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Thursday, November 13, 2014

Neighborhoods near campus PRESERVING RIVERSIDE PLAZA METRO LACKS AFFORDABLE HOUSING HOUSING GRID APARTMENTS BUILT FROM STICKS NEW CO-OP HOUSING ON ITS WAY TO DINKY UNIVERSITY PREPS NEW LIVING OPTIONS CITY WORKS TO KEEP LANDLORDS IN CHECK STUDENT HOUSING BOOM COULD SOON BECOME STAGNANT

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Editor’s Note: Versions of these stories were previously published in the Minnesota Daily over the course of the past year. They have since been edited for accuracy and space.

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NEIGHBORHOODS NEAR CAMPUS

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PRESERVING RIVERSIDE PLAZA The historic apartment complex was honored for renovations, but tenants say problems persist. BY ALEX BITTER abitter@mndaily.com

The federal government has recognized Riverside Plaza and its owners with an award for historic preservation following a recent renovation, but residents say some issues are still unresolved after the update. The National Trust for Historic Preservation and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded the annual Department Secretary’s Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation on Nov. 1, 2013 to Sherman Associates, the group that owns the affordable housing project on West Bank. The award came about a year after Sherman completed a $132 million renovation on the 1,303-unit complex. The two agencies recognized Sherman for preserving historic aspects of Riverside Plaza while continuing to provide lowand moderate-income housing. The award committee considered several factors when deciding last year’s winner, including how innovative the redesign was and how well the structure accommodates low-income residents, National Trust business manager Nicole Vann said. She said the award, while prestigious, carries no monetary prize. “It’s about the recognition,” she said. But many residents and community leaders said they were disappointed with the scope of the recent renovations. Mohamed Jama, resident and general director of the Cedar Riverside Youth Council, said the Plaza’s managers assured residents they would look into their concerns. But Jama said most of the issues raised stayed unaddressed. “Some of the [apartments] are still run-down,” he said last fall. “We’re still having a hard time figuring out what is

Riverside Plaza in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood on a Tuesday afternoon in fall of 2013.

happening in terms of security and in terms of improvements.” Jama said security is a major concern for many residents, especially since crime rates have been higher in the neighborhood than nearby areas in recent months. “Sherman Associates, [which] houses more than 5,000 people, is not taking security concerns seriously,” he said. Deqa Adan moved to Riverside Plaza in summer 2013 and said she’s also worried about safety. People who don’t live in the Plaza got access after multiple spare keys disappeared from the complex’s office, she said. “They didn’t inform anyone,” she said. Adan said Sherman should allow more residents to take staff jobs at the Plaza instead of hiring from outside of the community.

“Any job that comes up, it should be [used] to give people in the community the opportunity to do better for themselves,” she said. “Apparently, that doesn’t work in Riverside Plaza.” Sherman Associates didn’t return multiple calls for comment at the time. Originally named Cedar Square West, Riverside Plaza was designed by former University of Minnesota School of Architecture dean Ralph Rapson. Completed in the early 1970s, Riverside Plaza was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2010. Preservation Alliance of Minnesota Executive Director Doug Gasek said the complex is emblematic of the “new towns in town” philosophy. The concept stresses building schools and businesses into large new complexes to provide a new community rather than just housing, Gasek said. It was

HOLLY PETERSON, DAILY FILE PHOTO

a popular design philosophy for large apartment and condominium complexes built in the 1960s and ’70s after the Plaza. Gasek said the Plaza’s recent renovation will likely serve as a model for future upgrades to housing complexes built around the same time. “It’s a project that really exemplifies how housing rehab can be done in a modernist building,” he said. “A lot of people will be looking to this project in the future to understand how to renovate architectural pieces from our recent past and incorporate housing in those buildings.” Jama said moving forward, Riverside Plaza residents would continue trying to work with management to fix the problems, despite the lack of reception they say they had received. “We’re hoping that the management takes the tenants seriously,” he said.

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METRO LACKS AFFORDABLE HOUSING A report suggested solutions for the housing deficit in the Twin Cities and U of M area. BY JOHN THOMAS jthomas@mndaily.com

The Twin Cities metro and the University of Minnesota area need more housing — especially affordable units — to stave off a looming housing deficit, according to the Metropolitan Council’s long-term housing plan. Citizens gathered to comment on the 2040 Housing Policy Plan, currently in its first public draft, at a September hearing in downtown St. Paul. The plan suggested measures that could

provide students with more affordable housing options closer to campus, something experts say the area needs for an equitable environment. “We are just so far behind in terms of the number of affordable housing units we need compared to the demand,” said Edward Goetz, director of the University’s Center for Urban and Regional Affairs. A swell of student apartment complexes has brought more than 900 units of luxury housing to the neighborhoods around campus in recent years. But luxury housing might not run counter to providing affordable shelter around the University because the boom will dry up demand and drive prices down, said Ward 3 City Councilman Jacob Frey, who represents parts

of the University’s area. Neighborhoods near campus could benefit from mixed-income housing initiatives, said Libby Starling, a member of the Met Council’s Community Development Division. “Having that mix of income levels helps lead to the type of neighborhoods that people say they want to live in,” Starling said, adding that such neighborhoods are stronger communities. She said today’s young adults bring different housing considerations than those who came before, like the weight of student loans and the tendency to have children later in life. “We’re very interested in how those changing needs and processes will affect the housing market,” Starling said. One option to incentivize affordable

housing expansion would be to link transportation funding from the Met Council to communities’ performance in housing options. The council is also looking into appropriating funds from other amenities it administrates for the potential expansion. Nelima Sitati Munene, who represented the Northwest Community Collaborative at the September hearing, said she advocates for place-based spending, a practice that seeks to bring improvements like housing to impoverished neighborhoods rather than encouraging their residents to move elsewhere. She said she thinks such policies will help to diversify schools like the University because they will strengthen primary and secondary education in those areas.

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APARTMENTS BUILT FROM STICKS In the recent student housing boom near campus, developers have often opted to build with wood. BY ANNE MILLERBERND amillerbernd@mndaily.com

Long, thin pieces of wood hold up many of the University of Minnesota-area’s newest apartments. Slender wood pillars and a sheath of plywood, or a similar material, wrap some of the rooms inside housing complexes like the Marshall, the Knoll and the Elysian. Other new complexes are made of concrete or steel. The decision about which material to use when constructing housing for hundreds of University students often comes down to cost and resource availability. In the recent wave of near-campus construction, wood has emerged as the material of choice for many developers, who say the product is more cost-effective, easier to use and just as structurally sound as any other material. The now-formulaic “stick-built” construction style — with retail space on the bottom floors with 100 or 200 rooms stacked on top — isn’t exclusive to the area, but is part of a growing trend across the Twin Cities.

How to do stick-built Building an apar tment from wood means relying heavily on state and international building codes. Minnesota laws, along with the International Building Code, dictate that woodframe apartments cannot be taller than six floors, with some exceptions. That restriction is based on the height of firefighters’ ladders, said associate architecture professor Blaine Brownell, in the case of an emergency in which a firefighter has to reach a building’s top floor. Contractors can also use wood treated to be less susceptible to flames, mold and other types of wear and tear. In some cases, they’re mandated to do so.

The height limit on stick-built apartments can be slightly extended with the addition of a sprinkler system, according to the IBC. But Brownell said adding a sprinkler system rarely yields a return in investment, since it’s often an expensive addition that doesn’t create much more living space in a building. On the other hand, concrete or steel buildings can reach well above six stories, though their height limits vary by geographic area. All but one of developer Kelly Doran’s six luxury student housing projects are made of wood. The Bridges, which opened in the fall, is 11 stories high, said Scott Casanova, Doran Companies’ vice president of major projects. Around the University, many complexes sit on a concrete base often used for retail space, like TargetExpress and Gina + Will under the Marshall and the Venue, respectively. The timeline for building wood-frame projects generally falls around a year, Brownell said. With the pace of construction that the stick-built method allows, Brownell said concern is natural. “Speed can sometimes mean that something is put together less thoughtfully or carefully,” he said, “but at the same time, there are demonstrated practices where construction can occur incredibly quickly and be tightly coordinated.”

Wide benefits, tall drawbacks When balancing the pros and cons of construction materials, industry experts say wood typically emerges as the most cost-effective answer — which is a big part of why developers and architects tend to select it for housing both around and beyond the University area. While it’s logical to assume that wood construction is also the most fragile, Brownell said, the reality is that stick-built apartments are built to last. “Just because a structure is made out of wood, psychologically it might seem to be cheaper or less stable or sturdy,” he said, “but then you’d really just have to just look

ZACH BIELINSKI, DAILY FILE PHOTO

The WaHu apartment complex undergoes construction on Sept. 28. CPM Companies owns at least five completed or under-construction housing complexes in the University area, and all of them except WaHu are stick-built.

at the way that something was designed and built versus the material that was used.” Brownell said the cost of the manpower to construct a building, rather than the price of the resource itself, can drive the decision about what kind of construction material to use. Building with steel or concrete requires hiring crane operators and more workers. Wood calls for fewer resources, making it a more attractive option, Brownell said. Industry experts say concrete and steel buildings are preferable if the structure’s lifetime needs to exceed 100 years, but they say wood-framed apartments will last long enough for their purposes. Daniel Oberpriller’s development company, CPM Companies, owns at least five completed or under-construction housing complexes in the University area. He said wood-framed construction isn’t an inferior alternative. “Obviously a concrete building will last longer than a wood building over the course of hundreds of years,” he said, “but how many hundreds of years do you need these buildings to last?” Concrete and steel are preferable for

offices and hotels, Brownell said, because those buildings tend to be taller. And because the walls in steel or concrete office or apartment buildings typically aren’t all weight-bearing, they can be remodeled into different types of buildings — which isn’t an option for stick-built complexes. Because it’s more expensive to construct with concrete or steel, once the six-floor maximum has been reached, it’s better to build even taller than seven or eight stories, said Dean Dovolis, owner and founder of DJR Architecture. And because the materials and labor cost more money, he said, a developer can get his or her money’s worth out of a project by pushing the project upward. Ward 3 City Council member Jacob Frey said though he understands that the wood-framed structures meet a local housing need, he prefers tall, thin concrete structures. “The benefit of building tall and elegant is that you free up activity to take place on the ground level,” he said. “If you did a sixstory building, you would have to build this wide behemoth structure that blocks out the sun.”

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NEW CO-OP HOUSING ON ITS WAY TO DINKY Riverton’s plan for a new building would demolish one of its current properties. BY NICK STUDENSKI nstudenski@mndaily.com

As much campus-area development continues with luxury student housing, one developer is expanding its model of community over amenities. R i v e rt o n C o m m un i t y H o u si n g , which owns six properties near the University of Minnesota, is building a new six-story, 66-unit apartment complex at the corner of 13th Avenue Southeast and Fourth Street Southeast, across the road from the Library Bar. Riverton already owns the property where it plans to build the new apartment. It’s replacing one of its existing complexes sitting on that land, the Fourth Street Housing Co-op, to make way for a new building. Gary Ellis, Riverton’s executive director, said the cooperative’s mission is to create affordable housing options for University students. Riverton’s nonprofit status allows it to operate at a lower cost, Ellis said, so it’s able to offer units at a lower price. And because area land prices are high, Ellis said the upcoming Fourth Street Southeast project is an opportunity to boost the number of units available to students on a property already owned by Riverton. Lukah Wesloh lived at the Rivertonowned Chateau Cooperative in Dinkytown, which he said he chose for its affordability. “They don’t pretend to offer any frills, but it’s a much better price,” he said. “I get my own room for half the price.” Marcy-Holmes Neighborhood Association President Cordelia Pierson

HOLLY PETERSON, DAILY FILE PHOTO

Riverton Community Housing proposed a new development on the northwest corner of Fourth Street Southeast and 13th Avenue Southeast.

said the neighborhood is looking to diversify its housing, which in recent years has been dominated by new, high-end student apartments. “I think the co-op model works well here,” she said. In addition to more affordable housing, Pierson said she thinks MarcyHolmes would benefit from new development catered not necessarily to students, but also to families and University alumni. And as the Dinkytown commercial area expands, Pierson said, its core should be reserved for small, “eclectic” businesses and supplemented by larger businesses on its outskirts, where foot traffic is currently lacking. Initial plans for Riverton’s proposed cooperative building didn’t include any commercial space, Pierson said. But after input from the Marcy-Holmes Neighborhood Association, more than 2,300 square feet of retail space was added. Pierson said commercial space in

the development could attract larger tenants and larger crowds of customers to the neighborhood. At a Marcy-Holmes Neighborhood Association Land Use Committee meeting on June 10, committee members pushed Riverton again to extend the commercial space along the side of the building facing 13th Avenue Southeast. Ellis said Riverton wants to keep the project focused on residential space rather than commercial space, but he thinks the retail space planned “will be good for the neighborhood,” he said. Computer science and engineering graduate student Ankush Khandelwal said he decided to move to the Chateau Co-op because he had a friend living there and stayed for its low rent. In addition to its affordability, Khandewal said he’s drawn to the community aspect of the co-op. When he was a member of the coop-

RIVERTON HOUSING PROJECT

SOURCE: CITY OF MINNEAPOLIS

erative’s board, he said he was able to help make important decisions about what happened in the building, like prioritizing its improvements projects and organizing community activities. Khandelwal said he was lucky to have found reasonable rent close to campus. “You don’t get anything cheaper than that,” he said.

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UNIVERSITY PREPS NEW LIVING OPTIONS GENDER-NEUTRAL HOUSING WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR SOME STUDENTS IN FALL 2015. BY ANNE MILLERBERND amillerbernd@mndaily.com

Editor’s Note: Some sources in this story are referenced using the genderneutral pronouns “they” and “them” because the sources do not identify with masculine or feminine pronouns. Beginning fall 2015, the University of Minnesota will allow some students to share rooms in on-campus housing regardless of their gender. In offering gender-neutral housing, the University is joining a growing trend in higher education. But while some were

optimistic about the new housing option, others remained apprehensive. “I think, in name, it represents something that is really potentially useful to a lot of different people … but that it needs to be implemented correctly,” said Gwen Carlson, president of University student group Tranarchy. The location for gender-neutral housing, the number of units offered and the application process were undetermined as of late January. Gender-neutral housing is different from the co-ed housing arrangement some University dorms already have. In co-ed residence halls, a room with males could be next to a room with females on the same floor. In gender-neutral housing, gender isn’t a factor in room assignments. Stef Wilenchek, director of the University’s GLBTA Programs Office, said the new housing option could benefit

both transgender students and students who choose not to identify themselves by gender or would prefer a roommate who doesn’t. The University’s Transgender Commission had multiple discussions with administrators about implementing genderneutral housing on campus. In its 2013-14 fiscal year strategic plan, Housing and Residential Life made plans to develop a gender-neutral housing option, said Susan Stubblefield, HRL assistant director. She said student advocacy, including discussions with the Board of Regents, signaled to administrators that the University was ready for gender-neutral housing. Implementing the option means some students who don’t identify as male or female can feel safer and more relaxed in their homes, said Charles Laikind, Transgender Commission co-chair. “For some students who identify as gender diverse, residence halls can be a place where [they] have to feel on and alert all the time,” they said. Stubblefield said the new housing option might not be offered to freshmen for the first year because it’ll be new to the University. But for Carlson, the possible exclusion of freshmen would be a “missed opportunity,” she said. Carlson said freshmen who don’t identify with a gender don’t often know many supportive people at the University, so they could benefit from having a genderneutral housing option right away. “The students who are going to need it

the most are going to be the younger ones who are new to a University setting,” she said. Stubblefield said she works with transgender students every year who make special requests to change their housing situations. Northwestern University is one of more than 100 schools around the country that offer gender-neutral housing. The university has piloted different models of gender-neutral housing for more than three years, said Mark D’Arienzo, Northwestern’s associate director of housing. When Northwestern began offering gender-inclusive housing, D’Arienzo said, it was a challenge to make it cost-effective and keep students comfortable. “For about the same money, you can go off campus and … basically be in an environment that’s more like home, as opposed to a residence hall,” he said. Carlson said some transgender students don’t view on-campus housing as an option because it can be difficult to arrange. Northwestern administrators learned through trial and error that trans-identified students preferred to live in single rooms in the gender-neutral environment, D’Arienzo said. Laikind said the University has a long way to go to make campus more inclusive for transgender people. They said this is a “long overdue” step in the right direction. “I’m glad that it’s being done,” Laikind said, “but I also think that there’s a lot more that we can do.”

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CITY WORKS TO KEEP LANDLORDS IN CHECK Last year, Minneapolis began imposing conditions on out-of-compliance landlords. BY ETHAN NELSON enelson@mndaily.com

Minneapolis housing inspectors, armed with a 1-year-old ordinance, can place stipulations on landlords’ rental licenses. And unpermitted renovations and illegal occupancy in a CPM-managed property on Eighth Street Southeast recently forced the city to make use of the policy. Since 2013, the ordinance has allowed housing inspectors to dictate conditions of a new rental agreement if a landlord doesn’t comply with city code — which is the case for some properties in University of Minnesota neighborhoods. At least 27 rental license holders in the Southeast Como and Marcy-Holmes neighborhoods currently have issues of illegal occupancy or conditions placed on their licenses, according to city data as of July. JoAnn Velde, deputy director of the city’s housing inspection, said that number is on the rise. When violations crop up, housing inspectors meet with rental property owners to hammer out conditions to alleviate the problems. The city has the authority to impose those conditions, even if a property owner doesn’t agree to them, Velde said. “We can enter into an agreed-upon set of conditions with an owner, and if they fail to [comply], we go directly to revocation,” she said, adding that the city hasn’t revoked any rental licenses for those reasons. ... Most owners are very cooperative because they know the evidence is clear and their chances of winning [in a hearing] are very slim,” she said. But owners can appeal the conditions in a formal hearing — like in the case with the 1208 SE Eighth St. property, which has had 34 housing violations since 2013, according to inspection documents. The property, owned by Richard

HOLLY PETERSON, DAILY FILE PHOTO

Richard Eischens had conditions placed on his rental license earlier this year because of violating city housing code.

Eischens, has a history of unpermitted work and illegal occupancy, according to inspection records that also found illegal wiring, low ceilings and unpermitted renovation of the basement into bedrooms. At a committee meeting July 22, representatives voted to fine Eischens and CPM property managers Daniel Oberpriller and David Dosse $1,500 and make them provide copies of new leases to the city. The owner and property managers are also now required to send photographs of the illegal bedrooms to ensure no one is living in them. If they don’t follow these stipulations, the city may revoke the property’s rental dwelling license, Velde said, and the tenants of the home would have to move out. Jeremy Olson, a University student who lived at the property in summer, said he didn’t know the basement’s renovation was illegal.

“We had moved in September,” he said. “A lot of the work was done over the previous summer, so we didn’t know about it.” Velde said the city will continue to monitor and inspect the property, noting that the parties involved have been in compliance so far with the “pretty tough conditions” placed on them. Oberpriller, CPM’s president, said while he felt the city excessively inspected the property, he understands the underlying reason for enforcing conditions. “We had a ceiling that was [6 feet 11 inches] instead of 7 feet,” he said. “But I can’t allow owners to go in there and do unpermitted work.” Bill Dane, an attorney with University Student Legal Services, said the city wasn’t tough on landlords until recently, so unpermitted work and illegal occupancy have sometimes slipped by. “Students don’t care if there’s new bed-

rooms being built illegally, because often they’re the newer and better rooms,” he said. Dane said he hopes Minneapolis’ new approach will help crack down on landlords who don’t keep up with city housing standards. “If you drive around those neighborhoods, it’s not hard to spot illegal work or egress windows or things like that,” he said. Dane, who mostly handles housing cases, said it’s a good idea for students with landlord complaints to make use of USLS, which can help them pursue their complaints in court. Moving forward, Velde said she thinks rental property owners will have conditions placed on their licenses more frequently. “It’s a win-win for the city and tenants,” she said.

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STUDENT HOUSING BOOM COULD SOON BECOME STAGNANT Spending on building permits in the U-area is high now, but some say it won’t be for long. BY ETHAN NELSON enelson@mndaily.com

A chunk of the city’s construction this year comes from projects near the University of Minnesota — a product of the ongoing student housing boom that is being watched with bated breath. Developers have targeted properties near campus in recent years. So far in 2014, the city has approved at least $118 million in building permits for new student housing — a significant portion of Minneapolis’ total value — but some developers say construction in the area might slow down in the future. Daniel Oberpriller, owner and president of CPM Companies, said while he expects the company to add 2,000 beds to the University area next year, he does not expect any developers to propose new, large projects for the student housing market in the future. “I think we’re in a holding pattern to see how everybody fills up,” he said. “It’s just your basic supply and demand equation.” CPM Property Management owns two of Minneapolis’ five most expensive construction projects for the year: WaHu University Housing and a student apartment building on 15th Avenue Southeast. Scott Barton, vice president of acquisitions for EdR, which manages The Marshall in Dinkytown, said buildings with more amenities and higher price tags have recently drawn students from smaller, farflung housing. “Markets like this usually will evolve,” Barton said. “There’s an awful lot of students that need housing around the University.” Oberpriller said he thinks the next big construction explosion in Minneapolis will be from hotels and hospitality-related buildings, though he said he does not think those

projects will find a home near campus. Doug Kress, the city’s development services director, said the expansion of hotel projects is already happening. “Even if you just drive around downtown, you’ll see a lot of cranes,” he said. From 2011 to 2012, the number of apartment or condominium units permitted in Minneapolis jumped from 929 to 3,679. After a slight drop last year, that number only reached about 1,500 as of June. Minneapolis has already approved more than $1.2 billion in building permits this year — a number that matches the city’s total value last year — and it’s anticipated to reach $2 billion by the end of 2014. Kress said breaking the $1 billion mark in August — a milestone only reached in October last year — shows that the city is growing. And part of that growth comes from the opening of the new Green Line light rail, said Ed Goetz, a professor at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and director of the University’s Center for Urban and Regional Affairs. He said the light rail is drawing developers to build along its path from downtown Minneapolis to St. Paul, but not necessarily near campus. “Overall, the construction is good for the city of Minneapolis,” he said.

APARTMENT UNITS PERMITTED IN MINNEAPOLIS 3,679

3,445

1,543* 929

2011

2012

2013

2014 *as of June 30

SOURCE: CITY OF MINNEAPOLIS

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