APARTMENTS RISE IN WEST MAKA SKA

Abbott and Chowen avenues are expected to remain dead end streets well into 2023 to allow for work on the West Lake Station and the West Lake Quarter apartment buildings before being re-connected by a new 31st Street. 

Although passenger service is not planned to begin on the light rail line until 2027, construction of the station platform and structure is moving along. 

The 7-story, 98-unit apartment building at West Lake Quarter along Abbott Avenue, is now open for occupancy.  Known as the Mezz, it takes its name from being a mezzanine between another 7-story building, now under construction and called the Gateway, and a planned 26-story Landmark tower. The Gateway will have 152 units and is expected to open in the spring of 2023. The start date for work on the tower remains uncertain, but when West Lake Quarter is completed it will also include a fourth apartment building adjacent to West Lake Station bringing the apartment count to 856 units (and 769 parking stalls), according to plans approved by the Minneapolis Planning Commission. The fourth building is intended to include apartments to enable the developer to meet its affordable housing requirement.

Construction activity is limited by the City to 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. For questions or complaints about light rail construction activity, you can call the 24-hour hotline at 612-373-3933. 

3012 EXCELSIOR

At the site of a former BP gas station on the triangular space at 3012 Excelsior, a nine-story apartment building is going up next to the fire station. Last week, there were road closures for a concrete pour. 

In July 2019, the Minneapolis Planning Commission approved a 10-story hotel with 100 hotel rooms and 20 owner-occupied units, plus 11,000 square feet of commercial space.

Elevage Development Group amended that in June 2021, shifting to a 9-story apartment building with 74 units and about 3,000 square feet of commercial space where W. Lake St. and Excelsior meet.

The building will fill nearly all of the 31,047-square-foot site except the front tip. It was designed by ESG Architecture & Design of Minneapolis.

There will be one below ground parking lot, and two at-grade lots for a total of 104 spaces. Vehicles will enter via two curb cuts, one on W. Lake St. and the other on Excelsior. The gas station saw about 700 vehicle trips per day, while the new building is estimated to generate 476 total trips per day.

Upper levels have balconies. There will be a terrace on the ground level, and an expansive outdoor deck with a pool on the top floor with views of Bde Maka Ska. There will be a co-working space and a recreational workshop on the main level.

Other buildings in the vicinity include the 8-story Lakehaus apartments at 3100 West Lake Street, the 20-story Lake Point Condominiums, the 8- to 12-story Calhoun Beach Club mixed-use complex at 2900 Thomas Avenue, the 8-story/100-foot residential development at 2622 West Lake Street, the 5-story Loop Condos residential development at 3104 West Lake Street, the 6-story/70-foot mixed-use development at 3118 West Lake Street, and the 5-story Lake Calhoun Executive Center immediately to the south between the project site and Bde Maka Ska.

The site zoning is ‘Transit 30’ (Built Form District) which calls for building heights of 10-30 stories with 10 stories being the minimum height. The site is further guided by the city’s Midtown Greenway Land Use Plan, which designates the site under future land use as commercial development with a preference for mixed-use commercial. Specifically, the Midtown Greenway small area plan specifically contemplates redevelopment of this area for medium- or high-density residential use as follows: “If there is a proposal to redevelop this property, the plan suggests that it include medium- or high-density housing along with new commercial space to correspond with the future transit-oriented nature of the area. This could be in the form of residential uses above ground floor commercial businesses in vertical mixed-use buildings.” The small area plan also designates the site within a ‘Transit-Oriented Development District,’ which includes ‘Type V Tall Apartments’ that exceed 5 stories.