164 AFFORDABLE APARTMENTS PLANNED FOR BOTTINEAU NEIGHBORHOOD

An affordable housing project is in the works for a vacant site in the Bottineau neighborhood.

LS Black Development is planning a mixed-use building on a site located at 2301 California Street NE. The 2.57-acre site is located just a few blocks down from the Lowry Avenue Bridge near the intersection of Lowry Avenue NE and California Street NE.

The property became vacant in 2016 when existing grain elevators and silos were demolished after being deemed non-historic and in disrepair. Plans for an apartment and townhome project were presented last year by Lander Group, however those plans never came to fruition.

The newest proposal for the site features a six-story building that would include 164 residential units, 13,400 square feet of production space and 192 parking spaces.

The ground floor of the building would include a large residential lobby, four walk-up units and the production space. The production space would be targeted towards house artist/art studio tenants. The upper floors of the building would be home to residential units.

Units within the building would range in size and include one, two, three and three-bedroom+ den units. All units within the building would be affordable with income restrictions set at 60 percent of the area median income. Unique to this project is the sheer number of two and three-bedroom units that are planned. 45% of the units within the building would be two-bedroom layouts, 37% percent would be three-bedroom layouts, 13% would be one-bedroom layouts and 3% would be three-bedroom + den layouts.

Amenities within the building would include a clubroom, fitness center, children’s playroom, indoor bike storage room and an outdoor courtyard.

The 192 parking spaces planned as a part of the project would be split up in various locations and for various users. 174 of those spaces would be for residents with 114 being located indoors and another 60 on a surface parking lot. An additional 18 surface parking spaces would be available for the production space. The surface parking lots that are planned within the project would be located along the east/rear side of the site near existing power lines. The parking areas would be accessed from 23rd Avenue NE via an existing intersection. Being the project is so close to Metro Transit’s 11 line, the developer could still choose to reduce to the total parking amount by 50 percent for a total of 82 spaces.

Designed by ESG Architecture & Design, the building would be clad in two colors of brick, two colors of metal paneling, three colors of fiber cement paneling, burnished CMU and rock-face CMU. The project would be constructed with pre-cast concrete on the first levels while the upper five floors would be of wood construction.

Multiple land use applications will need to be applied for before the project can move forward. Those applications include the following:

1. Petition to rezone the subject site to add the IL Industrial Living Overlay District to the existing I1 Light Industrial District

2. Conditional use permit to allow dwelling units in the IL Industrial Living Overlay District

3. Conditional use permit to increase the maximum height of a principal structure from 4 stories or 56 feet, whichever is less, to 6 stories, 78 feet, 4 inches

4. Site plan review, including alternative compliance for the following: a. Number of exterior materials exceeding three per elevation b. Minimum ground floor windows facing an on-site parking lot (east elevation)

Plans 2301 California Street NE will go before the Minneapolis Planning Commission Committee of the Whole for feedback this Thursday, August 6th, at 4:30pm.