Today, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey joined MPHA staff and residents to celebrate the completion of the Elliot Twins redevelopment. This $27 million renovation of the 60-year-old towers included a full remodel for all 174 deeply affordable studio and one-bedroom units, added 10 disability accessible units, replaced aging building systems, and completed energy efficiency improvements including re-cladding the buildings with insulated metal panels. This transformation also added 6,200 square feet of community and office space, security upgrades, and resident amenities, including larger laundry spaces, computer rooms and an exercise room.

“Today marks the beginning of a new era of collaboration to address our region’s affordable housing shortage,” said Abdi Warsame, Executive Director/CEO of the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority. “The Elliot Twins transformation demonstrates how MPHA can partner with local government and private partners to deliver high-quality affordable housing to some of our community’s most vulnerable residents. Notably, this redevelopment was completed on time during a global pandemic. But most importantly, every resident who wanted to return to the property following a temporary relocation was able to return to a newly renovated home.”

“Housing is a right, and affordable housing is a top priority in our work to better serve the people of Minneapolis,” said Mayor Jacob Frey. “We are committed to maintaining and growing our partnerships in these deeply-affordable housing projects to ensure all our residents have a place to call home. I am proud of our work with MPHA to preserve and build record numbers of affordable housing units throughout our city – Elliot Twins is another example of great partnership and collaboration.”

In completing this redevelopment, MPHA complied with both a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the City of Minneapolis as well as U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations requiring any residents temporarily relocated off-site the right to return to the property. And when residents were relocated to other units during construction, MPHA covered all associated relocation costs for residents. In every phase of the redevelopment, the agency sought to reduce disruption to residents who are 80 percent black, 62 percent elderly at 62 years of age and older, majority immigrant, and have an average annual household income of $12,435.

The Elliot Twins redevelopment was made possible by the HUD Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program, a financial tool that allows MPHA to convert public housing to a program that provides the agency a larger and more predictable federal subsidy through project-based vouchers (PBVs). The vouchers follow federal rules that include rent set at 30 percent of adjusted income (the same as traditional public housing) and deep affordability requirements. The agency will manage the property, serve as the controlling general partner in the co-owned subsidiary Elliots LP, and continue full ownership of the land the buildings sit on, with a 99-year ground lease requiring affordability.

This redevelopment was made possible through financing across various government partners. Specifically, the redevelopment included state housing revenue bonds (allocated by Hennepin County), four percent Low-Income Housing Tax Credits issued by the City of Minneapolis with equity investment from RBC Capital Markets, long-term debt financing by Lument, a construction loan by Bremer Bank, and a $4.6 million contribution by MPHA. The agency also received a $2.3 million investment from the City of Minneapolis for energy-efficient materials and technologies, and a $250,000 grant from the Metropolitan Council to assist with environmental remediation. These additional funds have helped reduce the building’s overall energy consumption (contributing to MPHA’s recent “Goal Achiever” recognition from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Buildings Challenge).