Aeon Opens Twin Cities Affordable Community
Situated in Minneapolis’ growing Towerside district, The Louis directly responds to the neighborhood’s lack of affordable housing.
The Louis opening ceremony. Image courtesy of Aeon
Nonprofit developer Aeon has unveiled The Louis, a 70-unit affordable property in the Towerside district of Minneapolis, Minn.
Located at 3001 4th St. S.E., The Louis directly responds to the neighborhood’s dearth of affordable housing. Ten units are set aside for residents with project-based Section 8 vouchers, while seven are reserved for formerly homeless single mothers and their children. A total of 38 apartments serve people and families earning 50 to 60 percent of AMI.
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A short Green Line light rail ride from either downtown Minneapolis or downtown St. Paul, The Louis is situated one block from the line’s Prospect Park station.
Towerside lies east of the University of Minnesota East Bank campus in a long-undeveloped 370-acre section of the city. Since Metro Transit’s Green Line between downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul launched in 2014, Towerside has seen a rapid surge in residential development, much of it comprising student housing and high-end rentals.
“Aeon is creating, acquiring and preserving as many affordable apartment homes as we can, almost anywhere we can, because the community needs us to do so,” Aeon President & CEO Alan Arthur told Multi-Housing News. “The United States is headed for the worst housing problems for lower-income people since the Great Depression in the 1930s. We and the entire community need to step up.”
The Towerside Innovation District and the portion of Prospect Park where The Louis is situated represent Minnesota’s most important development area, Arthur noted. “Light rail transit, the University of Minnesota, the close proximity to both downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis, upcoming park creation and the community’s push to make the neighborhood more diverse, culture rich and inclusive make it an ideal location for a wide variety of people to live, work and play,” he added.
To enable affordability, every U.S. development project must have multiple funding sources. “The Louis was no different,” Arthur said. “[It] required multiple lenders, partners and contributors to make it happen.”
