Rarity for Stillwater: market-rate rentals

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Stillwater may get its first new market-rate apartment building in more than 15 years as part of an estimated $50 million-plus development that would tie in with Washington County’s plans for a new Highway 36 interchange.

Developer Mark Lambert envisions an amenity-rich 190-unit apartment building, a grocery store and other uses on a mostly vacant 35-acre site just south of Highway 36, east of Manning Avenue, north of 200th Street, and west of the city of Oak Park Heights’ corporate boundary.

Hy-Vee has submitted an application to build a 95,000-square-foot grocery store and a 4,000-square-foot convenience store as part of the Central Commons development, which is undergoing an environmental review.

A second development phase could bring a 190-room hotel and retail uses. The site would include about 13 acres of undeveloped area with landscaping, buffers, trees, wetlands, and stormwater basins, according a 189-page environmental assessment worksheet.

Full-build-out is “anticipated by 2025,” but the timing will “ultimately depend upon market conditions,” according to the EAW.

Ideally, some construction could begin this fall, though it would more likely commence in spring 2021, Lambert said. The grocery store and apartments could open in late 2022 or early 2023 after the $32 million Highway 36/Manning Avenue interchange is complete.

Interchange construction is scheduled to begin in 2021, said Nate Arnold, Washington County project manager. The project would improve safety, reduce congestion, and address growth in the area, “especially with the St. Croix Crossing opening up,” Arnold said.

The interchange project is up for $3 million in state bonding to round out the funding, Arnold said.

Lambert, owner of Stillwater-based Summit Management, said the interchange is a “big driver” for his proposed Central Commons development.

“We have an amazing corner before the interchange; it’s a phenomenal corner after the interchange,” Lambert said in an interview.

Neighboring properties include a largely vacant industrial site, the Kern Center industrial area, the St. Croix Sanctuary single-family development in Lake Elmo, and the Applewood Hills Golf Course, according to a project narrative.

Health Partners owns a neighboring property north of Highway 36 within Stillwater Township. That site will accommodate a “future medical facility with ancillary uses,” according to the narrative.

Bill Turnblad, Stilllwater’s community development director, estimates it has been about 25 years since the city has seen a new market-rate rental apartment building.

Put another way, Turnblad has been with Stillwater for 15 years and the city has not had a new building of that sort “since I have been here — probably at least a decade before that,” he said. “We have had plenty of market-rate condos in town as redevelopment projects, but no market-rate rental.”

As of 2018, Stillwater’s housing stock includes 5,486 single-family homes, 966 townhomes, 571 “triplex, duplex or quad” units and 1,005 dwellings in multifamily buildings with five or more units, according to the Metropolitan Council.

Stillwater’s homeownership rate is 78.6% and its median gross monthly rent is $988 (2018 dollars), according to council data.

Central Commons’ apartment mix will likely include studios, ones, twos and some three-bedroom units, Lambert said. An indoor pool, a hot tub, saunas, a fitness center, and underground parking are among the planned amenities.

Lambert said the project has been in the works for 2½ years. The development team has worked “very collaboratively” with Stillwater, Washington County, Lake Elmo, the Minnesota Department of Transportation and other stakeholders, he said.

“There were a number of jurisdictional things we needed to resolve. That corner is located within five municipal jurisdictions. Obviously, that has made maneuvering of political approvals a little more time-consuming,” Lambert said.

The city is accepting comments on the project through April 29 as part of the environmental review. Subsequent approvals include a petition to annex the project site into Stillwater, preliminary plat, and conditional planned unit development.

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