Aeon buys site for Edina apartments.

Byline: William Morris

Minneapolis-based affordable housing developer Aeon has the land for an 80-unit project in Edina but must wait another year to secure funding before breaking ground.

An entity connected to Land Bank Twin Cities paid $2.9 million to buy the property at 4100 76th St. W. in Edina, according to a certificate of real estate value. The deal closed Oct. 30. The 2-acre site fetched $1.45 million per acre.

Aeon Vice President Blake Hopkins confirmed the nonprofit developer is the ultimate buyer and said Aeon is "100 percent committed" to the project, which was announced earlier this year. However, it will not be able to begin construction in 2019 as originally hoped because Minnesota Housing passed over the project in its annual funding allocations, announced two days after the sale closed.

"We unfortunately did not receive tax credits from this round in 2019, so we'll work with our public partners to make sure the project is as well-positioned as possible for resubmission in 2019," Hopkins said.

The property is well-known in musical quarters as the former recording studio of producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Attorney Tom Cross of Bridge Law Group, who represented seller MRI Property Holdings, said Michael and Janet Jackson were just two of the stars who recorded hits at the site.

More recently, it was the Minneapolis Media Institute, a specialty school for recording professionals, Cross said. The school ended its lease about a year ago, and the property was on the market about six or seven months, he said.

"During the period of...