Key Statistics — and Vacant Sites — To Watch
When the economy comes back, where will Twin Cities developers pick up? Most likely, where they left off when the recession and downturn arrived.
–Ross Kaplan, “Bare Ground — For Now“; City Lakes Real Estate Blog (2/9/2010)
In a post earlier this month titled, “Halftime at the Housing Recovery,” I posited that one sign that the housing market has fully recovered is that the percentage of lender-mediated sales (foreclosures and short sales) returns to pre-Crash levels (5% or less).
Want another sign?
Choice but long-stalled Twin Cities developments . . . actually get developed.
Senior Housing Boom, Cont.
Perhaps the most expensive piece of bare ground outside downtown Minneapolis sits just north of Lake Calhoun.
A close second: the acre-plus parcel between Beard and Chowen on 50th Street in Minneapolis’ Fulton neighborhood.
Formerly billed as “The Bancroft,” the project has been reconceived as a senior rental facility now called “The Waters” (pictured above).
According to the developer’s Web site, the project is opening next Summer (here’s hoping the “waters” it’s referring to isn’t Lake Harriet — almost a mile to the northeast).
P.S.: As the “senior housing” trend mushrooms, I’m seeing more segmentation and specialization.
For example, it seems (at least to me) that there’s a growing niche for “pre-senior housing” (more cultural amenities, less medical services).
