REVISED PLANS SHOW ONE LESS TOWER FOR CALHOUN TOWERS PROPOSAL

Plans for a pair of 24-story towers near the shores of Bde Maka Ska have changed.

Last July Bader Development presented plans to the City of Minneapolis Planning Commission for a four phase, four building residential development that would be constructed surrounding the existing 22-story Calhoun Tower. The plans at the time were to construct two 24-story towers along with two low rise buildings, one six stories in height and the other seven. You can read about those original plans here.

Unfortunately, as Bader continued with design documents and construction pricing the proposal with two towers was deemed “not feasible.”

THE NEW PLANS

The biggest revision to the Bader Development’s plans includes the removal of the two towers. Instead, plans now show one single redesigned 24-story tower (building A) and a seven-story building (building B) to be built in the space where the two towers were originally planned.

A few other small modifications have been made to the low-rise buildings (building C and D) which include massing adjustments and revised material selections. Another level of units has also been added to building C in order to better match the heights of all three low-rise buildings.

In total, the project is planned to include 736 apartments, down from the 849 originally proposed. The amount of parking planned has also been reduced from 856 stalls to 760.

20% of the planned units would meet affordable housing standards. Right now, building C is expected to be mostly, if not entirely, affordable housing. Bader Development hopes to begin construction on it as soon as possible on building C.

THE DESIGN

ESG Architecture & Design is the architecture firm working on the Calhoun Towers project.

The design of the project is meant to maximize density while “emphasizing green space and the public realm at the street level.” With that being said, the low-rise buildings have been intentionally planned for sites located along the edge of the property in order to help better connect with the low neighboring multi-family apartments.

The materials to be used to clad the buildings would vary slightly. The exterior of the tower would be clad in glass and metal with the base featuring brick with metal and wood accents. Building B, which would be directly connected to building A, would be clad in masonry and fiber cement. Buildings C and D also would be clad in similar materials.

A few outdoor amenities that residents would have access to would include a pocket park, dog park, courtyard and a large terrace with outdoor pool deck located on level five between buildings A and B. Building D would also have a large transit plaza as it would be located directly next to the West Lake Street Southwest Light Rail station.

THE TIMEFRAME

The timeframe for all four phases of the Calhoun Towers project varies.

Work on building A (the tower) is expected to begin next year in 2020 and be complete in 2022. Work on buildings B and C is expected to begin in 2020-2021 before work on building A is complete. Construction on building D likely won’t begin until after 2022 due to the temporary construction easements on the building site related to the Southwest Light Rail Project.

Plans for Calhoun Towers will be presented to the Minneapolis Planning Commission Committee of the Whole for feedback at their August, 22nd meeting at 4:30pm. Later this fall more refined plans will go before the Minneapolis Planning Commission for approval.