Council makes $21.4 million available in 2019 for local investment and regional opportunity

Metro area communities that participate in the region’s Livable Communities Program can apply for $21.4 million in grant funding available in 2019 through the Metropolitan Council’s Livable Communities Fund.

The funds promote livability, a mix of housing choices and affordability, jobs and local economic development by supporting projects that:

• Clean up polluted land for redevelopment.

• Create or preserve affordable housing.

• Incorporate design that helps connect people to places and makes efficient use of land and infrastructure.

• Help create transit-oriented development around transit stations.

To date, the Council has awarded $374 million in Livable Communities funds to help clean up 2,400 acres of polluted land; create or retain more than 55,000 full- and part-time jobs; build or rehabilitate more than 41,562 market-rate and affordable homes; increase the net tax capacity by more than $116 million; and leverage billions in additional public and private investment.

Investments contribute to community prosperity, livability

“These are investments that contribute significantly towards community livability and our ability to be to a competitive regional economy,” said Council Chair Nora Slawik.

“As a former mayor, I can speak firsthand to how these funds benefit local governments,” she said. “In Maplewood, for example, Livable Communities funds helped to convert a former bowling alley site into a mix of housing options and preserve affordable homes for single-parent families.

“These are the kinds of successes we can achieve through partnerships at all levels of government, with participation by profit and nonprofit businesses and organizations,” said Slawik. “I’m encouraged by the achievements of the Livable Communities program over its 24 years and look forward to seeing the projects that advance and contribute to a thriving region and prosperous future.”

The funds are competitive, meaning communities must apply for the funds. Applications are reviewed by staff in some cases and by an advisory committee of local officials and development experts in others. Communities apply for funding from different accounts within the program with different application deadlines.

Livable Communities has strong community participation

Ninety-six metro communities participate in the Council’s Livable Communities Program and are eligible to apply for the funds. Examples of projects awarded funding last year:

• Trail Point Ridge/Smith Village in Eden Prairie: Redevelopment of a 7-acre site that includes 58 mixed-income homes. The development is part of a larger plan for affordable homes for senior living and for-sale townhomes.

• Cahill Place Apartments in Inver Grove Heights: 40 new permanent supportive housing apartments, with some of the housing designated for homeless families and families at risk of becoming homeless.

• Gateway Northeast in Minneapolis: A development that includes 125 mixed-income homes. The development includes neighborhood-oriented retail space.

• Legends of Minnetonka in Minnetonka: Redevelopment of an existing office building into nearly 500 affordable homes across from the future Opus LRT station along the Green Line Extension.

• Cedar Point II in Richfield: Redevelopment of a residential area into a mix of apartments and townhomes with additional public space.

• Edison in Roseville: A mixed-income community for veterans and people who previously experienced long-term homelessness.

• Northwest University & Dale in Saint Paul: A mixed-use redevelopment in the Dale Street LRT Station area.

• Bridgewater Bank Corporate Center in St. Louis Park:  A redevelopment project that includes an office building, structured parking, retail space, restaurant and public plaza.