Mixed-use housing projects have been built to include grocery stores, Target stores and wine bars. Why not a church?
That’s exactly what developers are planning in St. Paul’s historic Rondo neighborhood. PDMC LLC, a joint venture of St. Paul-based Premier Development and Edina-based Mesaba Capital Partners, plans to break ground in July on a 95-unit senior housing project on the site now occupied by Morning Star Baptist Church.
The church will occupy a new, larger space built on the ground floor of the building planned at 739 Selby Ave., in the northeast quadrant of Selby and Grotto Street.
It’s one of two senior housing projects in the works in a three-block stretch of Selby Avenue. The other is a project by Rondo Community Land Trust at 852 Selby Ave. Together, the projects will add about 130 affordable and market-rate senior apartments in an area badly in need of better options for aging residents, said Jens Werner, executive director of the Summit-University Planning Council.
“There’s a lot of need for different types of housing in the neighborhood, specifically senior housing and low-income housing for both single people and families,” she said Monday. “It really keeps our neighbors in probably one of the more vibrant areas of the neighborhood.”
The Morning Star project will be a big change for the church’s 1-acre site. Della Kolpin, co-owner and senior partner at Mesaba Capital, said the partners had identified the property, right across Grotto Street North from Premier’s offices, as a candidate for development.
“There’s a rather large parking lot that was underutilized, and also a church that needed some upgrades. This really is a win-win for the community as a whole,” Kolpin said. “[Premier Development] is located right next door to the church. At the same time, the church was looking for some opportunity as well, so we partnered.”
The four-story, $24 million proposal includes a 6,600-square foot church facility with space for 240 parishioners on the western side of the property, the same footprint occupied by the current building. Above and to the east would be apartments ranging from 360-square-foot studios to two-bed, two-bath units of 1,082 square feet. Parking would be provided on 30 surface spaces and 66 in an underground garage.
The St. Paul City Council in February approved a rezoning request for the project. Last week, the city’s Zoning Committee recommended approval for a conditional use permit and a parking variance. The proposal now goes before the city Planning Commission on Friday for final approval, Kolpin said. If all goes well, construction should begin in the second half of July.
“We see there’s going to be growth within this [primary market area] of about 30 percent of the age that is looking for senior housing,” she said. “When you look at some [senior housing] existing in the marketplace, there are waiting lists. So there continues to be a need.”
Several nearby organizations have submitted letters of support, and one neighbor wrote of concerns about the size and upkeep of the new building. The church did not return messages seeking comment.
One supporter is Greg Finzel, executive director of the Rondo Community Land Trust. After all, he has identified the same need.
The trust is partnering with Community Housing Development Corp. to build two affordable senior buildings just down the street. One is on the southeast corner of Victoria Street and Selby, and the second just west of Milton Street and Selby. In total, the $13.2 million project will offer 34 units and 9,300 square feet of retail space and live-work units for entrepreneurs, Finzel said. Construction is underway, with completion expected in January or February.
The live-work units and ground-floor retail are intended to provide affordable space for small businesses owned by African-Americans, while the apartments above address the needs of aging residents wanting to stay close to home, he said.
“There are seniors living in the community that want to age, want to stay in the Rondo community, but for any number of reasons, the housing they live in isn’t best suited going forward, so we’re receiving a fair amount of interest in the housing portions,” Finzel said.
Some units would be restricted to renters making 60 percent or less of the area median income, and others 30 percent or less. The Twin Cities area median income is $94,300 for a family of four.
Werner, of the Summit-University Planning Council, said the entire neighborhood flourishes when seniors have good options for housing.
“What we’ve seen recently is some seniors unable to keep up with their house, and things tumble out of control and the house ends up being torn down,” she said. “… These projects in my eyes are very positive because it shows how much the community values our elders.
“And … I think we need more communities that try to find space for our elders in the community, instead of pushing them to the outskirts or spaces that break the link,” she said.
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