Via Scott Shaffer’s Twitter, here’s a chart showing new housing permits pulled in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. If you’re a fan of new housing in Saint Paul, the chart is a bit depressing.
Shaffer made the chart in response to the recent news that a proposal for new apartment building on Grand Avenue has been shelved. The three or four-story mixed-use building would have gone where the Dixie’s on Grand building and surface parking lot currently sit.
Here’s the nut graph:
Less than 24 hours after floating plans for a 3- or 4-level housing and retail building to Grand Avenue neighbors, the longtime managing partner of the real estate group behind the Dixie’s on Grand and Saji-Ya restaurants has decided to drop the proposal.
“Peter Kenefick has reached out to let us know the property owners have determined that their expansion plans do not coincide with the desires of many of their nearby residents,” reads a letter posted Wednesday to the website of the Summit Hill Association.
Why the huge difference between the two cities? There are probably a dozen reasons, but it’s clear that there’s been very little market-rate construction in Saint Paul outside of downtown and the West Midway.
Meanwhile, in Minneapolis, construction cranes galore.