David Frank, who chairs the
North Loop Neighborhood Association, says that the planned Velo apartment project is a welcome addition to the neighborhood.
Over the past 18 months, Frank says, the neighborhood group has seen a number of development proposals as the market has improved. “Now, if not hot, it’s very much in motion,” he says.
Velo, which is French for “bicycle,” is the name of a 106-unit apartment building that the Minnetonka- based
Opus Group wants to build in Minneapolis’s North Loop area.
Velo “makes the case that development can be all the way over here,” Frank says. “We haven’t seen development in this neighborhood this far east or north before.”
The development, which references the area’s bikeability, may also include a locally owned restaurant, yoga studio, and bike shop, according to a
Star Tribune story.
Expected to open in August 2013, Velo will replace an industrial building on the site that’s owned by Merit Printing, according to the story.
Further, Velo incorporates many of the kinds of features that the neighborhood group looks for.
Besides bringing more people into the neighborhood, “close to where lots of other people live,” it achieves the neighborhood’s goal of increasing foot traffic.
Also on the plus side, Velo will be close to public transit, the coming
Whole Foods Market grocery store (read
The Line's story
here), and other amenities downtown and across the
Hennepin Avenue Bridge. Its retail opportunities also help make the area more pedestrian-friendly.
All in all, “We are very much in favor of it,” Frank says, adding that it has a “good use streetscape and a high-quality building, and contributes to the sidewalk next to it.”
Source: David Frank, chair, North Loop Neighborhood Association
Writer: Anna Pratt