Star Tribune
St. Paul commits nearly $32 million in first phase of tax subsidies for affordable housing in ‘the Heights’
The city of St. Paul has committed nearly $32 million to subsidize affordable housing at the Heights, St. Paul’s new mixed-use development transforming the former Hillcrest Golf Course on the city’s East Side.
Hundreds of the Heights’ planned 1,050 units of housing — from studio apartments to owner-occupied homes — will be made available to lower income families, officials said, thanks to a combination of city tax subsidies and county, state and federal grants and credits. Construction is expected to start this summer.
The city’s subsidy comes from tax increment financing (TIF). Normally, when a property’s value grows after development, the increased property tax revenue goes into the city’s general fund. With TIF, that increased revenue goes back to the developers to help pay for construction. The city’s contribution ensures the development’s housing is available to all income levels, said Nicolle Goodman, St. Paul’s director of Planning and Economic Development.
Three housing developers — Sherman Associates, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity and JO Cos. — will benefit from the subsidy.
Former St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, now president and CEO of Twin Cities Habitat for Humanities, said Habitat plans to build more than 145 homes at the Heights. The first phase of the project will begin this summer with the construction of 73 homes. Nearly $20.7 million in TIF funds has been budgeted for Phase 1.
“The cost of building affordable housing, for all housing, is astronomical right now,” Coleman said. “Affordable housing is so critical. Without TIF, we couldn’t do it.”
A quarter of the Habitat homes will be affordable for families earning less than 60% area median income, Goodman said. Half will be for families earning between 60% and 80% AMI.
“Developers need a range of resources,” said Johnny Opara, president and CEO of JO Cos., which is building 199 affordable rental units near Larpenteur Avenue and McKnight Road. JO’s TIF district has a budget of more than $1.9 million to build affordable housing.
Chris Sherman, the president of Sherman Associates, said about 10% of the units that Sherman will build will be affordable to families making 30% of area median income, he said. In its first phase of affordable housing, Sherman is building 230 units with $8.9 million committed in the city tax subsidy.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, St. Paul median household income in 2022 was about $69,900.
Sherman said his project will need more public subsidies. “The city is the first group at the table,” he said. “We’re asking the state and the county to consider something similar.”
Hillcrest opened as a municipal golf course in 1921 and in 1945 became a private club for Jewish golfers, who were barred from other clubs. Steamfitters Pipefitters Local 455 bought Hillcrest in 2011 for about $4 million and closed the golf club six years later.
The St. Paul Port Authority bought it in June 2019 with the intention of building mainly an industrial park, but since then the community and its elected representatives persuaded the city to add a large component of housing.
Council Member Nelsie Yang said she and area residents are excited about the Heights’ combination of good-paying, light-industrial jobs and quality housing — all in a walkable, bikeable neighborhood.
Yang said the development is changing the longstanding narrative that the East Side doesn’t get the same quality of development opportunities as other parts of St. Paul.
“That’s been true. We also have the highest income disparities and the highest diversity of any area of the city,” she said. “I, along with so many of the people here on the East Side are determined to build a different future.”
The Port Authority raised more than $50 million for preparing the site, including cleaning up pollution. Nearly half of that came from land sales to commercial and housing developers.
Cleanup has been completed, said Todd Hurley, Port Authority president. Sixty percent of the site has been graded and bids are being requested for roads and utilities, he said.
“We are on target right now,” he said about construction beginning this year.
Besides homes and workplaces, the Heights will have a 5-acre park and another 15 acres of open green space. When fully developed, the authority estimates, the development could generate $5 million a year in property tax revenue.
By comparison, Highland Park’s former Ford Motor Co. plant site — now called Highland Bridge — is expected to generate $18 million per year in new tax revenue. In 2021, the City Council approved $46.9 million in TIF funds for affordable housing there.
A 19-year-old driver trying to get around slower vehicles collided head-on with an SUV in Wright County and killed one person and injured several others, officials said Thursday.
SUV passenger Janice Evelyn Johnson, 92, of Arden Hills, died Monday at HCMC from injuries she suffered in the collision on Oct. 22 in Monticello Township on County Road 37 near County Road 12, the Sheriff’s Office said in a search warrant affidavit filed in Hennepin County District Court.
The driver and two other people in the SUV survived their injuries, according to the affidavit, which the Sheriff’s Office filed to collect Johnson’s medical records at HCMC as part of its investigation.
According to the affidavit:
Deputies arrived at the crash scene and spoke with the car’s driver, Christian Kabunangu, of Brooklyn Park, who said he was heading west on County Road 37 and found himself behind two vehicles traveling below the speed limit.
“He was late for work, so he decided to pass them,” the affidavit read. Kabunangu said he saw the oncoming SUV and estimated it was about a half-mile down the road.
As he attempted to pass one of the slower vehicles, he explained, the other driver “sped up, preventing him from getting back into the westbound lane,” the filing continued.
As the Honda drew near, he swerved to the left, but the SUV did the same and they collided.
Star Tribune
University of Minnesota researchers find that native plants can beat invasive buckthorn on their own turf.
If the invasive buckthorn that is strangling the life out of Minnesota’s forest floor has a weakness, it is right now, in the shortening daylight of the late fall.
With a little help and planning, certain native plants have the best chance of beating buckthorn back and helping to eradicate it from the woods, according to new research from the University of Minnesota.
The sprawling bush has been one of the most formidable invasive species to take root in Minnesota since it was brought from Europe in the mid-1800s. It was prized as an ornamental privacy hedge. All the attributes that make buckthorn good at that job — dense thick leaves that stay late into the fall, toughness and resilience to damage and pruning, unappealing taste to wildlife and herbivores — have allowed it to thrive in the wild.
It grows fast and thick, out-competing the vast majority of native plants and shrubs for sunlight and then starving them under its shade. It creates damaging feedback loops, providing ideal habitat and calcium-rich food for invasive earthworms, which in turn kill off and uproot native plants. That leaves even less competition for buckthorn to take root, said Mike Schuster, a researcher for the university’s Department of Forest Resources.
When it takes over a natural area, buckthorn creates a “green desert,” Schuster said. “All that’s left is just a perpetual hedge, with little biodiversity.”
Since the 1990s, when the spread became impossible to ignore, Minnesota foresters, park managers and cities have spent millions of dollars a year trying to beat it back. They’ve used chainsaws and trimmers, poisons and herbicides, and even goats for hire. The buckthorn almost always grows back within a few years.
It’s been so pervasive that a conventional wisdom formed that buckthorn seeds could survive dormant in the soil for up to six years. That thought has led to a sort of fatalism: even if the plant were entirely removed from a property there would be a looming threat that it would sprout back, Schuster said.
But there is nothing special about buckthorn seeds. They only survive for a year or two.
Eden Prairie Eagles (6-3) at Maple Grove Crimson (9-0), 7 p.m.
Jim says: Maple Grove faithful are understandably jittery about getting Eden Prairie this early in the playoffs, but they should trust their eyes. The Crimson are loaded, with quality playmakers at every turn, like safety/receiver Dylan Vokal. Eden Prairie is built for games like this, but while the Eagles will keep things tight for awhile, Maple Grove will pull away in the second half, leading to a seismic sigh-of-relief from northwest metro. The pick: Maple Grove 35, Eden Prairie 21
David says: Eden Prairie’s time, however decorated an success-filled, is done and over. Provided the Crimson are able to take it. Maple Grove is capable of success as long as players don’t make the moment too big. Former coach Matt Lombardi cracked the code. What about his replacement, Adam Spurrell? The pick: Maple Grove 21, Eden Prairie 14
Edina Hornets (7-2) at Eagan Wildcats (5-3), 7 p.m.
Jim says: On paper, this leans toward an Edina victory. The Hornets have top-end talent on offense (QB Mason West, WR Meyer Swinney), an under-appreciated defense and a season-opening 35-14 victory over Eagan. But the Wildcats are resilient and don’t back down from anyone. Quarterback Brooklyn Evans is adept at running the Wildcats option offense and will keep them in the game. The pick: Edina 28, Eagan 15
David says: Tempting as it is to pick against Edina and revel in another office cake party, let’s go with the Hornets in this one. Expect an improved Eagan team to keep Edina within reach, however. The pick: Edina 21, Eagan 20
Alexandria Cardinals (7-2) at Moorhead Spuds (9-0), 7 p.m.
Jim says: Alexandria came oh-so-close to beating Moorhead on Oct. 11, falling 36-34 when a game-winning field goal went wide-left. While the Cardinals hoped for this rematch, Moorhead has the look of a team on a mission. Outside of the head-to-head matchup, Moorhead dominated every other opponent with a series of 30-point plus victories. No one mashes the Spuds. The pick: Moorhead 44, Alexandria 34
David says: The Game of the Year, Part II. Only thing to make this more juicy would be an upset. Is Alexandria up to that task? I don’t have the courage to go out on that limb in this space. The pick: Moorhead 42, Alexandria 24
Andover Huskies (7-2) at Elk River Elks (8-1), 7 p.m.
Jim says: Another highly anticipated rematch. Andover handed mistake-prone Elk River it’s only loss, 47-31, on Sept. 20. With three lost fumbles, Elks’ coach Steve Hamilton called it the worst game they’ve played in five years. You can bet they’re itching to prove they’re better than they showed that night. The pick: Elk River 49, Andover 37
David says: Bet the over when these two teams clash. Andover’s quarterback Joseph Mapson is a much more polished and proven signal caller that he was in late September. The Pick: Andover 49, Elk River 48.
