‘Extremely affordable’ housing project planned at 45th and Hiawatha

Amber Apartments to provide a step between homelessness and citizens who give back to their communities

By TESHA M. CHRISTENSEN
An “extremely affordable” housing project in Longfellow will bridge the gap for people who are working but still don’t make enough to afford a standard rent payment.
Amber Apartments is being built by RS Eden, a niche player in the development world that provides affordable housing with support services, explained President and RS Eden CEO Dan Cain.
“The expectation is for people to move from a level of dysfunction to function,” said Cain.
The company manages or owns nine buildings in the Twin Cities, totaling 550 units, that help people get off the streets and into stable housing. The company began with just three staff members and now has 180 employees. In each building, there are also services aimed at dealing with problems that contributed to homelessness, including addiction, mental health issues, lack of education, and more.
Photo right: RS Eden Chief Financial Advisor Paul Puerzer (left) and President and CEO Dan Cain hold up an illustration of Amber Apartments, an 80-unit building that will provide extremely affordable housing along Hiawatha and 45th Ave. (Photo by Tesha M. Christensen)
The goal of the Amber Apartments in Longfellow is to provide efficiency, single-occupancy units at about $600 a month.
“We’re not giving people a handout, but a hand up,” explained Cain. “They have to do the work, but we provide the opportunity.”
Low barrier housing
RS Eden employees envision filling Amber Apartments with tenants who are working but don’t make enough to afford market-rate housing—even what’s labeled as “affordable.” Maybe they’re working at a couple of part-time jobs. Or, they work next door at Walgreens or Cub as a cashier earning minimum wage.
“This will allow them to continue in the process of working and being responsible citizens, and not have to spend 50% or more of what little income they have on rent,” stated Cain.
Residents at RS Eden apartments often can’t pass background checks and don’t have high credit scores. So RS Eden offers “low barrier housing.”
According to RS Eden Vice President of Supportive Housing Lois Mueller, “Many of the people we meet have histories that have resulted in multiple barriers to securing housing, making it easy for landlords to screen them out. RS Eden’s commitment is to ‘screen people in.’ We look for reasons to believe that a prospective tenant will make it, and become a good neighbor.”
RS Eden focuses on creating intentional communities in their buildings. “We look for people who have buy-in to a culture of pro-social values and beliefs,” explained Cain. “They may not have always been that, but now they want to contribute to the community and take responsibility for their own lives. There are any number of barriers that people have had to overcome to make that full leap from where they’re coming to where they’re going.”
He added, “It’s breaking the cycle.”
Photo right: Amber Apartments is being named after RS Eden President and CEO Dan Cain’s daughter as a legacy project to honor the 46 years he’s been with the organization. The majority of the $18 million cost of the project will be covered by various grants and low-income housing tax credits, but RS Eden needs to raise $700,000. (Photo by Tesha M. Christensen)
Right now there are some people who aren’t being served by the housing projects RS Eden already offers as they aren’t technically homeless because they’re staying with a mom or brother or friend. Amber Apartments will provide a place for those people, said Mueller.
When RS Eden opens a new building, they often find that police calls go up in the area. It’s not because there is more crime in the RS Eden building, but because the residents of the RS Eden building are calling in about the crime they see in the streets around their homes, observed Cain.
One of the first steps RS Eden took in getting this project off the ground was to visit with the Longfellow Community Council and garner support.
“We look for a neighborhood that will support the transition for people to become involved in their communities,” stated Cain.
It wasn’t until the LCC Neighborhood Development and Transportation Committee approved the project that RS Eden purchased the property.
Five-story, 80 unit building
Amber Apartments will be located on the property that now houses the Bell Laboratory building, just north of Walgreens along Hiawatha Ave. and kitty-corner from the upcoming Snelling Yards housing development. It does not include the historic Flair Fountain structure.
The five-story, 53,950 square-foot building will sit on one acre. It will include 80 efficiency units that range from 418 to 518 square feet. A parking lot will have 40 spaces, or about a half space per unit, and there will be inside storage for bicycles. One-third of the property will be green space along what planners hope will soon be the Min Hi Line linear park.
The entrance to the building will be off 45th rather than Hiawatha.
The building will sit directly across from the 46th St. light rail station, and planners expect that most residents will not have a car. It was the proximity to a light rail station and A Line Bus Rapid Transit that drew RS Eden to this site.
“For low-wage workers, the expense of owning and operating a dependable car presents one more barrier to success, but not having a car means not having access to jobs, health care, and other necessary amenities,” remarked Mueller.
Photo left: RS Eden President and CEO Dan Cain hopes the city will consider constructing a pedestrian bridge near 45th and Hiawatha to serve residents, including high-density housing projects at Amber Apartments and the Snelling Yards site. Right now, people regularly cross Hiawatha near 45th instead of walking down to the crosswalk at 46th. (Photo by Tesha M. Christensen)
Donations needed
Amber Apartments is being named after Cain’s daughter as a legacy project to honor the 46 years he’s been with the organization.
The majority of the $18 million cost of the project will be covered by various grants and low-income housing tax credits, but RS Eden needs to raise $700,000. Donations can be made via the website at www.rseden.org.
Planners expect Amber Apartments to be fully funded by the end of 2019, and to start construction shortly after that. It will take 10-11 months to complete.
An affordable housing crisis
Minneapolis is in high need of affordable housing, according to Mueller, who pointed out that the city is in need of tens of thousands of affordable housing units according to a study by the Dougherty Financial Group. The definition of affordable housing is housing costs that are 30% of a person’s income. To afford rent payments of $700-$900 a person must make between $2,100-2,800.
Rental vacancies in the Twin Cities have dropped to 2.4 percent while the unemployment rate has dropped to 2.9 percent resulting in low rental vacancies and strong rent growth, according to the Dougherty study. Meanwhile, the compensation for private market workers in 2017 increased just 1.4 percent, making it difficult for low-income wage earners to find housing.
“There has been a lot of attention recently on the homeless encampment along Hiawatha Ave., but we’ve been facing a crisis in homelessness far before those tents went up—it just hasn’t been quite as visible,” remarked Minneapolis City Council member Andrew Johnson. “The Amber Apartments proposal helps address this crisis by creating some units for homeless individuals and families, along with providing necessary support services, such as helping them get and keep jobs. It also creates additional units that help address the affordable housing crisis hitting many major cities, including ours, with runaway rents that push working families out and destabilize their lives.
“We need more development proposals like this and I am thankful to have RS Eden as a partner in these efforts.”

Longfellow Girl Scout Troop 16566 learns ‘every voice matters’

By TESHA M. CHRISTENSEN
Eleven Dowling Elementary fifth graders in Girl Scout Troop 16566 are concerned about safety on the streets around their school, and they went to city hall on Nov. 29 to ask the City Council to do something about it.
Nine of the 11 troop members also serve on the safety patrol at Dowling.
Photo right: Girl Scout spokesperson Hadley Dobish, age 10, asks city council members to consider street safety improvements around Dowling Elementary School, and all other schools in the city during a council budget hearing on Nov. 29. (Photo submitted)
“First of all, we would like to have 4-way stop signs at the intersection of E. 38th St. and Edmund Blvd., and at the intersection of Dowling St. and Edmund Blvd., and at the entrance to the school parking lot at Dowling St. and 48th Ave.,” said spokesperson Hadley Dobish, age 10, during the City Council budget hearing. “I do safety patrol on those corners, on different days, and I can tell you that cars go way too fast and careless through all these intersections.”
“Secondly, we propose to make Edmund Blvd. a one-way, southbound street, starting at Dowling St. until Folwell Dr.” Dobish continued during her two-minute speech. “All the school buses line up along Edmund Blvd., and the street is just too narrow to have traffic in both directions plus parents trying to drop kids off and cross in front of buses. And if someone is parked on the street, then two-way traffic is near impossible.
“We, as Girl Scouts and as safety patrol, agree that if we can get this short stretch of street, turned into a one-way street, it would be a great benefit to the whole community, to keep kids safe.”
The Girl Scouts didn’t stop there.
“Ideally, we hope the city can look at all intersections around schools in Minneapolis, and make sure that all schools have as many stop signs and safety considerations as possible,” said Dobish. “In this day of distracted driving with cell phones, we think it is necessary for these precautions to keep kids safe.
“Thank you for listening, and for helping us figure out how to make our ideas a reality and improve our city!”
The Girl Scouts were the first on the meeting agenda, because, as City Council President Barb Johnson, explained, she had been a Girl Scout and a troop leader.
“In my four years of listening to the public while considering the budget, these speakers really stood out; they clearly identified their concerns, brought forward potential solutions, and even had an accompanying illustration (a first!),” remarked Ward 12 Council Member Andrew Johnson. “They tied their localized concerns (at Dowling school) to a broader ask for more city-wide attention to school safety. I could tell that the full City Council was just as impressed with them as I was.”
Photo left: Ward 12 Council Member Andrew Johnson chats with members of Girl Scout Troop 16566 in the city hall chambers during a visit on Nov. 29. The Girl Scouts learned about the importance of citizen involvement in government. (Photo submitted)
The council ultimately passed a budget that included two new positions dedicated to improving pedestrian safety, and part of their work will be focused on schools. The ideas from the Girl Scout Troop were also duly noted and are being looked into, according to Johnson.
Girl Scout members include Dowling Elementary fifth-graders Dobish, Violet Mueller, Emilie Numrich, Maura Davis, Yossi Enestvedt, Suzi Priest, Soledad Serena, Khloe Albertson, Hazel Murphy, Abby May, and Giovanna Zanabria.
Dobish’s mom, Leah Drury, serves as co-leader of the troop that formed when the girls were in first grade. “Marian Wright Edelman’s quote, ‘You can’t be what you can’t see,’ has always resonated with me as a parent, and now as a Girl Scout troop leader,” observed Drury.
“I hope that by exposing the girls in the troop to even a small sliver of what happens in City Hall and in Minneapolis government,” Drury added, “it will contribute to their growing world view and leadership skills—and we will see strong female leaders emerge from this experience in the not-so-distant future!”
Striving towards highest honor
In addition to attending and speaking at the city council meeting, the Girl Scouts also toured city hall and had dinner with some of the females working behind the scenes to make things happen in city government.
Their excursion and work preparing for it earned them each an “Inside Government” badge. They are also striving to earn the Bronze award, one of the highest honors a Girl Scout Junior can earn. It requires working together as a group to identify a need in the community, and put in 20 hours of service to do something that will have a lasting impact.
“Our troop has been talking all fall about, ‘What can we do to help our city?’ And we decided to keep it local and connected to our school, since we spend so much time there!” explained Dobish, who met council member Johnson during a block part in her Ericsson neighborhood earlier this year. During that conversion, Johnson suggested that her Girl Scout troop visit city hall, and then helped arrange it, timing it with the city’s budget hearing.
Every voice matters
Troop 16566 is part of the Lake Nokomis/Stone Arch Service Unit in the River Valleys Girl Scout Council. This year, the national council has launched the G.I.R.L. (go-getter, innovator, risk-taker, and leadership) experience. The focus is on four areas of leadership: STEM, Outdoor Skills, Entrepreneurship and Life Skills.
“Our troop is working towards being future leaders, and they were so honored to have the women leaders of our city take time to eat pizza with them,” remarked Co-Leader Karrie Mueller, who lives in Morris Park. “The girls also enjoyed hearing about our women leaders’ childhood ‘aha’ moments which propelled them into the leadership/civil service positions they hold today.”
Photo right: Members of Girl Scout Troop 16566 post outside Minneapolis City Hall after touring it, attending a reception with female department heads, and speaking during a city council budget hearing on Nov. 29. Girl Scout members include Dowling Elementary fifth-graders Hadley Dobish, Violet Mueller, Emilie Numrich, Maura Davis, Yossi Enestvedt, Suzi Priest, Soledad Serena, Khloe Albertson, Hazel Murphy, Abby May, and Giovanna Zanabria. Troop leaders are Leah Drury and Karrie Mueller. (Photo submitted)
The leaders the Girl Scouts met with included: Minneapolis Health Commissioner Gretchen Musicant, Director of Public Works Robin Hutcheson, Deputy Director of Public Works/City Engineer Lisa Cerney, Regulatory Services Operations Director Kim Keller, Director of Civil Rights Velma Korbel, Director of Human Resources Patience Ferguson, and Deputy City Coordinator Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde.
“The girls learned about how they can make an impact on a local level, and that there are many people behind the scenes all working to make Minneapolis work and are continually working to improve the city. Meeting the women in charge of the departments of engineering, regulatory services, civil rights, and more, opened up their view of the ways to be involved,” stated Drury. “Seeing the hallways full of people waiting for their turn to speak to the council, and listening to some the speakers share their requests for the city budget, also made quite an impact about the importance of citizen involvement and how every voice matters.”
Johnson remarked, “As these girls grow up and choose career paths they are passionate about, I hope they consider public service—they can be the civil engineers, public health professionals, firefighters, animal care and control veterinarians, department leaders, and council members of tomorrow!”
He added, “The younger you are, the longer you’ll have to live with the decisions being made, so help make them!”

Highlights of Girl Scout Troop 16566’s visit to Minneapolis City Hall

Hadley Dobish
“I liked the huge statue called Mississippi and that it was good luck to rub his toe. I needed that good luck before I talked in a microphone in front of the City Council. I also learned that there are way more jobs involved in running the city than you think. I liked learning about animal control!”
Yossi Enestvedt
“There were a lot of women working there at the top, like the woman engineer who had worked there a long time, and it was cool to see a lot of women in the room who were in charge along with the men. It was an experience that was amazing to me, and I want to go back again!”
Maura Davis
“[The best part was] seeing some of the cool things such as the statues and the tiles engraved by people and the fake marble in the building. I also enjoyed going to the city council meeting and seeing the cool designs on the wall and listening to people speak. While we were eating pizza, I also enjoyed hearing important women talk to us about their jobs and getting to ask them questions.”
Soledad Serena
“Some of the highlights about visiting City Hall were: Learning about the jobs of the people who work at City Hall, visiting the library, and learning about some of the history of City Hall.”
Violet Mueller
“Got to meet some really cool people like the mayor-elect, but the most amazing was all the GIRL POWER that runs our city- yeah! The man of the Mississippi statue was pretty cool, too, and it turns out he has a lucky toe.”
Khloe Albertson
“The people that worked there were the best part because I like the job that they do. It seems like a really cool job.”
Emilie Numrich
“I really liked that I was able to see the whole City Hall and learn how it was built. It was exciting to have some of my friends speak to the City Council. I really liked meeting the new Mayor. Thank you to the City Council members for allowing us to do this. I am glad that my City Council Member Andrew Johnson was a nice as I thought he would be.”

Wishing for a large grocery store on south side of Longfellow?

Developers eyeing city-identified ‘town square retail site’ near 46th and Hiawatha for grocery store and apartments

By TESHA A. CHRISTENSEN
Are you going out of the neighborhood to grocery shop? You’re not alone.
“Third-party grocery consultants estimate that 85% of the available food dollars leave the Longfellow neighborhood—resulting in more traffic and road miles traveled,” according to Drew Johnson of Oppidan Investment Company.
In fact, parts of south Minneapolis are classified as a food desert by the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) because of low access to grocery stores.
Photo left: A grocery store and 140 to 160 apartments may be constructed at Snelling and E. 46th in 2017. The investment in phase one will be $38-$44 million. (Photo by Tesha M. Christensen)
Oppidan hopes to change that by building a new grocery store near the 46th and Hiawatha intersection.
Construction may begin soon.
“Despite grocery options along Lake St., across the river, or further west of Highway 55, a market analysis reveals the area as a ‘food desert,’ so having a grocery store there would serve the community well,” said Ward 12 Council Member Andrew Johnson. “What will be important, though, is which particular grocer moves in. For it to be most beneficial to the community, I believe it has to offer something differentiated from what we already have nearby.”
5.7-acre site
Oppidan owns the 5.7-acre site with a 75,000-square-foot warehouse that Creative Kidstuff leases for its corporate office at 3939 E. 46th St. A landscaping company uses the southern portion of the site near the Dairy Queen and Nawadaha Blvd. The long, triangular-shaped parcel abuts a railroad track that is no longer used.
Illustration right: Oppidan’s plan for the site fits with the city’s transit-oriented development strategy for the area, which places a town square retail site at Snelling and 46th Ave. E.
Oppidan has been working on plans for a mixed-use project in the northern part of the site, with the grocery store fronting 46th St. Snelling Ave. will be extended south into the development and likely curve over to the area between Burger King and the mall.
“This store will bring grocery goods and services not currently offered in the trade area, and what consumers have come to expect in a grocery store: hot food bar with seating areas, grab and go options, large fresh bakery and large deli, floral, and organic offerings, as well as standard ‘center isle’ items,” said D. Johnson.
Early phase one concept plans show between 140 to 160 apartments, and around 50,000 square feet of retail, the majority for the grocery store. The investment in phase one will be $38-$44 million.
D. Johnson pointed out that the plan for the site fits with the city’s transit-oriented development strategy for the area, which places a town square retail site there.
Development challenges include barriers to development such as the high-voltage lattice towers, the cost of new public streets, and managing traffic on 46th and Hiawatha. Additionally, there will be environmental clean-up from some of the former uses at the site, including a coal/fuel company, a lumberyard, a gas station, and diesel storage.
Oppidan was drawn to the parcel because of its large size and location with great transit connections.
“Done right, this project will offer positive features to both new and existing residents/neighbors: additional housing options in a market that has an extremely low vacancy rate, multi-modal access to grocery, cleaning-up impacted soils from historical uses, treating stormwater before it leaves the site, and public trails and plaza areas connecting to other redevelopments in the area,” said D. Johnson.
“Despite being located across the street from Minnehaha Falls, a block from the 46th St. light rail station, and on a bus-rapid-transit line, the property today is mostly a giant asphalt lot… they even pile wood chips out back!” said council member Johnson. “I believe there are much better uses for such an excellent location.”
The sheer size of the property may be its biggest challenge. “This makes a strong vision and good urban design essential, as it is all too easy for most developers to pursue the biggest, easiest, and cheapest project possible to maximize profit and move on. I have seen firsthand Oppidan’s willingness thus far to focus on the details and make the redevelopment of this property a good fit for the neighborhood,” said A. Johnson. “They are also planning ahead for the future so that this site could be combined with others nearby to make a little village for shopping, living, and entertainment that’s integrated with green space and paths to the park and transit.”
When A. Johnson first saw the plan, he suggested some revisions to activate the public realm on 46th St. with commercial spaces and pedestrian-friendly features.
“They broke up the long and bulky building into two separate buildings, and they made some other tweaks to fit better with the site and neighborhood,” observed A. Johnson.
“Moving forward, the city will play a pretty big role in helping make any development of this site a success, as there are some public infrastructure changes to consider, such as extending Snelling Ave. and converting the abandoned railroad tracks into a connection with Minnehaha Park,” added council member Johnson.
Min Hi Line: a linear park
The Min Hi Line Coalition envisions a linear park traversing the space now unused by railroad tracks, of which the area within the grocery store development is the southernmost link to Minnehaha Park.
Since 2001, the city’s master planning guiding documents have also promoted the old rail right-of-way being turned into a linear park. A bike/walk trail in this area would create a protected connection between the Midtown Greenway and Minnehaha Pkwy, and complete the Longfellow Grand Rounds, as noted in the Minneapolis Bicycle Master Plan.
The Min Hi Line Coalition (www.minhiline.org) aims to incorporate park space with public art, trails, streets, historical markers and storm water management. Successful precedents from across the country, such as the Atlanta Beltline, New York High Line, and Minneapolis Midtown Greenway serve as models and guide the work.
Share your comments
The developer’s next step is to engage with community stakeholders.
Learn more on Tues., Jan. 3 at the Longfellow Community Council’s Neighborhood Development and Transportation Committee meeting at the Longfellow Recreation Center (3435 36th Ave. S.), at 7:30 p.m.

Appeared in the December 2016 Longfellow Nokomis Messenger.