urbanMSP

Nothing public yet, but my friend who is on the MHNA received and showed me plan sheets for a development by Riverton Co-Op Housing across from the Library Bar.

Looks like it is a 5-story, affordable (subsidized?) apartment building with parking access maintained to the Chateau tower. Last I heard, MHNA sent it back to Riverton and said they wanted to see at least some retail at the corner of 13th and 4th. Hopefully this project comes to fruition - it would be the first non-luxury apartment development around campus in a looooong time.

Hey Goph,
Do you know if the building that is already there is student housing?

Hey Goph,
Do you know if the building that is already there is student housing?

I assume so, at least partially. The current apartment is called the 4th Street Housing Co-Op. From the looks of their website and some observations of their properties, tenants include both students and non-students. The current apartment on the land plot now seems to be a well-kept, classic 60s style building with large green space that would fit well in St. Louis Park.

Those buildings stick out like a sore thumb now. I hope they can replace them with something a little more appropriate for the site. Did the flyer have a render? Or just details?

It had 1 or 2 simple renderings of the project. Fairly interesting design - contained a cool rounded corner facing the intersection. I will be interested to see if that will stay if they add a ground floor retail slot there. Color scheme was rooted around a dark yellow or gold-ish shade.

Thanks for the info man. Does it look to be a net increase in units?

every time I see that corner I feel like it's a wasted expansion potential for the neighborhood. this sounds like a homerun project, it's a different niche, something the neighborhood needs and adds to the street presence. thanks for the update!

Image on the Riverton website:

http://4thstreet.riverton.org/4thstreet

(Apparently too many pixels high to post?)

This might be the first student housing project I actually like.

Oh man, that looks great. Hopefully they can work in ground floor retail without much trouble.

Is ground floor retail really that necessary here? I feel like this area is going to be over-saturated with retail spots. Why not have their community room and workout facilities face the street, or have units on 13th?

The curved corner really does add something to the look of this, but otherwise is it much different than other 6-story buildings going up? The scale is obviously a little smaller, which I like. It would definitely be great if retail could go in - this would be yet another new construction commercial space to attract the chains everyone is worried about, leaving the older spaces (thinking Dinkydale and the corner with Tony's Diner) less pressured.

this really is awesome. it's about proportion and the use of material. yes another stick box, but the interesting materials are used in a simple, graphic, and appealing manner. simple way easier* to decipher statement while a lot of the other buildings are a garbled white noise mess.

also, 6 stories pictured...

this would be yet another new construction commercial space to attract the chains everyone is worried about, leaving the older spaces (thinking Dinkydale and the corner with Tony's Diner) less pressured.

Completely agree. MHNA is updating their neighborhood plan with extensive looks at Dinkytown. They really want to expand the business district down 4th St and a block up 14th (across from the Marshall) to try to preserve the older structures in the commercial core. I really like the idea of the bohemian-tending older core next to the newer posh mixed-use stuff.

In that way, I hope Riverton comes back with a plan for at least some retail space, maybe 5,000 sq ft, for a shop or two. The only reason why I see them not is if they have to go through a full rezoning process. Looks like its currently zoned R5, so they would likely have to rezone it to C3A or OR3 anyways to build it at 6 stories.

Can't they just increase the height with a CUP? Or is that only for non-residential districts? You're probably right that they would have to rezone to include any retail though. The regulatory hurdle and cost of doing so might just rule it out, even if there was broad community support for some commercial space.

I'm typically not one to beat the drum of "moar retail everywhere!!" given the ever increasing share of online shopping and such, but this location would definitely be an exception. Expanding the Dinkytown commercial node to more corners will take pressure off of rents in older buildings (I would guess).

Anyone have any info on the # of units of the expected ready date?

wow this just proves how adding some simple geometry can really spruce up a building. I LOVE the rounded corner

http://finance-commerce.com/2014/05/co- ... dinkytown/ (locked)

60-65 units. Notice the nice retail frontage and "Coffee Bar" added to the rendering. I hope this happens.