Spring Manor, 809 Spring St. NE, is the largest public housing redevelopment project in Minneapolis’ history. (Minneapolis Public Housing Authority)
At a March 2 meeting at the Spring Manor housing complex, Mayor Jacob Frey and three other city officials spoke on the state of building activity in Minneapolis.
Frey noted that there were more than 12,000 building permits issued in 2025. He said the year’s permit valuations came to more than one billion dollars for the 15th straight year.
Frey said, “This building activity means that people want to live in this great city, to do business in Minneapolis, and are looking to move here from the rest of the state, from the rest of the country, to live out a dream and to live in this incredible place that we have the opportunity to call home.”
He said that in order to make sure everyone has an opportunity to live in the city, there needs to be housing at various levels of affordability, including public housing. Frey said the city’s partnership with the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA) has been critical, and noted that the Spring Manor redevelopment, which includes the high-rise at 828 Spring St. NE along with the building at 809 Spring St. NE, will rehabilitate 221 units.
The redevelopment’s target population is for seniors (189 units at 828, and 15 units at 824). The work includes replacing and enhancing building systems, renovating resident units with new kitchens and baths, repairing the exterior envelope and installing in-unit cooling and fresh air ventilation systems. The project includes the construction of a new four-story 50-unit building at 824 Spring St. NE. The $78 million project, the largest public housing redevelopment project in the city’s history, began last August and will go until September 2026.
Abdi Warsame, MPHA’s Executive Director/CEO, thanked the Mayor and 3rd Ward City Council Member Michael Rainville for city’s $7.2 million contribution to this project.
Warsame noted that the initial $1.3 million investment in the city’s 2025 budget was the project’s first financial commitment, helping spur other funding partners to invest. Warsame said work began at 809 Spring St NE last August, and more than half of the units there have been fully renovated.
Rainville, a lifelong Northeast resident, recalled visiting his grandparents on Van Buren Street and being told not to play in the construction site.
“I was a little boy in the 1960s and I watched these buildings get built, and I have fond memories of visiting my relatives and their friends in this very dignified, great housing project. This gives our seniors the real upswing in their lives that they deserve,” he said, adding that he was proud to be part of this effort once again.
Erik Hansen, the city’s Director of Community Planning and Economic Development (CPED), echoed the Mayor’s statement that it’s good to see over a billion dollars in construction activity per year for so many years, saying it’s partly due to the “fantastic” team at the city to help developers get through the process, “Whether it’s getting land-use applications through our planning group all the way through our development services group, and with approving building permits and certificates of occupancy.”
Hansen said this shows the importance of the city investing in building projects. “Of the top 10 project projects, we see about $20 million in city financing to help these things come to the market.” Besides Spring Manor, he highlighted two other projects that he called “Very important to the city and really exciting for Minneapolis.”
Hansen described a $35 million investment in North Commons Park, due to get new courts, fields and a water park as “A total rethinking of one of the most impactful parks in the system,” and highlighted The Native American Community Clinic, expanding the clinic’s space on Franklin Avenue and adding housing units in their five-story building, which is currently under construction.
Hansen said CPED is focusing on “deeply” affordable housing for those households with 30% Area Median Income (AMI) or lower, which is about $39,000 a year for a family of four. He pointed to Spring Manor as “an example of how we need to invest to make sure that there is stable and safe housing for everybody to live in this great city.”