April 2016 H OUSING N EWS R EPORT
warehouses and new development is kick-starting a rebirth of the area, said McAlpin, noting that restored lofts, restaurants and stylish boutiques are popping up in this landmark neighborhood just west of downtown and nestled along the Mississippi River. “The North East Loop area is popular with hipsters and millennials because there are a lot of new restaurants,” said McAlpin, referring to the first-ring suburb of Minneapolis within blocks of the city’s Chain of Lakes. “Places like St. Anthony and St. Louis Park continue to get hot. St. Louis Park is an area where people are buying and tearing down homes to re-build new homes. Prices in St. Louis Park range from $160,000 to $2 million. If I was moving back to the metro area, I’d live in St. Louis Park.” Another section of the city that is booming is Downtown East, said McAlpin. He said on the east side of downtown Minneapolis, a new wave of urban development is triggering a renaissance. A new football stadium, an office complex, a park and housing are going up on the east end of downtown, he said. A mammoth new $1.1 billion pro football stadium for the Minnesota Vikings is replacing the razed Metrodome. Downtown East Building Boom
Nearby, Wells Fargo & Co. is building two 17-story office towers west of the new Vikings stadium, where the century-old Star Tribune building once stood. Other redevelopment projects in Downtown East include about 25,000 square feet of retail space, 195 apartments, a 4.2-acre park called The Commons and a 164-room Radisson Red hotel, according to Finance & Commerce. Additionally, a new 20,000-seat, $150 million Major League Soccer stadium is being built in St. Paul about halfway between the two downtowns. The Warehouse Historic District, the landmark neighborhood in downtown Minneapolis, was once home to bustling railroad yards, factories, warehouses and mills. But the area fell dormant in the 1960s and ‘70s. Now, it has come back to life, with the area dotted with restored warehouse lofts, stylish boutiques, restaurants catering to professionals and empty- nesters. Not only is the residential real estate market hot in the Twin Cities, but the metro has one of the tightest rental housing markets in the nation. Rentals in all price ranges are in short supply across the Twin Cities. Low vacancy rates and rising rents may be a landlord’s dream, but they can be a nightmare
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Minneapolis-St. Paul New Home Building Permits By Year
30,000
27,714
25,000
22,069
20,000
15,712
15,000
11,493 12,033 11,425 11,713
9,982
10,000
5,781
5,726 5,148
4,670
5,000
0
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau
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