Quality housing and leasing remain challenging for University of Minnesota students, but apartment construction projects in the Prospect Park area may alleviate that sooner rather than later. In particular, one apartment construction project on the corner of 27th Ave SE and Delaware St SE has progressed quickly.
Quality places to live at affordable prices will always be a challenge to some degree for the immense population that the University of Minnesota has and attracts. Every year, rental rates rise ostensibly to keep up the maintenance of said rental property and natural inflation. In some cases, rental properties that remain low or seemingly immune to inflation might be suspect of low-quality housing. However, for many university students, a primary challenge on top of these aspects is housing that’s relatively convenient and close to campus.
Brickhouse Lofts is a construction project on what was originally an industrial packing plant and office building. This project is set to include units with up to four bedrooms, with a total of 315 units and 480 bedrooms total. While development and underlying plans for the building had begun as early as 2014, ambitious construction and progress were noticeable in the last few months. Over the last year, the creation of what was another construction project is now, without any ambiguity, clearly and obviously apartment housing. The original building prior to apartment development has been around for decades. The steel structure most recently utilized by the previous building is being taken advantage of. In fact, the Prospect Park neighborhood area has implemented the construction of several ambitious apartment projects within the area, also utilizing or taking advantage of structures of previous buildings.
The impressive construction underway of the Brickhouse lofts.While this new apartment building may be warmly welcomed and a much-needed addition to help alleviate campus housing availability, the previous industrial building had been around for many decades and was iconic to the area. The previous building had been around since the mid-1900s and was owned by the Bemis Company. Bemis Company and the industrial building were a major packaging and canning center that had employed many people in the local area. However, Bemis Company had moved its corporate headquarters to Wisconsin and had not seen growth in the area for some time. Even before this major employment center, there were other notable and cultural aspects of the building. The site, in the early 1900s, was originally owned by the Mohawk Aircraft Company. The site was not only a relevant aircraft industrial building but had also contributed to the University of Minnesota’s aeronautical engineering program.
John D. Akerman, head of the University of Minnesota’s Aeronautical Engineering Department in 1930, had previously worked at Mohawk Aircraft Company. Akerman had originally received a degree in engineering but was employed in engineering redesign for Mohawk aircraft. The University of Minnesota’s Aeronautical Engineering Department would break from the university’s engineering department, where Akerman’s work in the relevant field seems like an appropriate match.
Ultimately, while new apartment housing will likely be a great addition to the Prospect Park and campus area, many new students will likely never know the building that previously employed many in the area. Fewer (outside of aerospace engineering history nerds) will likely be aware of the interesting cultural relation to the university the area once held.
