Out of curiosity, were their any public subsidies of any kind in the Bottinou Commons project?
Steve Meldahl Jordan (work) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dave Harstad" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, November 11, 2002 11:46 AM Subject: [Mpls] Cub Food on Central, Sherman responds > Forwarded on behalf of Allison Brueggemann, Assistant > Project Manager at Sherman Associates: > > Sherman Associates, Inc. would like to reply to the > e-mail sent out by Bruce Shoemaker of the Holland > Neighborhood on Thursday, November 7. We want to > clarify assumptions made by Mr. Shoemaker in regard to > our proposed project on Central Avenue. > > First of all, and most importantly, Sherman > Associates, Inc. has no desire to go forth with this > proposed project without the neighborhoods' support. > We are an organization that works with neighborhoods > on a matter of principal and practicality. We have no > desire to force unwanted projects on neighborhoods. > To do so would require us to break one of our > company's most important goals, which is to revitalize > the city in ways that are appealing, suiting and > practical for its citizens. Furthermore, acting > against the wishes of the neighborhoods would only > create innumerous difficulties and barriers, which > would make a project impossible to develop. > > Sherman Associates, Inc. has been working with the > Northeast Community Development Corporation to reach > out to the neighborhoods and hear their opinions about > the proposed project because it is our understanding > that this organization was established to represent > the many neighborhoods of Northeast Minneapolis and > its planning goals. It is our understanding that > going through the Northeast CDC, who has the > authorization to put together public forums to discuss > the proposed project, is the appropriate process. We > are trying to work within the framework Northeast has > set up. Does it not make sense to use an organization > that represents all of the neighborhoods and reach as > many neighbors as possible at once? > > This proposed project, whose current design includes a > Cub Foods store, small commercial retail space, and > housing units, is in the very beginning stages of the > planning and development process. We are trying to > ascertain whether there is support within the > neighborhoods for this proposed project as is. If > there is not, perhaps the proposed project can be > altered to suit neighborhood goals better, or the > proposed project can be dropped completely. We are > not at the planning stage right now to provide figures > for cost. Nor are we at the stage to have had > discussions with "relevant city departments" about the > proposed project. Once again, we wish to stress that > this proposed project is in the very early stages of > planning. It is only an idea at this stage. If and > when the neighborhoods decide they would like to > support the proposed project, financing and other > issues will be openly addressed. > > Lastly, we would like to address the statements > regarding the affordability of our housing projects. > (We cannot respond to affordability of the VOA project > at 19th and Central because we are not the developers > of this project, but we would like to clarify the > affordability of the Bottineau Commons Apartments on > University Avenue.) Out of the 119 apartment units in > that building, twenty-five of those apartments are > fixed at rental rates affordable to families earning > 30% or less of median income. On the other hand, 25 > of those apartments will be rented at market rate. > The remaining sixty-nine apartments are fixed at rates > which are affordable to families earning 60% of median > income or less. > > Sherman Associates creates and develops its housing > projects with a mixed income model, as exemplified by > Bottineau Commons, because we find it is the strongest > and most appropriate social model there is. How > affordable the thirty-seven housing units of the > proposed project on Central Avenue has not been > thoroughly discussed as of yet. Sherman Associates > would certainly never replace formal affordable > housing with market rate housing. This would, again, > go against one of our company's most important goals, > which is to increase the number of quality affordable > housing units available in the Twin Cities and other > metro areas. If we were to go ahead with the proposed > project, we would endeavor to make these housing units > as affordable as possible. And this is where any > public subsidies would go, to subsidize the cost of > the housing. Not to the Cub Foods store. We welcome > any responses and questions. > > Yours truly, > Alison Brueggemann Assistant Project Manager > Sherman Associates, Inc. > > __________________________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > U2 on LAUNCH - Exclusive greatest hits videos > http://launch.yahoo.com/u2 > _______________________________________ > > Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy > Post messages to: mailto:mpls@;mnforum.org > Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@;mnforum.org Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
