From: Finance & Commerce
By: Nancy Crotti
June 19, 2013
Schmidt Artist Lofts
Schmidt’s Artist Lofts
Address: 882 Seventh St. W., St. Paul
Artistic apartment-seekers recently reserved 65 units at the long-awaited redevelopment of the 16-acre Schmidt Brewery, according to Owen Metz, a project developer with Plymouth-based Dominium.
That was without even seeing a model. Dominium broke ground in January for 121 units in the former Schmidt bottling house and 126 in the brew house, originally constructed in 1890. It also plans to build 13 rental town homes on the site, which most recently housed an ethanol plant.
Monthly rents in the affordable housing redevelopment will range from $846 for a 600-square-foot studio to $1,229 for a 1,600-square-foot, three-bedroom apartment. Dominium is also adding shared studio space.
“We’re just excited by the reaction in the market so far to it,” Metz said. “The fact that we’ve got roughly a quarter of our units under reservation and we’re still over six months away from turning over our first set of buildings. … It’s been a good start to our marketing and lease up activities.”
Developer: Dominium
Project amount: $125 million
Financing: Tax credit investors (U.S. Bank’s Community Development Corp.; Alliant Capital), $70.4M; Cornerstone Real Estate Advisors, $21.9M; Dominium, $18.6M (deferred fees); city of St. Paul, $4.5M; Metropolitan Council, $3.6M; deferred seller note*, $2.5M; Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, $669,000; Ramsey County, $303,000.
*The Schmidt property owner BHGDN LLC deferred $2.5 million of its sale price until the project is completed.
Move-in: Bottling house apartments and town homes, December 2013; brew house apartments, June 2014.
A-Mill Artist Lofts by Dominium
A-Mill Artist Lofts (rendering by BKV Group)
Address: 301 Main St. SE, Minneapolis
Plymouth-based developer Dominium is doing final due diligence on its project to convert six buildings that comprise the 130-year-old former Pillsbury A-Mill into affordable artists’ lofts and studios, according to project lead developer Owen Metz. Construction will begin within 30 days of closing, Metz said.
Structural stabilization, rebuilding to historic preservation standards and adding an underground parking structure top the list of priorities. Dominium plans 251 apartments from 600 to 1,700 square feet with rents from $870 to $1,300 per month. Dominium plans to dedicate 25,000 square feet of the 35,000 square feet of amenity space to shared artist studios.
Developer: Dominium
General contractor: Weis Builders, Minneapolis
Project amount: $150 million
Financing: $70 million in federal low-income housing and historic preservation tax credits to be purchased by an equity investor selected by Alliant Capital; $24 million in state historic preservation tax credits; up to $55 million in Hennepin County housing revenue bonds; and about $2 million in county and state grants for environmental cleanup.
Move-in: spring or summer 2015.
