MBEX is reading the headlines so you don't have to.

This week’s Building Buzz dives into key projects and trends shaping Minnesota’s construction and development landscape. In Edina, a new affordable housing project is in the works as a developer plans to convert the Residence Inn, while over in Rochester, 936 multi-family units are set to transform a former golf course. Schools in Blue Earth and Northfield are seeking voter support for major upgrades, and with Minnesota adding 6,300 jobs in September, the industry is showing no signs of slowing down.

Check out the latest news and bids driving growth across the state.

OCTOBER 14

Developer plans to convert Edina Residence Inn into affordable apartments
Medicine Lake-based Alpha Investment Group recently submitted plans to the city to convert the 133-key hotel that's connected to Edinborough Park into 136-units of multi-family rental housing, according to the documents. The hotel currently has a mx of seven studios, seven two-bedroom nits and 119 one-bedroom units that would be priced at $1,250 per month. The developer submittal says that these rates are below 60% of the area median income (AMI). (Minneapolis - St. Paul Business Journal)
 

Pure Pickleball Club proposes 19-court Plymouth facility
Jon Schwartzman is heading to Plymouth Planning Commission to propose Pure Pickleball Club, which will have 19 courts across 48,000-square-feet in a warehouse at 13100 12th Avenue North. If it passes the Planning Commission, the Plymouth Council will review the proposal on October 22nd. Some buildout is needed in the 112,000-square-foot warehouse, which also houses a diesel-exhaust fluid manufacturer and a fire- and water-damage restoration company. Pure Pickleball Club won't have a restaurant but will have an extended vending machine area and the potential to bring food trucks out for special events. There will also be a lounge and viewing area and a spot for private events. (Minneapolis - St. Paul Business Journal)
 

Sioux City council approves first phase improvements for wastewater plant
After more than a year of planning, the largest capital improvement project in Sioux City history is finally taking shape. City council members unanimously agreed to enter negotiations with Kiewit for work on the first phase of the reconstruction of Sioux City's wastewater treatment facility. The first phase of the project is expected to cost around $275-million, with the three-phase project carrying a price tag of nearly $500-million. Sioux City's regional wastewater treatment plant was built in 1961 and, in recent years, has faced a growing list of serious operational problems. City staff will now work with Kiewit to review engineering plans for cost effectiveness. If the city and Kiewit can't come to agreement on a contract, the city would likely move to the next highest-scoring bidders in all five companies' bids for the first phase of work at the treatment plant. (SiouxLandProud.com)
 

OCTOBER 15

ABC's Construction Backlog Indicator rebounds in September, contractor confidence improves
Associated Builders and Contactors reported on October 15th that its Construction Backlog Indicator increased to 8.6-months in September. The reading is down 0.4-months from September 2023. Backlog increased in every region except for the Northeast in September. On a year-over-year basis, however, only the Middle States have longer backlog than one year ago. ABC's Construction Confidence Index readings for sales, profit margins, and staffing levels improved in September. The readings for all three components are above the threshold of 50, indicating expectations for growth over the next six months. (Associated Builders & Contractors)
 

Blue Earth, Northfield districts seek voter support for big projects
The Blue Earth Area School District, which serves about 1,000 students in and around the Faribault County community of Blue Earth, had budgeted $75,000 for a minor plumbing project at the aging elementary school a couple of years ago. But the damage was far greater than expected. That was the impetus for an extensive planning process, which found a long list of problems in the nearly 100-year-old PreK-7 school. On November 5th, the district will seek voter approval for a $66.845-million bond referendum to pay for a new elementary school and improve an existing high school. The Blue Earth Area District isn't alone. Referendums with notable brick-and-mortar improvements range from roof, HVAC and building upgrades in the Lake Crystal Welcome Memorial School District to a multi-story high school addition and other projects in the Northfield district. (Finance & Commerce)
 

MSP airport starts final phase of $242M makeover
The Metropolitan Airports Commission and Delta Air Lines began work this week on Phase 3 of its largest-ever interior renovation of concourses and passenger gate areas. For the latest phase, gate improvements include new flight-information screens at every gate, new gate seating with power outlets, lighting, carpeting, and refreshed Delta branding across gate areas in Concourses A, B, G and gates G1 - 6, G14, G15, and adjacent corridor areas. Additionally, new flooring and ceilings will be installed and the sky bridge that connects concourses C and G will be renovated. The first two phases included updates to concourses C, D, and F including new carpet or terrazzo flooring, painting and wall enhancements, as well as new podiums, signage and seating in gate areas. Some of that work is still underway. (Minneapolis - St. Paul Business Journal)
 

Reuter Walton advances $54M affordable housing project in Little Canada
New options for affordable apartment living are on the way with help from an estimated $53.8-million Reuter Walton project. The five-story, wood-framed building will rise on a 3-acre infill site at Rice Street and Dermont Avenue in Little Canada. Construction still hinges on final city approvals, including the developer's request for $1-million in tax increment financing to help with public infrastructure improvements and the location of a restaurant. (Finance & Commerce)
 

OCTOBER 16

Construction begins on rentals in Bloomington
The Ever Apartments, a 208-unit apartment project located at 6701 West 78th Street and designed by Bloomington-based Kaas Wilson Architects, will feature studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments and amenities such as a fitness studio, clubroom, sky deck with hot tub, business center, 24 / 7 mini market, and enclosed parking, according to a press release. The project is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2026. Enclave will develop, construct and manage the building. (Finance & Commerce)
 

MAC: Concourse improvements ahead of schedule
The Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) and Delta Air Lines are ahead of schedule on a major renovation of concourses and passenger gate areas at Minneapolis - St. Paul International Airport's Terminal 1, according to the MAC. The Airport Modernization Program (AMP) is a $242-million multi-phase construction program managed by Delta in partnership with the MAC. The third an final phase includes concourse flooring, walls, and ceilings and comprehensive fate improvements. In a recent press release, the MAC said the final phase of renovations is starting more than two months earlier than originally planned. Phase 1 in Concourse F is substantially completed, Concourse D renovations will wrap up later this fall, and Phase 2 renovations in Concourse C will continue through the summer of 2025. (Finance & Commerce)
 

National Sports Village development to bring 3 eateries to Blaine
Mike Breese was told that he's nuts for trying to develop 28,000-square-feet across two buildings next to the National Sports Center in Blaine. The plot has no development history that says his plans could be supported. Breese is calling his development National Sports Village. It'll be a roughly 30,000-squre-foot dining and entertainment complex at the corner of 150th Avenue and Radisson Road Northeast that will soon be home to three eateries and a variety of retailers. A 9,100-square-foot building will house Pizza Pub on the first floor and Prime steakhouse on its second floor. Prime is an original high-end steakhouse and seafood concept with craft cocktails and a "huge" wine list (with a 700-ottle wine cooler to support it), Breese said. (Minneapolis - St. Paul Business Journal)
 

OCTOBER 17

Construction backlog rebounds in wake of rate cut
What a different a half-point rate cut makes. Thanks in part to the Federal Reserve's lowering of the interest rate, construction backlog rebounded in September after slumping at the end of the summer, according to an October 15th analysis of recent government data from Associated Builders and Contractors. The amount of work in builders' pipelines bounced back to 8.6-months of runway, after falling to 8.2 in August, boosting confidence in the sector as well. Backlog increased in every region in September, except for the Northeast. That said, most areas are still down for the year, with only the middle states posting a bigger backlog than a year ago. (Construction Dive)
 

Developer plans 936 multi-family units on former Rochester golf course
The city of Rochester released an Environmental Assessment Worksheet for Austin, Texas-based ML Group II's proposed West Meadows Development, which calls for 936 multi-family housing units on a 47-acre former golf course property near 45th Avenue Southwest and Olmsted County Road 34 / Country Club Road. Also included in the plans are 22,000-square-feet of commercial space, underground and surface parking, a new internal public roadway, storm water treatment facilities and other infrastructure, according to the 204-page EAW. A vet clinic and an office building currently occupy part of the site, which was home to a golf course from the mid-1990s until 2015. Pending city approvals, the developer plans to begin mass grading in 2025. Construction would play out in phases through 2030, with the first two multi-family structures going up in 2025 and 2026, according to the EAW. (Finance & Commerce)
 

Inside a Minneapolis office building's conversion to apartments
The $97-million transformation of the downtown Minneapolis Northstar East office building into apartments is nearly complete. Sherman had to be clever in laying out the apartments, because Northstar was built originally for office use and has deep floors, with a middle section far from windows. Many view projects like this as the cure for struggling downtowns, but the story of the new Groove Lofts also reveals how financially and logistically difficult they can be. Minneapolis developer Sherman Associates took a 13-story office building --- part of which are over 100 years old --- and turned it into 216 apartments, with 44 set aside as affordable for tenants making under half of the median wage. (Axios Twin Cities)
 

Minnesota adds 6,300 jobs in September
Leading the way in September employment growth was the Government sector, which added 3,600 jobs, followed by Professional & Business Services (up 2,300), Education & Health Services (up 1,600), and Trade, Transportation and Utilities (up 1,200). DEED also revealed that four "supersectors" lost jobs, including Financial Activities (down 700), Information (down 600), Other Services (down 600) and Manufacturing (down 500). Employment was unchanged in Mining & Logging, Construction, and Leisure & Hospitality. (Finance & Commerce)
 

Minnesota Supreme Court denies St. Thomas arena appeal
The Minnesota Supreme Court will not review an appeal filed by the University of St. Thomas, which has looked to avoid re-examining parking and traffic concerns in its construction of a new sports arena on its St. Paul campus. The Minnesota Court of Appeals earlier this year ordered the city to publish a new EAW with more specific mitigation measures, which the university appealed to the Supreme Court. The university first announced its plans for the nearly $175-million sports arena in early 2023. (Minneapolis - St. Paul Business Journal)
 

Trammell Crow tapped to develop Eagan BCBS site for 3M spinoff Solventum
Solventum's planned renovation of a now-vacant building, formerly part of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota's headquarters, will happen at 1750 Yankee Doodle Road. At the same building, an entity tied to Trammell recently brought forward plans for uses that largely align with Solventum's plan to construct a high-tech medical research and development facility in Eagan. Just a week before Solventum's plans were unveiled in the city, Trammell put forward plans to purchase and reuse the over 200,000-square-foot building. (Minneapolis - St. Paul Business Journal)
 

OCTOBER 18

Eagan drives development by being 'land recyclers'
Eagan is a largely built-out Twin Cities suburb that's nowhere to be found on Finance & Commerce's latest list of the top 10 Minnesota cities for new housing permits. Though it has added a couple thousand housing units since the late 2010s, its population has grown by only about 6% since 2000, much slower than neighboring Apple Valley or Rosemount. But Eagan is poised for another growth spurt later this decade thanks to two major redevelopment projects: Ryan Companies' mixed-use vision for 179-acre portion of a sprawling Thomason Reuters property and the city's long-awaited transformation of about 80-acres around popular Central Park. Meanwhile, development continues at the multi-phase Viking Lakes site, where more than 800-units of new housing are completed or under construction. And Eagan's sought-after industrial submarket could add needed capacity at the Thomas Reuters site if Ryan's plan for up to 1.5-million-square-feet bears out. (Finance & Commerce)