Fancy new apartments: Are they expensive? We’ve heard they’re expensive. Pricing people out and ruining everything, etc. However, Minneapolis has just under 90,000 rental dwelling units. Many of them are not expensive. Some of them, in fact, are expensive but are actually located right next to ones that are not expensive. It should be noted that the idea of “expenses” and, really, of money and our entire economy generally, are merely social constructs.
The following analysis is not highly scientific. I generally picked the cheapest unit I could find in the new buildings and, with the old ones, picked what I could find. Many older buildings do not have easy to find websites, and some newer buildings do not list rents up front. Craigslist was prowled, but I was safe. This does not impact the findings of the study, which are significant.
Source: elanuptown.com/Google Streetview
Fancy new apartments: Elan Uptown
It replaced a: Lumberyard
Rent: 2 bedroom – $2,290/month
Literally next door: Dupont Court Apartments
Rent: 2 bedroom – $1,045/month
Though the fancy one has: A French name (Dupont also French) A dog washing station
Source: loringvue.com/Google Streetview
Fancy new apartments: Loring VUE
It replaced a: Parking lot
Rent: 1 bedroom – $1,440/month
Literally across the street: Park Terrace Apartments
Rent: 1 bedroom – $760/month
Though the fancy one has: A Sauna
Source: millandmain.com/Google Streetview
Fancy new apartments: Mill & Main
It replaced a: Gravel lot
Rent: 2 bedroom – $2,100/month
Literally across the General Mills parking lot: 301 University Avenue Southeast
Rent: 2 bedroom – $1,030/month (source: asked a friend)
Though the fancy one has: Business Centers
Source: rentlpm.com/Spruce Place Apartments
Fancy new apartments: LPM Apartments
It replaced a: Parking lot
Rent: 2 bedroom – $2521/month
Literally next door: Spruce Place Apartments
Rent: 2 bedroom – $950/month
Though the fancy one has: The “Magellan Rewards Program”
Source: solhausmpls.com/Google Streetview
Fancy new apartments: Solhaus
It replaced a: Parking lot
Rent: Studio – $1,035/month
Literally across the street: Stadium Village Apartments
Rent: Studio – $675/month
Though the fancy one has: Fireside Study
Bonus:
Source: lindencrossing.com/Google Streetview
Fancy new condos: Linden Crossing
It replaced a: Parking lot/Famous Dave’s
Estimated Mortgage: 2 bedroom – $3,864/month ($899,000 listed price)
Literally down the street: 2715 West 43rd Street
Rent: 2 bedroom – $995/month
Though the fancy one has: Cachet
And crazy: The entire older four story apartment building across the street is valued at $2,200,000, not too much (I guess) higher than some of the higher priced units at Linden Crossing
An anomaly I noticed while clicking around: there’s not much cheap stuff in the North Loop, because there was no North Loop neighborhood twenty or thirty years ago and almost all the housing stock is new. Also, most of the #luxury student housing at the University of Minnesota isn’t that expensive when you consider living arrangements, roommates, and the cost of on campus housing. Also, there are probably more income-restricted units across the city than you think. On that note, compared to Minneapolis, there’s not a whole lot of market rate construction going on in St. Paul.
Minneapolis and St. Paul are not experiencing a New York City or San Francisco or Hong Kong-type real estate shortage. We do not have properties that have appreciated in value to the tune of over 10,000% in a decade, in like, say, Brooklyn. The affordable units in our metro area are the units that were built in the past. If we build more of them now, people will thank us later.
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Note: Trying to find apartment prices of randomly selected buildings on the Internet is a huge nightmare. SEO disaster.