Sun sailor
Alatus, the developer behind the highly anticipated 325 Blake Road project in Hopkins, has asked for some help from the city to continue moving the project forward in the form of temporary tax increment financing bonds for two buildings.
Years of work has gone into the project, which has been stalled for some time due to “unfavorable market conditions” and has only been able to complete the first building of the project, Chorus Apartments, an affordable-housing apartment complex that opened at the end of 2023. Ultimately, the City Council voiced support for a solution to resume project movement with buildings C and D, and approval for the bonds will return at a future meeting.
The original project included four buildings and 32 proposed townhomes developed by Alatus. The real estate developer was selected in 2021 by the city of Hopkins and the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District to lead the redevelopment planned for approximately 13 acres of the 17-acre site at 325 Blake Road. Later changes included a new partnership with Ron Clark Construction to develop the townhomes and Artessa to develop the senior cooperative, while Alatus remains responsible for the remaining buildings.
Stacie Kvilvang from Ehlers shared the reasoning behind the stall: “What happened in 2022 as well was all of a sudden we saw inflation happening, right? So costs were increasing, but more importantly the feds started to raise the interest rates, so ’22 and ’23 were pretty disastrous for most of the development world that was out there, so we saw a stop in development just in general because people couldn’t assess capital.”
Alatus previously asked for help from the council earlier in the year, requesting the city bond and assess for the street utilities and public parking early to help them get financing and a capital partner to get buildings C and D moving. However, it has not provided Alatus with the financial commitment needed to move the project forward.
Currently the senior cooperative and the townhomes are being prioritized. Kvilvang said the only thing stopping it currently are the public improvements to the road and utilities on the sites, something that they attempted to address earlier in the year before council. According to meeting documents, the costs for the public improvements total approximately $7.2 million and public parking totals approximately $6.1 million.
By Natalie Cierzan