A snapshot of an eight-block stretch of Humboldt Avenue from Victory Memorial Drive and 53rd Avenue North taken in the 1990s would reveal tiny ramshackle houses, aging apartment buildings and hard-on-heels commercial establishments struggling to stay alive on a once vibrant street.
Today that same photograph taken in 2005 would show new architecturally distinctive single family homes and townhouses built in the tradition of the surrounding neighborhood, new parkland, a tree-lined pedestrian promenade connecting two parks and a new entrance to Shingle Creek’s lovely trail system. The once straight-line greenway now boasts a surprisingly enchanting curve that highlights the elegant new homes and townhouses that grace the boulevard.
Keys to the revitalization of the two neighborhoods next to the parkway – Shingle Creek and Lind-Bohanon – has been the creation of the impressive “Humboldt Greenway” housing development. The new urban residential neighborhood, built by Humboldt Greenway Development, LLC and marketed by Summit Realty & Development, runs for several blocks on and around the parkway and connects to such landmarks as Olson Middle School and Jenny Lind Elementary School.
How transition came to be a reality attests to the hard work of the Lind-Bohanon Neighborhood Association, the Shingle Creek Neighborhood Association, the Minneapolis Park Board and other public agencies, as well as financial support from the federal government, state of Minnesota, the Metropolitan Council and the city of Minneapolis.
After a great deal of planning, work began in 2000 on a massive project to clean up the area. “We spent $28 million removing 212 housing units and eventually replacing them with about 270 housing units,” said Larry Blackstad administrative manager for Hennepin Community Works, the county agency assigned the task of overseeing the project. “The houses we took out were typically post-World War II homes erected during that era’s housing shortage. They were slab-on-grade, 740-square-foot houses.”
Property tax values increased on new homes and, importantly, on nearby residences. “We took out problem properties and reestablished a strong residential community, almost doubling the tax values in the properties we didn’t acquire,” he says. “People living there now have real equity in their homes, which they didn’t have before.”
More improvements assisted in Humboldt Avenue’s startling rebirth. “We’ve also created a new community commons, added green space and affordable senior housing,” says Blackstad, noting Common Bond Communities also built the senior housing. “We connected the two neighborhood schools with a walkway. Kids can stay in their neighborhood schools and walk there safely.”
The outcome has been even better than the city had anticipated. “We think it’s a great project and we’re very proud of it,” he says. “We get accolades from everyone who sees it. (With the new housing) we brought in more local kids to the schools, which they like. It’s really becoming more of a community because of what we’ve done.”
The new Humboldt Greenway residential development contributed enormously to the area’s increasing vitality.
“We spent a lot of time with the developer and they did a great job with capturing the feel of Victory Memorial Parkway, and bringing it into the neighborhood,” says Blackstad. “The houses fit well into the neighborhood, and make it really special. Humboldt Greenway is an example of what can be done in a declining neighborhood. The project more than pays for itself.”
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Two politicians played intrinsic roles in the revival of Victory Memorial Drive. One was Hennepin County Commissioner Mike Opat, the other Minneapolis City Council member Barbara Johnson. Opat gets credit for being the first to envision a revitalization for the avenue in the mid-1990s.
“I could see that the housing was past its useful life, but the neighborhood did have Shingle Creek and schools,” says Opat. “There were all the ingredients for a great neighborhood, but it wouldn’t interest my peers to move there.”
He worked with the planners and insisted the new neighborhood arising out of the ashes of the old should offer home buyers a variety of housing that would be affordable to middle class residents and provide enhanced views of the creek. It would fit into the scale of homes found on Victory Memorial Drive, a long, rambling parklike thoroughfare built to celebrate the contributions of Minnesota’s World War I veterans.
“We wanted the housing to fit into the neighborhood, but needed to keep the prices affordable,” he says. “We also wanted different elevations to add interest.”
Opat could not be prouder of the results. “I think the results are great, especially the public open spaces,” he said. “Humboldt Avenue is terrific, after we gave it a curving look, streetscaping and bike paths. There’s better storm water runoff, too. We’ve even gotten the railroad to clean up its part of the area.”
Johnson, who replaced her mother on the council during the project, continued her family’s support for the avenue’s revitalization. The redesign of the neighborhood gave Olson Middle School a campus and provided access to Shingle Creek’s recreation trail, which eventually travels to North Mississippi Regional Park, home to the city’s only interpretative center.
Bikers also can travel into the city along Victory Memorial to Theodore Wirth Parkway and Cedar Lake. “The redesign of the neighborhood really highlighted existing amenities in the neighborhood and on the North Side,” she says.
It represents the success of a crucial market for the city, too. She points out buyers who seek new single family and townhouse units in “managed communities” operated by associations who provide maintenance often find few such options available in the city. They wind up in the suburbs.
But encouraging sales in Humboldt Greenway provide evidence of people looking for new housing will live in the city if they can find developments available. Other parts of the city, such as along the Hiawatha light rail line, are seeing similar projects movinge forward.
She and Opat see much to like in Humboldt Greenway’s devotion to creating traditional architecture that fits with the architecture of nearby Victory Memorial Parkway while providing buyers with wide-open interiors found in suburban and loft living arrangements. The collaboration among all the parties has resulted in a model of a revitalized neighborhood.
“I think it’s been a real positive investment on everyone’s part,” says Johnson. “When I think about what we had there before – generally dilapidated, out-of-date housing – the transformation has been nothing short of miraculous.”
