CANCELLED | North Loop Affordable Housing Project

Plans to renovate one of the historic Duffy Paper buildings within the North Loop neighborhood into 200 affordable apartments have been cancelled.

Dominium has revealed that they are no longer pursuing the project at 528 N Washington Avenue. The reason? Challenges that arose while working with the City of Minneapolis.

One of the biggest reasons in particular that the project was cancelled is the fact that the city wanted the apartments to stay classified as affordable for 30 years. Dominium wanted that timespan to only last 20 years. The company cited rising operating costs for running apartment buildings along with rising income levels as reasons for concern when units remain affordable after 20 years.

While Dominium had challenges with the city there were also a number of concerns put forth by area residents. One of the greatest concerns was over the lack of retail space in the project that would have made an entire city block of the North Loop strictly residential.

This was the third proposal for the redevelopment of the Duffy Paper building since 2016. The site is ripe for redevelopment as it is one of last remaining warehouses to be developed within the North Loop area. But hey, maybe the fourth time’s a charm?