Enclave Development Housing Plan for the Y Site

Collaborators 

Lead Organization: Enclave

Contact: TBD ; Email: TBD ; Phone: TBD

Known/Likely Collaborators: Enclave ; University of Minnesota Rochester

Potential Collaborators:

Related Projects

Impacts 

Major Impact:  Housing

PlanScape Impacts :

Level 1: Housing

Level 2: UMR and Recreation

DMC Impacts:

UMR and Recreation

Community Health Impacts:

Type of Project

Building  

PB Reporting 2023-04-2

“Residents of this building will have views in almost every direction from terraces on this building,” said Patrick Brama, a developer with Enclave, which plans to purchase the 1-acre site at 709 First Ave. SW.

The company with offices in West Fargo, North Dakota, and St. Louis Park is proposing a seven-story, 220- unit apartment complex at the site.

Brama said some design details continue to be finalized, which has led to a one-unit expansion of the design since the proposed project was made public.

Still, he said the basic design highlights the key points of the proposal, which includes three terrace areas that will be accessible to the building’s residents.

Two third-floor terraces — one facing Soldiers Field Park and another facing the Zumbro River — will be created by the serpentine shape of the building’s top five floors. The floors will sit on a two-story structure that will be dominated by enclosed parking, as well as 15 specialty units that will open directly onto the grounds.

A third, smaller terrace will be located on the building’s seventh floor, offering a view of downtown Rochester.

In addition to the approximately 15,000 square feet of combined terrace space, plans presented during Thursday’s required neighborhood information meeting pointed to a 1,800-square-foot party room, 2,000-square-foot fitness center and a 700-square-foot club room in the building.

Surrounding the building will be new sidewalks, lighting and greenspace, including a planned “campus lawn” plaza that will be developed in coordination with University of Minnesota Rochester, which owns the property north of the YMCA site.

Brama said the proximity to university property that could be developed in the future led Enclave to include 37 studio apartments and 107 one-bedroom units in the plans, which would have lower rents than larger two- and threebedroom units.

However, with the potential starting cost at $1,300 a month, he pointed out the monthly rates won’t be considered affordable for everyone.

He said Enclave explored options for creating apartment options at a defined affordable rate, but even with the option of tax-increment financing support from the city, the numbers wouldn’t balance.

“We could not get it to work financially,” he said, adding that no city assistance is expected to be tied to the project, which likely would have required reduced rents for some units.

He said the variety of apartments also will provide some options.  

“We intentionally have three bedroom apartments, so three people living together and splitting it three ways will make it more affordable,” he said of an option that could reduce the per-person cost to less than $1,000 a month.

Thursday’s neighborhood meeting opens the path to submitting development plans for city review, and Brama said an application is expected to be filed next week.

Once plans are submitted, a Community Development review will determine whether it can move forward.

Until city approval is received, the Twin Cities-based YMCA organization continues to own the 74,799-squarefoot complex. If approved, demolition of the facility could occur this summer with construction of the new complex to be completed in 2025.

“It’s 100% contingent on the city’s approval process,” Brama said of the timeline.

While Brama declined to provide specifics about the purchase agreement for the property, Olmsted County estimates the property’s value to be nearly $5.2 million for tax purposes, which is a drop from its estimated $5.9 million value prior to the facility’s closure in early 2022.

Contact local government reporter Randy Petersen at rpetersen@postbulletin.com. 

Rochester, Olmsted County, and Township Production 

Avg Demand vs Avg Production Shortfall

Video Recording Link

Presentation

Collaboration Commitment

Post Bulletin Reporting Abstract

Feb 2025 DMCC Board Meeting Memo

PB reporting re Jan 6 City Council Meeting

"A final plan for dividing a 14.1-acre Mayo Clinic parking lot into developable sections is expected to be reviewed Monday by the Rochester City Council. The site, being dubbed “West Transit Village,” sits between Second Street Southwest and Cascade Lake. It is currently used as a Mayo Clinic employee shuttle lot, and Mayo Clinic plans to construct a 2,500-stall parking structure."

Home Ownership Creation Program - Prairie Ridge: "NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the Common Council of the City of Rochester, MN hereby approves the contribution of $4,000,000 to the Prairie Ridge development to support the creation of 201 for-sale homes via the Home Ownership Creation Program.

 PB Reporting regarding TIF $14M Requests (Sherman and Prairie Ridge) 2024-12-14 

DMC Feb 2025 Board Meeting Memo 

City of Rochester Receives $84.92 Million Federal Grant for Transformative Link Bus Rapid Transit Project

LINK Progress Report to City Council 

Rochester eyes TIF to support Transit Village, Public Parking

September 2024 DMCC Board Meeting with 2025 Workplan Breakout

May 2024 DMCC Board Meeting and City, County, DMC Joint Meeting

Feb 2024 DMCC Board Meeting

September 2022 DMCC Board Status: NTH to run a developer selection process with Mayo

City teammates providing an update on this work, specifically regarding legacy public infrastructure projects, Unbound, infrastructure investments and regulatory milestones.  

PB reporting: A local program providing tax breaks to landlords in exchange for maintaining lower rents is being tweaked to encourage future development of affordable housing.

August 2024 Report : Age-Friendly Olmsted County (AFOC) activities implementing the Age

Friendly Olmsted County 2022-2025 Action Plan since our annual report in February 2024.

July 17, 2024 City of Rochester: Adopting a Resolution authorizing an amendment to the Development Assistance Agreement and the Declaration of Restrictive Covenants to revise the affordability covenants related to the 80% Units.

March and May 2023 reports to DMCC including video, documents and presentations.