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Financing for the Alliance Addition is expected to close on Nov. 19, said Gina Ciganik, vice president of housing for Aeon Management. Construction will begin the day after it closes.
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Development update: Alliance Addition
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By Amanda Kushner
Alliance Addition breaks ground in Elliot Park
A development for formerly homeless adults in Elliot Park is expanding to include another 59 efficiencies and two one-bedroom units.
Fifty-five units will be for households earning 30 percent below the area median income while six units will be for households earning below 50 percent of the area median income. The area median income for a single person is $58,700.
Financing is expected to close on the Alliance Addition, 724 E. 17th St., on Nov. 19. Then construction is slated to start the next day, said Gina Ciganik, vice president of housing for Aeon Management.
Aeon decided to add the addition partially because Alliance Apartments has about 300 people on their waiting list, and there is a need for this type of housing, Ciganik said.
“The neighborhood is in support of it, so it is a good thing for the neighborhood,” she said.
Funders are interested in eliminating homelessness, and it is a priority of the city, county and state. The plans align with state efforts to end homelessness.
Cermak Rhoades Architects designed the project and Weis Builders is the contractor.
As part of the development a house will be moved about 50 feet to the east. The house is currently at 722/724 17th St. E., and after it moves the address will be 730 17th St. E. The house and new building will be part of the addition, she said. Fifty-one units will be part of the new development and 10 units will be in the house. The house is expected to move three to six weeks after closing, Ciganik said.
Alliance Addition will adjoin the Alliance Apartments, which were developed in 1997 and provide 124 homes for single men and woman who want to live in a drug-free community.
To help keep costs down the addition will share community space, resources and a front desk amenity with Alliance Apartments’ residents. The development costs about $10.2 million, Ciganik said.
The addition follows neighborhood guidelines, and the development will be the same height as surrounding buildings. Also Aeon is partnering with the Center for Sustainable Building Research and the Center for Energy & The Environment (CEE) to build a sustainable development. The building will be made of structural insulated panels. Windows and roofing materials will be energy efficient, too.
The addition will also add eyes to 17th Street, which has had seen a fair amount of criminal activity, and the development will be part of a positive change helping to reduce that negative activity in the area, she said.
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Warehouse District’s historic area might expand
The city’s Heritage Preservation Commission voted to recommend extending the boundaries of the local historic designation of the Warehouse District on Nov. 5.
The City Council is scheduled to review the designation Dec. 4.
The council locally designated the North Loop Warehouse Historic District in 1978, and the Minneapolis Warehouse Historic District, which covers a much larger area, was nationally designated and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. A local designation would allow the area to receive more protection from demolition or other changes.
The proposed extension of the designation includes 158 buildings, 65 structures and 31 sites. It partially overlaps with the St. Anthony Falls Historic District.
The State Historic Preservation Office and City Planning Commission have provided favorable comments on the designation study.
“It seems that we are moving in the right direction,” said Chuck Leer, representing 2010 Partners. “ … We are a little concerned about when the designations proceed the final guidelines.”
The commission is tentatively scheduled to vote on Warehouse District development guidelines in January 2010. These guidelines would pertain to buildings’ exteriors, said Senior City Planner Brian Schaffer.
The guidelines are under revision, and a new draft will be published Dec. 1, and then the commission will meet to for discussion Dec. 8. It agreed to send a letter to Hennepin County expressing that Community Planning and Economic Development and the commission will work together with Hennepin County on the guidelines, as some worry they may impact the interchange station planned for that area.
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New hydropower project underway
Construction is underway on a 10-megawatt Lower Saint Anthony Falls hydroelectric project that will create 63,000 megawatt hours of clean renewable energy for Minnesota each year. That’s the equivalent of 37,000 barrels of oil and enough to power 7,500 homes each year, according to a news release.
The Downtown project is adjacent to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Lock and Dam.
To generate power the hydropower project will channel about 6,200 cubic feet per second of Mississippi River water through 16 StraflowMatrix turbine generators.
The construction is expected to be complete by the end of 2010, and its creating 75 jobs.
Renewable Energy Production Incentives payments are helping to make the project, which is owned by Brookfield Renewable Power and Spaulding Consultants, possible.
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Carmichael Lynch drops Harley account
UPDATED August 30, 2010, 2:29pm
By Gregory J. Scott
When it comes to selling muscle bikes, three decades is enough. Downtown advertising agency Carmichael Lynch announced August 23 that it was resigning from its Harley-Davidson account, ending a relationship of 31 years with the iconic motorcycle brand. In a prepared statement, Doug Spong, president of Carmichael Lynch, said, "Our agency leadership came to the consensus that we've taken the Harley-Davidson brand as far as we can. It's in our best interest to part ways." Mark-Hans Richer, Harley’s CMO, said, "Our strategies have been moving away from a singular consumer target and a one-size-fits-all agency solution. Rather than accept this new reality, Carmichael Lynch chose a different path and we respect that." The
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Community notebook :: Florence Court apartments
By Gregory J. Scott
1 Comment
At Florence Court, new apartments up, courtyard staysThe mid-August groundbreaking came and went quietly for the FloCo Fusion Apartments, a chic rebranding of a ramshackle cluster of student housing near the University of Minnesota’s East Bank campus. Despite years of resistance from current residents, the new building is officially going up, fanfare or no. Florence Court, as the community used to be called, is one of the oldest apartment buildings in the Midwest, dating back to 1886. The L-shaped structure sits at the intersection of 10th Avenue SE and University Avenue, but is tucked back from the street, hidden until recently behind a BP gas station. The 33-unit complex surrounds a leafy courtyard, which its residents — a colorful
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Watching out for the homeless
By Sarah McKenzie
// Volunteer outreach worker Jerry Fleischaker honored with prestigious McKnight award //After Jerry Fleischaker’s wife died of Alzheimer’s disease, he came across a newspaper article about St. Stephen’s Human Services’ work reaching out to homeless people with mental health issues. The story inspired him to start volunteering for St. Stephen’s. Now the 79-year-old retired pharmaceutical sales representative volunteers full time for the Downtown-based organization. “My wife died of Alzheimer’s in 2002. I saw the care she needed,” Fleischaker told Monica Nilsson, director of street outreach and community education for St. Stephen’s. “I was haunted by the thought that people might be
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Downtown visioning session looks to 2025
By jake weyer
// Whether to add a park north of Central Library will be part of the discussion, meant to produce a 15-year plan for Downtown //It’s been nearly 15 years since Downtown business leaders got together with city staff and elected officials to hash out a long-term plan for the area. Back in 1996, those stakeholders came up with Downtown 2010, a vision that included such grandiose plans as a new ballpark for the Minnesota Twins, a light rail line along Hiawatha Avenue, a new Central Library, completion of the Target Center and the development of the Downtown Improvement District — all realities today. “We’re standing now, planless,” said Sam Grabarski, president of the Downtown Council. “And a lot of good
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A mountain out of a bronze molehill?
By Gregory J. Scott
// The Sid Hartman statue stirs debate about public memorials Downtown //
OK, no one disputes that the guy deserves a statue. Sid Hartman, the nonagenarian sportswriter who has spent the last 65 years reporting for the Star Tribune and WCCO, is probably getting bronzed. The Department of Public Works is ironing out technical details for installing a metallic Sid replica, complete with TV reporter microphone and newspaper tucked under the arm, right outside of Target Center and a block from the Twins stadium, at the corner of 6th Street and 1st Avenue. The Public Works assessment is the final stage in a roughly six-week approval process to get the statue out into the public. No one’s upset about that. As Nick Legeros, the artist who designed
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Biz buzz :: Construction costing Elliot Park businesses
By Gregory J. Scott
1 Comment
For Elliot Park businesses, street improvements come with a price
True to its motto, Band Box Diner can turn “grease into a feast.” But the Elliot Park gem can’t make much out of the road construction that’s transformed its streetscape into a scarred industrial zone.
The throw-back diner is one of the businesses standing to benefit from a sweeping, 15-block reconstruction of Chicago Avenue South — if only it can survive through to the project’s completion.
“It’s kind of like, if you have a half hour for lunch, and then you get lost for 45 minutes, what are you gonna do?” says Brad Ptacek, who has operated the diner for the last 13 years.
Ptacek’s breakfast
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