The Densification of Dinkytown

I used to live near Dinkytown while I was going to grad school at the U, but I hadn't been there in awhile before yesterday. One thing I noticed, a lot has changed even in the few years I have been gone. For those of who also haven't visited the area in awhile a phrase comes to mind "The times are a-changing." (Sorry).

There has been a boon in apartment construction in Stadium Village and nearer to Dinkytown. This has been a combination of a few seemingly dissimilar trends: upscale apartment housing and student housing. The neighborhoods have been in dire need of new student housing due to increasing enrollment at the U and the desire of more students to live near campus. The result has been over-occupancy in converted single family homes.

Let's do a rundown of the apartment projects over the last few years as well as my assessment on their impact on the neighborhood, students, and the apartment market. The most prominent example are Sydney Hall Apartments and Dinkydome Lofts.

This project includes many tenets that urbanists hold dear. Increased density near transit? Check. Mixed use development? Check. Rehab of historic structure? Check. The development is located at the corner of 4th St SE and 15th St on a site which used to be an under-used parking lot. The ground floor includes an anchor tenant of CVS. Part of the project including rehabbing Dinkydome which had fallen into disrepair. The upper levels of the Dinkydome now include luxury apartments for students.

The next project is Stadium Village Flats a luxury student apartment building which are still under construction.

This building is going up on Washington Ave and Ontario Street. The apartments replace a cluster of old buildings which included Harvard Market and a few other small businesses. A large portion of the building is going up over those buildings parking lot. In addition, the building does a good job of blocking the massive (and ugly) University of Minnesota parking ramp seen in the photo.

The building will include a ground floor level retail space. It will also be CVS but this store will have a full grocery. The flats have a bevy of amenities which seem excessive for student housing. These include fitness center, yoga studio, theatre room (!), and a penthouse sky lounge with a view of downtown.

A possibly even higher scale development is the FloCo Fusion Apartments at the corner of 10th St SE and University Ave.

FloCo Apartments is a luxury apartment with 84 units. The building went up in place of a BP gas station and one home. After perusing their website, these apartments seem less geared towards students which given the luxury nature of the apartments as well as the distance from campus makes sense.

My Impression
There are many things to like about these developments. They all significantly increased the density of their lots. The buildings, despite being fairly similar, are all very well designed and attractive. They give the neighborhood a dynamic and "cool" feel. The Sydney Hall building especially changes the feel of the area. It makes the neighborhood feel much more dense and lively. There are people all over Dinkytown already but the addition of a large apartment and CVS only increase the people on the street.

These locations are also logical choices to increase density given their proximity to transit. The state is spending almost $1 billion on the Central Corridor LRT so adding density near the line (Stadium Village Flats) makes better use of that investment. In addition, Sydney Hall and FloCo are also in areas well served by transit.

The addition of retail to Stadium Village Flats and Sydney Hall Apartments also helps the neighborhood. CVS, despite being a chain, fills an obvious hole in the area. If there are many more residents, especially students, they will need quick stop pharmacy and groceries.

The one concern is the type of apartments being built. All are luxury apartments and are much more expensive than most students can afford. This will be the typical complaint that these buildings will gentrify the neighborhood and force students to spend more money than they can afford. I don't quite buy it. Simple economics tells us that more supply lowers price. The areas around the U are suffering from an inadequate supply of housing. These new buildings should have the effect of loosening the housing market in the area and possibly even lowering other prices.

The end result of these buildings is a much more urban feel and one of the most urban neighborhood in Minneapolis outside of downtown. If the building boom continues and Central Corridor proves successful, Stadium Village/Dinkytown could become the most urban and one of the most appealing neighborhoods in the city.