(MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA) Last week, the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA) achieved a major construction milestone in its nation-leading Family Housing Expansion Project (FHEP), setting the final of the 126 Minnesota-made modules that comprise the 16-building project. Modular construction allows for work at multiple sites at the same time, so while the last site began joining the modules together, earlier sites are in the final stages of completion.
Building 84 new, deeply affordable family homes in 16 “missing middle” apartment buildings across Minneapolis, FHEP is MPHA’s largest new construction project in more than two decades. The project includes 26 two-bedroom and 58 three-bedroom homes assembled in small buildings that each contain either four or six units. All units will be available to households at or below 30% of the Area Median Income (AMI) and include 16 units accessible to residents with disabilities, as well as 17 units for high-priority homeless households with services funded through Hennepin County’s Coordinated Entry program. Most sites are located near transit, green space and trail systems and include access to employment opportunities, schools and commercial areas. The agency projects the development to serve as many as 420 low-income families over the next 30 years.
“We are excited to reach this important milestone in this first-of-its-kind project,” said Abdi Warsame, Executive Director/CEO of the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority. “In partnership with RISE Modular and Frerichs Construction, MPHA is moving quickly and efficiently to deliver 84 new, desperately needed, deeply affordable family homes to Minneapolis. We are thrilled with how the project has progressed and are focused on welcoming our first families home in September.”
Projected to be completed within 13 months after its financial closing, FHEP includes several innovations that make it different from a typical housing development. Building 84 units on 16 sites is a highly unusual approach that provides families with housing options they can afford in many different neighborhoods. Using a modular construction approach has resulted in less noise and fewer neighborhood disruptions at each site while delivering the project 30 percent faster than would have been possible with a conventional construction approach.
“Urban infill developments in well-established residential neighborhoods always offer special challenges,” said Christian Lawrence, founder and CEO of RISE Modular. “Utilizing volumetric modular, our crews erected entire buildings on each site within a couple of days, making it a much more pleasant experience for the neighbors and a faster delivery for MPHA and its families. The economies of scale modular provides means real cost savings with superior quality, which is important to a long-term owner like the MPHA.”
A volumetric modular delivery allows for concurrent onsite and offsite construction activities. Frerichs Construction has all the construction trades working at once on various stages of construction, with 150 tradespeople spread throughout the city. While some MPHA sites recently completed mod-set, others are on the final punch list and receiving certificates of occupancy while waiting to welcome families home. This unique process allows MPHA to house residents much sooner than a traditionally built project. Family move-ins are estimated to begin in September, with the final units estimated to be ready to welcome new families in December.
“MPHA has proven affordable housing delivered through a scattered-site model works. This type of housing in established residential neighborhoods provides a solid foundation for upward mobility,” said Brian Schaffer, Assistant Director of Real Estate Development for MPHA. “With the support of our public and private funding partners, the MPHA team has taken full advantage of the rezoning opportunities provided by the City of Minneapolis’ 2040 plan and the innovations at RISE Modular to create a blueprint for how housing authorities across our state and country can deliver quality, cost-effective deeply affordable family housing to address our nation’s affordable housing shortage.
MPHA is the developer, owner and property manager of the Family Housing Expansion Project. The project team includes architect DJR, general contractor Frerichs Construction, modular manufacturer RISE Modular and modular installer ProSet.
For interviews with RISE team members, please contact Ella Carlsson, Red Mood Marketing, 612.805.0572, ella@redmoodmktg.com. For interviews with MPHA team members, please contact Drew Halunen, MPHA, 612.463.0707, dhalunen@mplspha.org
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About Minneapolis Public Housing Authority
Minneapolis Public Housing Authority helps provide more than 26,000 people with quality, safe, and affordable housing through its various housing assistance programs. This includes owning and operating more than 6,000 units across 42 high-rises, 184 family townhomes at Glendale, and 700+ scattered site family homes, along with administering more than 7,200 federally subsidized Housing Choice Vouchers (“Section 8”). Minneapolis Public Housing Authority is one of the original 39 Moving To Work (MTW) agencies, providing MPHA additional budget flexibilities to develop localized, innovative housing solutions. The agency is also a long-standing high-performer, consistently earning the organization additional funding and grant opportunities. Learn more at mphaonline.org.
About RISE Modular
RISE Modular is a full-service commercial volumetric modular manufacturing and construction firm revolutionizing the traditional stick-building process to meet the need for faster, safer, higher quality and more cost-consistent, sustainable construction solutions from its Owatonna, Minn. manufacturing facility. RISE introduced its innovative construction approach to Minnesota in 2019, creating more than 220 jobs in three years. The company is advancing the modular paradigm by utilizing the best in emerging technology, and an integrated team approach to deliver highly flexible, custom-designed multi-story housing and hospitality projects that meet a wide range of market and client needs. In 2022, RISE was named Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal and Minne Inno’s Start-up of the Year. For more information, visit www.risemodular.com.
