Preliminary proposal calls for 110-unit building at Hennepin & Central
The developer behind the North Loop’s Hewing Hotel has turned its gaze to the Nicollet Island-East Bank neighborhood where it is now planning a 110-unit condo building.
Milwaukee-based Fe Equus is planning an 11-story building at 416 and 420 Hennepin Ave. E., according to preliminary plans recently released by the Nicollet Island-East Bank Neighborhood Association. The developer recently bought the parcel at 416 E. Hennepin Ave. for $1.8 million, according to a certificate of real estate value.
The proposed building is located in a triangular block between Hennepin and Central Avenues and Fourth Street. There are several buildings that would remain on the block, including one home to Whitey’s World Famous Saloon. The project would displace a two-story office building and a surface parking lot at 416 Hennepin Ave. E.
The proposal features 10,800 square feet of commercial space on the main level and would include offices for the developer and the Downtown Resource Group. Plans show an approximately 4,600-square-foot space at the corner of Hennepin & Central for a restaurant. A proposed lobby features an art gallery lounge along Hennepin Avenue.
The building would have 156 parking stalls for residents across three levels of above-ground parking and 105 underground parking spaces for the public.
One in five units in the building would have “approachable pricing” through an approachable housing ownership program, according to the plans. Prices for these units listed in the plans are approximately 45 percent less than market-rate units.
Fe Equus will present the plans to NIEBNA at the group’s Thursday, June 8 meeting.
The site at 420 E. Hennepin Ave. has seen failed development proposals in recent years, including a proposal for a one-story commercial building about two years ago.
