Nonprofit Plans Affordable Housing Complex Near Cottageville Park

Minneapolis-based Project for Pride in Living wants to build a 51-unit affordable housing building at Oxford Street and Blake Road, according to a City of Hopkins memo.

Project for Pride in Living (PPL) has secured purchase agreements for six Oxford Street parcels that currently contain single-story duplexes with a total of 12 housing units. Renters occupy most of the units.

If the project is approved, PPL would demolish the six duplexes and build a 51-unit, three- to four-story apartment building filled entirely with affordable housing units.

The Blake Road Corridor has been a major focus of Hopkins’ redevelopment efforts, and PPL is pitching the project as a good fit for those changes. The apartment building would be immediately to the north of the soon-to-be revamped Cottageville Park, and PPL plans a landscaped connection to the park to make it easy for residents to get there.

The site is also within a half mile of the future Southwest Light Rail Transit line’s Blake Station. Developers have already predicted that the area around the station had some of the best development potential along the line. One panel of private developers predicted an influx mid-rise workforce housing with limited, ground-floor retail serving the area.

The developer and the city are seeking $1.6 million from the Metropolitan Council’s Livable Communities—Transit Oriented Development Fund to help with site acquisition, demolition, placemaking and stormwater management.

In order to move forward, the City Council would need to sign off on zoning and comprehensive plan changes, as well as a site plan review and replatting.

Council members will offer their feedback at Tuesday’s work session. The developer expects to submit a formal application this fall. If that’s approved, construction would begin in the spring.