: 6 times

Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Post by Anondson »

KA and Aeon cancel their proposal over criticisms that affordable and market rate were different buildings, and affordable would not have access to the pool, among other factors.

https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... ments.html
Mdcastle
Wells Fargo Center
Posts: 1271
Joined: March 23rd, 2013, 8:28 am
Location: Bloomington, MN
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Post by Mdcastle »

I like these quotes:
"To me, segregating the housing is a much bigger sin that not having enough affordable housing,” said Joshua Sewall, the commission’s chair, during a review of the concept plan for the project.
I guess having to live under a bridge because there's no affordable housing is superior to living in affordable housing without a swimming pool. I get that we don't want to recreate Cabrini Green, but there's a lot entire complexes of affordable units around without issues...NOAH. If people feel entitled to something more than decent, basic housing, with swimming pools, dog washes, balconies, rooftop ameneity decks and granite counters they can pay market rates for it.
"Commissioner Alex Hanson said the buildings' residents, just by walking from the shared parking structure to their respective apartments, would “know exactly where [they are] at, financially, in life.”
Heaven forbid that people can't have the delusion that they're Jeff Bezos.
Anondson
IDS Center
Posts: 4747
Joined: July 21st, 2013, 8:57 pm
Location: Where West Minneapolis Once Was
Been thanked: 6 times

Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Post by Anondson »

That quote was something else. My eyes rolled so hard.

I mean, if someone built a parking ramp by it self and charged monthly parking, and then there were two different developers who built apartments adjacent to the parking structure. One was the 100% affordable unit, and the other developer was the 14 story market rate tower with a pool.

Then the parking structure owner reached agreements with the two apartment builders to allow the residents to park in the structure, paid with including the parking fees on the rent. Would the city have flinched?
uptownbro
Rice Park
Posts: 467
Joined: February 10th, 2020, 11:00 pm
Been thanked: 6 times

Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Post by uptownbro »

I have toured multi building luxury apartment complex's where you couldn't use the other buildings amenities.
I get having some shared ones but also its a pool in MN which can be used for all of 3-4 months maybe
QuietBlue
Target Field
Posts: 557
Joined: September 14th, 2012, 8:50 am

Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Post by QuietBlue »

I guess I'll be the contrarian, then, because I don't see the point of segregating the units unless it's to make the people in the more expensive units feel better about not having to mingle with poor people.

I live in an apartment building that is mostly market-rate, but also has some units that are specifically affordable housing units as well. A casual observer would not know which are which and the tenants have access to every amenity the rest of us do. There is zero reason why affordable units can't be integrated with market-rate in a complex of this size.
Anondson
IDS Center
Posts: 4747
Joined: July 21st, 2013, 8:57 pm
Location: Where West Minneapolis Once Was
Been thanked: 6 times

Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Post by Anondson »

Financing.

Tax credits get used for the separate entirely affordable building. That takes a lot of time. While market rate gets off the ground promptly.

Mix affordable units in everywhere and everything screeches to a slow down?
QuietBlue
Target Field
Posts: 557
Joined: September 14th, 2012, 8:50 am

Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Post by QuietBlue »

Even if you absolutely have to build separate physical buildings for financing reasons, though, there's no reason not to allow shared access to the amenities. That is a deliberate choice they're making.
alexschief
Wells Fargo Center
Posts: 1153
Joined: November 12th, 2015, 11:35 am
Location: Minneapolis

Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Post by alexschief »

I go back and forth on this, because integration really matters, but it mainly matters in terms of public spaces and access to those spaces, like schools, parks, pools, transit, and so on. Actually having affordable units embedded in market rate buildings is good and should be encouraged, but not (I think) at the expense of critical project financing.

But separate buildings also usually means separate amenities, and in a location like this, those private amenities are often going to stand in for the public amenities where integration is critical. So building two buildings as part of a single project, and then restricting the amenities use to the market rate building only, is a problem.
twincitizen
Moderator
Posts: 6238
Joined: May 31st, 2012, 7:27 pm
Location: Standish-Ericsson
Has thanked: 9 times
Been thanked: 10 times

Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Post by twincitizen »

It seems the mistake the developers made was presenting this as one project, when it's really two projects by two separate developers. The next mistake they made was reactively pulling the project instead of stepping back and trying to educate the Planning Commission on the financing of these projects. Also, the Planning Commission can make all the sharp-tongued comments they want...the City Council has the final say, and likely wouldn't blow up this massive investment so hastily. The decision to pull the project based on comments by a body that only makes a recommendation to the Council is pretty odd. Unless the developer was also getting signals from the Council that it wasn't likely to pass...
Mdcastle
Wells Fargo Center
Posts: 1271
Joined: March 23rd, 2013, 8:28 am
Location: Bloomington, MN
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Post by Mdcastle »

If you allow people from both types of units to use the amenities, then you have to make the amenities twice as big / twice as many. Which makes the entire project less feasible.

Maybe the affordable units are smaller, and it doesn't work to mix large and small units in the same building. At least in Bloomington affordable units are allowed to be smaller than market rate units, which is what made the Crowne Plaza conversion project feasible.
QuietBlue
Target Field
Posts: 557
Joined: September 14th, 2012, 8:50 am

Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Post by QuietBlue »

twincitizen wrote: May 26th, 2021, 1:21 pm It seems the mistake the developers made was presenting this as one project, when it's really two projects by two separate developers. The next mistake they made was reactively pulling the project instead of stepping back and trying to educate the Planning Commission on the financing of these projects. Also, the Planning Commission can make all the sharp-tongued comments they want...the City Council has the final say, and likely wouldn't blow up this massive investment so hastily. The decision to pull the project based on comments by a body that only makes a recommendation to the Council is pretty odd. Unless the developer was also getting signals from the Council that it wasn't likely to pass...
The PC was definitely aware of the financing situation; it was mentioned multiple times and it was acknowledged that it limited the options somewhat. And they weren't trying to "blow up" anything -- they supported the project, but had concerns about the separate facilities (and a few other things too). I wish they had probed more into the insurance/liability issue that was mentioned as a reason for the pool separation, since that didn't seem to be an issue for other amenities.

I think part of the issue too is how some of the amenities (i.e. everything in the courtyard) were planned to be shared, just not all. So it would have made the idea of it being two wholly separate buildings harder to pitch when they weren't intended to function that way. Had they really treated this as two separate projects entirely, and designed them as such, then yeah, I suspect they would have had an easier time.
Anondson
IDS Center
Posts: 4747
Joined: July 21st, 2013, 8:57 pm
Location: Where West Minneapolis Once Was
Been thanked: 6 times

Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Post by Anondson »

Doran’s 350 unit apartment building near Opus Station set to break ground in a month.

https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... ments.html
Korh
Rice Park
Posts: 468
Joined: March 8th, 2017, 10:21 pm
Has thanked: 1 time

Re: Minnetonka Area – General Topics

Post by Korh »

Anyone know if their planning to add a sidewalk/trail on Smetana?
I've driven on it a few times now that it's open again and I've seen some space on the new bridge but the way it's set up it looks like it'll veer off to the rest of the trails in the circles rather than going all the way up to shady oak road.
Post Reply