Luxury apartment building or slumlord on steroids: How in love with White Castle drive-thrus can a person be?

Alatus, LLC, is planning a 288-unit, $60 million apartment building project
located at the intersection of Lexingtion and University.

https://www.twincities.com/2021/01/25/st-paul-planning-commission-nixes-57-million-housing-development-at-lexington-and-university/

https://www.startribune.com/st-paul-planning-commission-denies-housing-development-near-frogtown/600019633/

The planned super-sized rectangular box covering a 200-space parking garage
contains 480 sq ft micro apartments and motel-like rooms with shared kitchens,
as well as more expensive units presumed to rent for as much as $2000/month or
more. Opponents of the project are claiming the 288-unit rectangular box with
480 sq ft micro apartments and motel room-like units with shared kitchens would
somehow miraculously turn the highway hellhole sandwiched between the
I94-Lexington Avenue interchange and University Avenue into some gleaming
upscale destination that 100s of wealthy seekers of luxury living will suddenly
flock to. Supporters of the project, with zero evidence to support the claim,
say the project is 100% privately-financed and will suddenly turn a 2-acre
vacant lot into a big boost for the City’s tax base
.
https://streets.mn/2021/02/15/three-ways-of-looking-at-the-lexington-and-university-development-debate/

Is Alatus, LLC, planning to build a luxury apartment building, or is Alatus,
LLC, a slumlord on steroids? Will the apartments be rented to wage earners
with full-time jobs, or is the Alatus business plan to suck up every nickel of
student loan money and government housing subsidy it can find? Is someone with
a full-time job and up to $2000/month or more to spend on housing really going
to want to spend it for the privilege of living in one of 288 units encased in
a giant rectangular box sandwiched between the roaring I94 monstrosity, 6-8
lanes of nasty Lexington Avenue traffic, and the hideous 40-yard wide strip of
concrete with a 100-ton train running down the middle that’s now the
billion-dollar rebuild of University Avenue? How in love with White Castle
drive-thrus can a person be?

The St Paul Planning Commission rejected this proposal. A number of us
joined community groups to urge rejection.
https://www.startribune.com/st-paul-planning-commission-denies-housing-development-near-frogtown/600019633/#:~:text=The%20St.%20Paul%20Planning%20Commission,mile%20east%20of%20Allianz%20Field.&;text=Chris%20Osmundson%2C%20director%20of%20development,the%20St.%20Paul%20City%20Council
.

Efforts have begun to find ways to have meet a critical need in St Paul -
more truly affordable housing for low income families

Joe

On Sun, Feb 21, 2021 at 11:53 AM Sheldon Gitis <<email obscured>>
wrote:

> Alatus, LLC, is planning a 288-unit, $60 million apartment building
> project located at the intersection of Lexingtion and University.
>
>
>
https://www.twincities.com/2021/01/25/st-paul-planning-commission-nixes-57-million-housing-development-at-lexington-and-university/
>
>
>
https://www.startribune.com/st-paul-planning-commission-denies-housing-development-near-frogtown/600019633/
>
> The planned super-sized rectangular box covering a 200-space parking
> garage contains 480 sq ft micro apartments and motel-like rooms with shared
> kitchens, as well as more expensive units presumed to rent for as much as
> $2000/month or more. Opponents of the project are claiming the 288-unit
> rectangular box with 480 sq ft micro apartments and motel room-like units
> with shared kitchens would somehow miraculously turn the highway hellhole
> sandwiched between the I94-Lexington Avenue interchange and University
> Avenue into some gleaming upscale destination that 100s of wealthy seekers
> of luxury living will suddenly flock to. Supporters of the project, with
> zero evidence to support the claim, say the project is 100%
> privately-financed and will suddenly turn a 2-acre vacant lot into a big
> boost for the City’s tax base
> .
>
>
https://streets.mn/2021/02/15/three-ways-of-looking-at-the-lexington-and-university-development-debate/

Rest of post

In my opinion the soccer stadium at Snelling & University is a travesty. I
think the outcome of years of wrangling around that area is a blight.

I would prefer a brand new apartment building. Will it miraculously transform
the area? I don't know about 'miraculous', but it's better than a 'hellhole.'
Is the objection that landlords will make money or that rents won't be low
enough?

A very select group of very wealthy real estate developers, construction
contractors, and investors will make money engineering the $60 million deal.
The end product, while probably not as awful as an empty soccer stadium
surrounded by acres of parking, won’t enhance the quality of life for those
living nearby.

Assuming they get rented, the 288 apartments will bring 100s of additional
motor vehicles to a location already overloaded with traffic. In addition, the
288 units are not going to house working adults and their children. The micro
apartments and rooms with shared kitchens, I suspect, will be marketed to
students at Concordia, Hamline and other nearby colleges. And the pricey
larger apartments, who knows? Any young professional hipsters with a
predilection for sliders out there?

The developer's spokesman made some disgusting comments.

"He said the commission overstepped its authority by using affordability as
a reason to deny. 'It is very disappointing and sets a dangerous precedent
for future development in the City of St. Paul,' Osmundson said in an
e-mail. 'It will only further compound the housing crisis if the Planning
Commission continues to act as an elected, policymaking body.' "

Thank goodness we have a Planning Commission that IS acting as a watchdog.
But if it's completely up to the City Council to set policy, we have our
work cut out for us. Some of them are mighty, mighty keen on hearing
developers out, never mind the needs of people on the ground. What further
compounds our housing crisis is gutless officials, who haven't understood
that the issue is not going to solve itself while they're looking the other
way.

This could have been avoided long ago if the council believed in inclusive
zoning, which has even worked in New York City. All these residential
buildings built in the last how many years? If Council would just bite the
bullet, each of those could have contained a specific percentage of
affordable units, like maybe 15% or 20%. It would have given us maybe two
hundred altogether, which isn't a lot but is that many more than what we
have today. The builders' excuse for not liking inclusive zoning is that
it costs them more to include affordable units in a luxury building. Well,
the question is, more than what? Their numbers are imaginary.

In the meantime, another unheralded bonus of inclusive zoning is that it
maintains some kind of diversity in those buildings and neighborhoods. Does
St Paul really want to pander to potential residents who just don't want to
live near "people like that"?

Diggitt McLaughlin, West Side

Rest of post

I think the real problem in Saint Paul, unlike most other cities and
communities in the Metro area is our extreme lack of tax base. We simply don't
have enough funds to pay for a long list of needs that can make living and
working here more attractive. Everything from schools, police, rec centers,
snow plowing and trash hauling to name a few. It seems all have to cut their
budgets back every year.
Our goal should be to maximize our tax revenue. That means attracting private
investment.
So, if we need to maximize affordable housing, we are going about it in the
wrong way.
The city should encourage market rate housing development, without subsidies,
and then tax at the highest legal level. Then we should earmark those very
same taxes to subsidize affordable housing development. The City would control
where and how the developments would be built. Retail and other amenities can
be required, depending on the level of subsidy.
Lets for example look at the Ford site. We are requiring the developer to
build 30% affordable housing within the overall development. To do that, the
City has approved up to $275 million in TIF. That's taxes we don't receive. To
make it worse, we are decreasing the tax valuation at the same time. That is
because of less net operating income (NOI). And that means less city revenue.
Then at the same time, we are increasing the burden of services, fire, police,
water, schools etc. the City has to provide.
If developers are willing to pay high taxes, let them. Then use those $$ to
pay for what we need. First up is affordable housing.

John Mannillo

Rest of post

I presume this is in the big open space on the block?

Not sure who is going to spend $2000 a month to live by White Caste, even
though it does sound tasty.

Or, they let that land sit idle for a few more decades.

Why anyone would eat at White Castle when Popeyes is so close is beyond me.

On Tue, Feb 23, 2021 at 4:20 PM Gary Fischbach <<email obscured>>
wrote:

Rest of post

Hickory Hut by Dale is better chicken.
Best wings in town.

Please see the link for documents for the City Council Appeal #21-237-456.
This application is a City Council Appeal of a site plan for 411-417 Lexington
Pkwy N. The hearing date is March 17, 2021. (Link:
https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/STPAUL/2021/03/03/file_attachments/1712549/ENS%20Update%20-%20CC%20Appeal%20Application%20-%20411%20-%20417%20Lexington%20Pkwy%20N.pdf)

In the appeal, the applicant states: "The Staff Report concluded that the Site
Plan meets all eleven (11) of the criteria outlined above. As a result, Staff
recommended that the Site Plan be approved. The Zoning Committee agreed and
voted to approve the Site Plan with a 5-2 vote. The Planning Commission, by
adopting Planning Commission Resolution 21-05 (the “Resolution”), agreed that
the Site Plan satisfied standards 3 through 7 above. However, in a split vote
of 8-7, a majority of the Planning Commission justified denial of the Site Plan
based on findings and conclusions that are simply not supported by the facts or
by the record."

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Luxury apartment building or slumlord on steroids: How in love with White Castle drive-thrus can a person be?

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