CommonBond plans rentals in northeast Minneapolis.

Byline: William Morris

Seven years after the Lowry Avenue Bridge opened in Minneapolis, a nonprofit developer plans to build a new mixed-income apartment building at its eastern end.

St. Paul-based CommonBond Communities goes next week before the Minneapolis Planning Commission Committee of the Whole to seek approvals for the Gateway Apartments, a 129-unit project with 9,600 square feet of street-level commercial space. The Gateway project would occupy the southeast corner of Marshall Street Northeast and Lowry Avenue Northeast, the former site of the River Liquor Store.

CommonBond purchased the land for the project a year ago and has spent the last year refining its plans and lining up financing for the project, said CommonBond Director of Real Estate Andy Hughes. About 60 percent of the new apartments will be affordable, restricted to renters making 50 to 60 percent or less of the area median income, while the remainder will be market-rate, he said in an interview.

"There's a huge need [in the neighborhood]," he said. "There's a scarcity of redevelopment sites, which is why we're excited to have acquired this a year ago."

Renderings show the project will be the largest building by far in the surrounding blocks, but the property is guided for mixed-use development and would occupy a key node on the east bank of the riverfront, Hughes said. The design is topped at five stories, rather than six, and includes step-backs near where it abuts single-family homes to lessen any sense of looming over the neighbors, he said.

"We've done some architectural accommodations to lessen its impact, but we think given its location, we want to build a prominent, architecturally...