There's a big family-sized affordable housing job taking shape along Minnehaha Creek in St. Louis Park, and it's moving through city hall step by step.
St. Paul-based Broadway Street Development is proposing Creekline Flats, a seven-story, 208-unit affordable apartment building at 8800 Highway 7, near where Boone Avenue meets W. 36th Street. According to the city's project page, the plan calls for tearing down the existing building and putting up roughly 280,000 square feet of new construction, with seven levels of apartments wrapped around five and a half stories of structured parking.
Built for families
This is not a building full of studios. The city lists 80 three-bedroom units, 81 two-bedroom units and 47 one-bedroom units. Every apartment would be reserved for households earning between 30% and 80% of the area median income.
City documents prepared for the Oct. 5 St. Louis Park Economic Development Authority meeting put the price tag at $99.7 million. Those documents break down the affordability this way: 131 units at 60% of the area median income, 36 at 70%, 21 at 50%, 11 at 30% and nine at 80%. The rent and income restrictions would last 30 years under the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, which the city says goes beyond its own inclusionary housing requirements. The city also says the project exceeds its green building requirements.
The Oct. 5 agenda included a resolution authorizing the city to apply for a Metropolitan Council Livable Communities Act grant on the project's behalf, and accepting the money if it's awarded. City staff wrote that any grant would help with the project's financial feasibility. The developer, working through an affiliate, has asked the city for financial help, and proposed business terms for a redevelopment agreement were laid out in a Sept. 28 report to the City Council.
On the banks of the creek
Broadway Street Development's project page describes the site as an obsolete office building on the banks of Minnehaha Creek, next to national retailers, a grocery store, banks and the Knollwood Mall, in what it calls a bustling mixed-use part of the first-ring suburb. The developer is pitching creek views and a walking path along the banks, along with free public parking and a dedicated path to a canoe and kayak launch. It calls the building a seven-story wrap design.
The parking is a big part of the job. When the city first posted the project in March, the early plan showed about 318 indoor parking stalls and 42 outdoor stalls. The final count could shift as plans are refined.
The project has already cleared one key hurdle. On Sept. 2, the city's Board of Zoning Appeals approved setback variances for the front yard and the side yard along a street in the N-4 zoning district, letting the building sit closer to the road than normally allowed.
The Minnehaha Creek Watershed District is also reviewing a permit for the site. On Sept. 30, the district posted notice that the project triggers its stormwater management, floodplain alteration and wetland protection rules.
The developer held a neighborhood meeting March 3. The city says nobody from the public came.
Broadway Street says the project is slated to close its financing in December 2026 and open to residents in late summer 2028. No general contractor has been named publicly.
Why it matters for Contractors
A $99.7 million affordable building is a big job by any measure, and it's built for families, which means larger units with more bedrooms, more bathrooms and more finish work per door. A seven-story wrap around a five-and-a-half-level parking structure means a big structural package for the garage, followed by framing, roofing, exterior envelope, a big MEP scope, elevators and finishes.
The creekside location adds work and care. The watershed district's stormwater, floodplain and wetland rules mean careful site work, erosion control and stormwater systems, plus the walking path and canoe launch access. And because this is a tax credit project with green building requirements, contractors should be ready for detailed cost reporting and energy specs.
If financing closes in December as planned, construction would follow, though neither the city nor the developer has posted a start date, with an opening goal of late summer 2028. Subs who want a piece of it should be talking to Broadway Street Development now.