To gauge interest in a couple of its redevelopment projects, Plymouth-based
Dominium Development and Acquisition hosted a community meeting on Jan. 9 at the
Mill City Museum in Minneapolis.
Dominium plans to convert two historic sites--the old Jacob Schmidt Brewery in St. Paul and Pillsbury ‘A’ Mill in Minneapolis--into artist live/work spaces. (See
The Line’s stories
here and
here.)
With the help of
PLACE, a nonprofit agency that specializes in this kind of housing, Dominium has created an online
survey to get additional input.
The survey asks people to weigh in on everything from possible rent prices to amenities, to help shape the common spaces and individual units in both developments.
Owen Metz, a senior development associate at Dominium, says that the company wants to “assess the market, to see what interest there is from the arts community,” adding, “We want to find out what their motivations are for living there.”
Dominium is hoping to hear from 10,000 area artists. “We’ll use the feedback to guide and drive some of the decisions moving forward, as we design units and common spaces,” which will allow for flexibility in the design, he says.
He adds that the company is reaching out to artists working in many different media.
Depending on the survey’s results, a photography studio, for example, could be incorporated into one or both of the housing projects.
Whatever the reaction is, “We’ll take it to heart and try to accommodate it as much as we can,” he says.
Source: Owen Metz, senior development associate, Dominium Development
Writer: Anna Pratt