The Metropolitan Council has awarded $4.5 million in grants for transit-oriented development in Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and St. Louis Park. The grant awards help make it possible for people to live near transit services that help them get to jobs, school, appointments, shopping, and other destinations.
Three grant awards will help create 332 homes for families and individuals, most of them affordable to households with an annual income at or below 60% of area median income, which for a family of four is $62,040. The grants will help create nearly 60 full-time permanent jobs and nearly 700 temporary (or construction) jobs.
A fourth grant award will help renovate and expand a major cultural center, the Minneapolis American Indian Center in Minneapolis.
The grants are part of the Council’s Livable Communities program, a voluntary, incentive-based approach to helping communities invest in economic development and housing choices, and promote transit connections between where people live and where they need to go.
“Created in 1995, the Livable Communities program contributes public sector confidence in development projects, leveraging significant public and private investment,” said Council Chair Charlie Zelle. “It’s a demonstrated and proven incentive for generating economic activity and opportunity.”
The four transit-oriented development grants will generate an increase in net tax capacity of nearly $500,000 and leverage nearly $107 million in other public and private investment.
The grants are competitive among communities that participate in the program. The Council received 8 applications this funding round totaling $10.4 million in funding requests.
Projects create housing along three transit lines
Minneapolis American Indian Center Expansion, Minneapolis — $750,000 toward expansion and renovation of the center at Franklin and Bloomington avenues in south Minneapolis to accommodate its growing programs. The investment will strengthen the facility as a core gathering place for cultural, social, arts, and fitness activities for the Native community.
Agra, Minneapolis — $1,250,000 toward new construction of affordable housing along Franklin Avenue in the Seward neighborhood of south Minneapolis. The development includes 117 homes intended for families, and a greenhouse and growing facility for food production.
Union Park Flats, St. Louis Park — $1,900,000 toward new construction of affordable housing near the Wooddale Avenue LRT Station. The development will include housing for families and supportive housing for single adults.
1619 Dayton Avenue, Saint Paul — $600,000 toward new construction of workforce housing near the A Line Snelling & Dayton Station.
Livable Communities program promotes economic development, prosperity
To be eligible and compete for Livable Communities funding, metro area cities must participate in the Livable Communities program, which provides funding for:
- Affordable housing
- Development that promotes mixed-use and connected land uses linking housing, jobs, and services
- Brownfield or polluted-site cleanup
- Transit-oriented development
More than 90 metro area communities participate in the program.