FINISHING TOUCHES
Grain Site Goes Green
BY JERRY ASCIERT0
AFFORDABLE HOUSING FINANCE • SEPTEMBER 2007
MINNEAPOLIS - The 20-story grain elevator
towering above a southeast
Minneapolis neighborhood
isn’t going anywhere. The
neighbors wouldn’t allow it.
Built in 1936, the Bunge grain elevators
are a symbol of Minneapolis’ agricultural
past, and residents of the Como
neighborhood were insistent on preserving
the towering structures.
So local nonprofit developer Project
for Pride in Living (PPL), which is leading
a three-acre mixed-income redevelopment
that would create a host of affordable
rental and homeownership units on the
site, had to tread carefully.
“We included the neighborhood in
the design process,” said Chris Wilson,
PPL’s director of real estate development.
“We’re saving a piece of the grain elevators,
so they’ve still got this neighborhood icon.”
Neighborhood groups also wanted
the Van Cleve redevelopment to be composed
largely of homeownership units
instead of the student rentals that predominate
in the area.
The tower provides a ready structure
to fulfill that request. Local developer
Jeffrey Laux plans to build 139 units of
market-rate condos in it. Those units will
help to offset the cost of the affordable
units by generating increased property
taxes. The projected future gains in tax
revenue can be used to finance the development
in a process known as tax increment
financing (TIF).
“It’s generating quite a bit of TIF, and
the city will allow us to shift 15 percent of
that over, so we’ll basically subsidize our
land cost with the TIF generated by [the
market-rate condos],” said Wilson. The
TIF will provide about $400,000 to the
project, he said.
PPL began new construction in
August on the first phase of Van Cleve, a
35-unit building with eight one-bedroom
units for the formerly homeless, and 18
two-bedroom and nine three-bedroom
units aimed at those earning up to 50 percent
of the area median income (AMI). It’s
expected to be finished in August 2008.
The second building will include 50 units,
12 of which also will be permanent supportive
housing for the formerly homeless,
with the rest targeted to those earning up
to 50 percent of the AMI. At press time,
PPL was applying for tax credits for the
second building.
Supportive services such as job training
and case management will be provided
through a partnership between PPL and
local nonprofit Cabrini Partnership.
PPL also is developing seven townhouses
targeted at households earning up
to 80 percent of the AMI, and Twin Cities
Habitat for Humanity is building five
additional townhouses for those earning
up to 50 percent of the AMI.
Development costs on the first phase
total about $7.3 million, with $4.4 million
in equity coming from the sale of 9 percent
low-income housing tax credits, syndicated
by National Equity Fund, Inc. PPL also
received $500,000 from Minnesota
Housing; $412,000 from the city’s
Affordable Housing Trust Fund;
$270,000 from the Hennepin County
Affordable Housing Incentive Fund; and a
$250,000 loan from the Federal Home
Loan Bank.
The project was awarded a $105,000
grant from Minnesota Green
Communities. PPL and architect
UrbanWorks Architecture, LLC, are working
with energy modelers to make the
building 35 percent more efficient than
the state’s building code requires.
“It was a great guideline to follow for
affordable housing, because their emphasis
is on indoor air quality, energy efficiency,
and smart site development,” said Dave
Haaland, a principal at UrbanWorks.
A centralized water-heating system,
and passive solar heating and passive cooling
schemes will be used on the first two
buildings. Low-energy fans pump fresh air
into the units, and enlarged windows
invite more sunlight in. “We insulated the
roof more than code, and more than was
typical,” said Haaland. “We also provided
some sun shades and oriented the building
in a way that maximizes the sun.”
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