Market-rate rentals receive TIF approval in Seward.

Byline: Brian Johnson

A development team led by Seward Redesign got a key city approval Wednesday for a project that will bring Minneapolis' Seward Neighborhood its first new market-rate housing since the mid-1980s.

The Minneapolis City Council's Housing & Development Committee authorized $4.3 million in tax increment financing to support the 128-unit, market-rate Bessemer at Seward project and a 32-unit affordable housing phase on a former industrial site in the neighborhood.

The long-anticipated Bessemer at Seward project will rise on a former industrial site at 2200 Snelling Ave. S., and the affordable units, called Wagaag Commons, will be built on an adjacent property at 1912 E. 22nd St.

In a staff report, city officials said the affordable units are for households at or below 60% area median income, and the market-rate units are likely to be in the 80% to 100% AMI range.

The total estimated development cost is $42.58 million, which breaks down to $29.3 million for the market-rate apartments and $13.278 million for the affordable building, the staff report noted.

Emily Carr, a senior project coordinator with the city, said the committee's actions "represent some of the final stages of transforming" the blighted and contaminated site into a "mixed-income and transit oriented development."

Construction of the market-rate building could begin early next year, said Brian Miller, executive director of the nonprofit Seward Redesign. The affordable units could start later in 2020 or 2021.

"This was a blighted industrial site in the area of a light rail station," Miller said in an interview. "The neighborhood and city are interested in seeing the site redeveloped at a higher density."

In the staff report, the city said it has been 35 years since a rental project available to "residents without income limits" has been built in the area. But the larger development site has seen a good chunk of new affordable residences since 2014.

Bessemer at Seward is the third phase of a redevelopment of the 4-acre Bystrom Brothers industrial site, which is two blocks south of the Franklin Avenue light rail station. In the first two phases, the site was developed with 100 units of affordable housing.

Redevelopment also includes the Gateway Commons, a rehabilitation of two existing buildings for commercial use and demolition of a third building to make way for an open plaza, the staff...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT