While it currently feels like Minnesota is in eternal winter mode, upcoming weather promises to bring a taste of spring at last. And that’s good news for the cities of St. Michael and Albertville, which have busy home construction seasons ahead of them. Here’s a roundup of the new housing you will see popping up around STMA once the building season kicks into high gear:
Albertville
Albertville has a much smaller footprint than St. Michael, and it also has less buildable land left available. Despite that, the city will see a few residential housing projects this year. City Administrator Adam Nafstad said both the Towne Lakes and Hunters Pass neighborhoods will continue to fill up this year. Towne Lakes’ sixth addition is slated to add 42 townhomes and eight single family homes, and work is already underway on those. Towne Lakes’ 7th addition will get started on 63 single family homes, and Hunters Pass will add approximately 20 additional single family homes with a third addition to their neighborhood. Nafstad said all of these homes will be built by Douglas Carlson Companies.
“My guess is it’s going to take a couple years to fill those lots,” he said. “I’m predicting they’ll be filled up between now and 2021.”
St. Michael
St. Michael has several residential projects of its own starting this summer, running a wide gamut from a high-density apartment complex, twin homes and villas to single family homes. The city had 107 residential building permits in 2017 and City Administrator, Steve Bot, said they expect to have around the same number this year.
South Side
On the south end of town, Benzinger homes will begin construction on their Rambling Creek/Creekside Estates plan for five single family homes, 26 twin homes and 11 detached villas. Meanwhile, the Gonyea Group will break ground on a new development called Lakeshore Preserves. The development will sit on the west side of CSAH 19 south of 30th Street, backing up to Gonz Lake. The first phase will include 48 single family homes and a private park, and the development will ultimately have 139 single family homes.
Justin Bannwarth of the Gonyea Company said that site prep work is underway and they expect to begin grading in early May, weather permitting. Their goal is to have lots ready to build on this fall. Bannwarth said they are close to finalizing builder contracts for phase 1 of the development but cannot release that information just yet. He said it looks like the first phase of 48 homes will be built by a single, local builder. They are currently working on a web site for the development.
East Side
Tributary Crossing will continue its march toward completing the subdivision just east of the I-94 interchange, and the city recently approved a final plat for their third addition, which includes 13 lots. 61 building permits have been issued so far for that development.
Lennar’s Rivers Edge development will also continue building its new development on the east side of Highway 241, with 27 permits issued already for the 81-lot single family development.
The city of St. Michael hosted an open house over the winter to discuss the future of residential development in the northeast quadrant of the city, which has many larger-lot neighborhoods. The area is currently zoned for smaller, more urbanized development with city sewer and water, but the city is now considering changing the land-use plan to allow more large-lot residential options in that area.
“We haven’t gone through the final process yet and there’s nothing imminent at this point, but if the ordinance does get changed it would be allowed to happen,” said Bot. “[Developers] might look to acquire land and do that larger-lot development. If we do change it, it will be interesting to see if there’s a developer that can pull it off and make it affordable, too.”
Central
The center of St. Michael will see more high-density projects this building season, including work beginning on the 208-unit Town Center Village apartment complex. The city has approved that project’s preliminary plat, but the developer is still working out wetland approvals. The first of four buildings will go up this year.
Central St. Michael will also see the addition of 23 detached villas just off Frankfort Parkway, adjacent to the new Westbridge Church building that will also break ground this year.
An existing single family neighborhood on the west side of Town Center area may also be filling in with additional single family homes, but plans have not been finalized for that yet.
West Side
DR Horton’s Morgandal development is nearing completion, with only six lots remaining.
“Through the end of March we’ve gotten 24 new home starts already, so that’s a pretty good pace,” Bot said. “I know a lot of people commented they had a really good spring Parade of Homes and are selling a bunch off of that.”