Seven projects recommended for TOD grants

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Seven projects along transit lines in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Hopkins and Ramsey are recommended for $6.5 million in transit-oriented development grants from the Metropolitan Council for development and site cleanup.

The goal of the grants, ranging from $500,000 to $1.45 million, is to spur higher uses along the Green Line between downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul and the Northstar Commuter Rail between Minneapolis and Big Lake. One project is along the yet-to-built Southwest Light Rail Transit line between Minneapolis and Eden Prairie.

The funding recommendations will be considered by the Metropolitan Council’s Community Development Committee at its meeting Monday. Pending approval from the Community Development Committee, the grants will go before the full council at its Nov. 12 meeting.

The largest grant would help nonprofit developer Aeon acquire property at 3001 Fourth St. SE, where it plans to build 65 units of affordable housing in the Prospect North area — an “innovation district” in Minneapolis’ Prospect Park neighborhood where a public-private partnership aims for significant redevelopment. The $1.45 million grant is also expected to cover demolition of the existing 23,500-square-foot Habitat for Humanity headquarters on the site. The apartment complex would be a block away from the Green Line light rail station on 29th Avenue Southeast.

A $580,000 grant would boost another affordable housing project in Ramsey on the Northstar Commuter Rail line, but the developer is waiting for more funds from the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency before moving forward with the project.

St. Paul-based CommonBond Communities plans a 47-unit building of workforce housing with four units for long-term homeless tenants called Sunwood Village. In May, the developer and the city of Ramsey reached a purchase agreement for 2 acres of land between Veterans Drive and Sunwood Drive in the COR (Center of Ramsey) area surrounding the rail station.

CommonBond vice president of development Amanda Novak said the project “hinges” on low-income housing tax credits from the state. Awards are set to be made public this Thursday.

If CommonBond isn’t awarded the tax credits this year for the $9.1 million project, Novak said the additional grant funding from the Met Council will make their application stronger next year.

Minneapolis-based First & First would use a $650,000 grant to incorporate a public plaza and pedestrian and bike paths into its rehab of the former King Koil mattress factory at 550 Vandalia St. in St. Paul near a Green Line station at Raymond Avenue. An old water tower, for which the property gets its name, will serve as a focal point of the new outdoor space.

While renovations of the seven buildings on the 5.5-acre site are ongoing, the TOD grant for the plaza will help take the project “from something good to something really great,” said Mark Vaida, First & First development manager.

Most of the properties in the area are isolated, geared toward industrial uses and lacking in green space, Vaida said. The developer hopes the plaza will “allow [the] property to become a catalyst for the general transformation of the neighborhood.”

The plaza will be available for tenants and the neighborhood at large with connections to the light rail station. Construction would start on the plaza in the summer for a late summer opening, Vaida said. Several new tenants are scheduled to move into the building in spring.

A total of $7.25 million was available for the 2014 round of grants for development and cleanup, according to Met Council senior planner Adam Maleitzke. There are two other transit oriented development funding cycles for site investigation and pre-project development. The council previously awarded nearly $375,000 to six projects. The deadline for the second round of applications is in November.

The remaining $750,000 leftover from the cleanup fund will be available for future funding cycles, Maleitzke said.

The other projects recommended for transit oriented development grants include:

— A $1.33 million grant for Hopkins to develop the ARTery, a reconstruction of Eighth Avenue to draw people from the downtown Hopkins light rail station on the Southwest LRT line to its historic downtown using public art.

— A $1 million site cleanup grant for Ryan Cos. US. Inc.’s Downtown East development near the future Minnesota Vikings stadium in Minneapolis will cover asbestos abatement in the former Star Tribune building before demolition. Ryan plans a 133-unit apartment building with up to 2,000 square feet of retail and a four-acre park.

— A $1 million grant would also help with asbestos and lead paint abatement in the “historically significant” Plymouth Building at the corner of Sixth Street and Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis, which Heartland Realty Investors plans to convert into a 264-room Conrad Hotel.

— A $500,000 grant for the collaborative mixed-use Mill City Quarter development at the northeast corner of South Second Street and Third Avenue South in Minneapolis. On two former parking lots, Lupe Development and Wall Cos. plan to build a mixed-use building with retail and 150 units of workforce housing and Shoreview-based nonprofit Ecumen plans to build 150 senior apartments and memory care units.