Apartment Building for Empty Tangletown Lots

Remember ? Turns out, big changes are in store for that little white-and-green shack next to the firehouse, much sooner than we thought.

Monday afternoon, developer Scott Carlston and his architects will present their plan for a 45-unit apartment building for that site to the Minneapolis Planning Commission. The Commission will meet at 4:30 p.m. in the Minneapolis City Council chambers at City Hall, and will take public testimony for and against the proposal.

Carlston is also working on in Linden Hills that also goes before the Commission on Monday. It is not impacted by a on new large developments because its application was submitted before the moratorium was introduced.

To go forward, Carlston's proposed building (plans posted at right) needs a conditional use permit from the city to let it rise three feet above the zoning limits, from 3 to 4 stories and from 42 feet to 45 feet. In their filing with the city council (posted at right), city planning officials write that they think the additional cars won't overwhelm the nearby roads. City officials cite Carlston's provision of 11 more parking spaces and twice the number of bike racks required by zoning. Residents' cars would exit through a driveway onto Nicollet, between the development and the .

The project also needs permission to pack slightly more apartments into the design than currently allowed. 

Nicollet has been referred to as "Minneapolis' Main Street." Several city planning efforts have tried to encourage development to concentrate on major roads like Nicollet and at community business nodes like 54th and Nicollet, and the proposed development is near several large apartment buildings.