"The Jordan Garden House" Had its Slummy Contract Canceled

1716 26th Avenue North is often referred to as "The Jordan Garden House" due to its proximity to the "peace garden" at the corner of 26th and Knox Avenue North.  (Although the Jordan Area Community Council does not own the house.)  The house has been a vacant eyesore for years, since it went from one owner to tax forfeiture.  And since Hennepin County has had low or nonexistent standards for who they'll sell tax-forfeited properties to, this one was purchased by the infamous Ken Welch of Assertive Properties.

The story that sticks with me about Welch with this house is that reportedly a local non-profit developer was interested in making an offer to buy and rehab the house.  The developer figured Welch would be open to a deal, as the house simply couldn't be financially viable in its boarded and vacant state.  The annual VBR fees alone had to make the property untenable.  Instead, the offer was rebuffed on the grounds that the place was still financially worth keeping even in that condition.  Why would that be, I wonder?  I have my own theories, but welcome any ideas folks may have.

For the purpose of this post, however, the important development is that Welch/Assertive no longer owns the house.  And here's how that happened:

New Apartment Construction in Need of Better Design

Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

Last week at the Jordan housing committee meeting, CommonBond Communities presented their design proposal for the apartment building to be constructed at the West Broadway curve.  There was a lot to like, and a few changes that they will hopefully make.  The project was presented as "West Broadway Crescent," which is a rather good name.  It sure beats plastering the name a non-profit everywhere, especially if you're going for something that looks like it would be market-rate housing.  Which this is not, it's workforce housing subsidized by tax credits.

The footprint of the building mimics the curve of the street, so that's good.  And there is enough variety in the facade to keep things visually interesting as well.  Where the design starts to lose me though, is in its bland color scheme.  It seems like just about every proposal I see incorporates the same three colors:  a burnt orange, brown, and eggplant or creme.  And the northwest segment has the all-too-common design of first floor brick and a few segments of brickwork up to the third floor.  A building on our most prominent street deserves something better, or at least bolder.

Those, however, are minor concerns compared with my biggest departure from CommonBond's proposal.  Even though they are building workforce housing, they kept on stressing that this was going to be just like a market-rate apartment complex.  But a market-rate building located here would have amenities like...

Community Concerns Heard, Hub Voted Down

Post and photo by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

At today's Community Development Committee, the West Broadway Hub proposal came for an initial vote.  A yes vote would have supported plan modifications to the city's overall plan and allowed the proposal to move forward as it has been presented.  Instead, a motion to deny such support passed the committee unanimously.

About eight or so residents from several north Minneapolis neighborhoods gathered outside City Hall to show our dissent.  The last time I was involved with neighborhood groups bringing signs downtown in protest was when the council dismantled NRP.  So even in small numbers, the fact that residents were driven to this point is quite serious.  Our political theater was meant only for outside the council chambers, though.  Once we got inside and the hearing started...

New Jordan Board Members

Post by the Hawthorne Hawkman, image from the JACC Flash NoMi blog.

Earlier in the week, I wrote a post about the somewhat scary fact that Farview Park has a board showing 24 L3SO's in the area.  Around that time, the Jordan Area Community Council held its annual dinner and elected new board members.  I announced those changes on my Twitter feed, and since the aforementioned story was at the "top of the fold" on my blog, it became the place where an anonymous commenter began asking some good questions about the JACC elections.

Well, in the interests of what I call "threadiquette," or keeping things on topic so that in the months or years ahead they can be found more easily, I'm switching those questions and comments to a post dedicated specifically to the JACC annual dinner and board elections.

The first question and answer, as well as a comment that was made (but not published under that thread) appear after the jump...

JACC Makes NoMi Beautiful

Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman

Approximately 175 volunteers from the Jordan neighborhood, the Pohlad Foundation, Catalyst, and many other partners are converging on the Glengale Park for a community beautification project today.  Volunteers will be landscaping, building retaining walls, and doing some painting at people's homes.

All of this started at the break of dawn, and dedicated residents and volunteers will be working in Jordan all day.  Other partners to be thanked include The Ackerberg Group, the city of Minneapolis, Glengale Park residents, Neighborhood Housing Services, the Northside Home Fund, RJM Construction (these are the experts who are directing the volunteers), Urban Homeworks, Minnesota Internship Center at Unity House, and NAIOP (Commercial Real Estate Development Association).

If you make it over there to do some work yourself, you just might get one of those snazzy yellow t-shirts too.