RAZE AND SHINE
Apartments, retail being built in once impoverished neighborhood
The largest single influx of new development in Classen-10-Penn is starting up along a four-block stretch of NW 10 just west of downtown.
The raw land was acquired by the city and cleared of homes as part of a $4.5 million reconstruction of NW 10 that turned a narrow two-lane blacktop with steep hills and dangerous intersections into a four-lane divided boulevard.
That street project required the city to acquire and raze about 50 homes. The land has remained empty ever since, but is now an active construction zone with the start of site work by Aaron Dodson and Venice Development.
Shannon Entz, a city planner working with area residents as part of the Strong Neighborhoods Initiative, acknowledges the wait for development along the stretch may have been longer than once anticipated, but also believes the delay can be credited with a far better project.
Early single-family home concepts came and went, while the development by Dodson is a dense mix of apartments, condominiums, retail, a pocket park and retail plaza.
“Classen-10-Penn is a real estate savvy neighborhood,” Entz said. “They’re very aware and they value the desire to live downtown and in the Plaza District. We talked early on about this space. It’s been vacant for 20 years.
“There were several ideas thrown out early on, and fortunately they didn’t happen.”
‘It was pretty rough’
When Dodson first submitted his proposal to
buy and develop the land from the city, the odds for success did not look as good as they do in 2018.
The neighborhood was long ranked as one of the most impoverished in the city.
Over the past couple of years Classen-10-Penn has seen an influx of investment and home renovations while development of Film Row and Midtown has extended west to Classen Boulevard.
“It was pretty rough,” Dodson said. “But it’s cleaning up and we see people walking around in suits and ties, ladies jogging along the street.”
Entz said the city might have spurned Dodson’s pitch because it was the only response to the request for proposals.
“They seemed genuinely interested in hearing the neighborhood’s opinions and ideas,” Entz said. “As our staff reviewed the numbers on the project, it seemed to work out. We had questions, but it seemed to pencil out.”
Entz added Dodson and his staff incorporated details requested by the neighborhood and eventually built a rapport with the homebuilder who had previously invested mostly in the suburbs.
Dodson agreed to exclude tenants like liquor stores and to include a bus shelter and bicycle racks.
“That goes a long way,” Entz said. “A lot of times things happen to neighborhoods and not with neighborhoods.”
The first phase of the development encompasses two blocks starting west from NW 10 and Ellison Avenue.
The first pad consists of 8,000 square feet of retail on the first floor with two floors above consisting of market-rate and workforce apartments.
Dodson said his project is inspired by visits to Venice, California, where he saw an array of mixeduse urban development.
A courtyard where Dodson envisions an outdoor eating area draped with Edison-style light strings will be created between the retail and apartment building and a nine-unit set of townhomes.
“We want people to have an area where they can walk along the street, enjoy the lights, stop for a glass of wine and a slice of pizza,” Dodson said.
Brauer Avenue, meanwhile, has been approved for closing so that the stretch between the first phase and second phase of the development can be converted into a landscaped pocket park.
Street parking will be added for the retail, while an alley north of the buildings will be created to provide rear parking for residents.
Ed Martin with Cambridge Commercial Properties is overseeing leasing and says interest is strong for the retail and housing.
Martin noted that in addition to the employee base at nearby St. Anthony Hospital, the stretch of NW 10 is surrounded by new development.
“It’s all growing together,” Martin said. “We feel like this is a good time to come in with all that is going on along Classen. It’s a good area for young professionals to move in to.”