Met Council Provides Money for Rosemount Senior Housing Development

The Met Council formally approved $440,000 Wednesday to Rosemount for its senior housing development on property north of the .

"[The money will be used] to help redevelop a portion of St. Joseph’s Church complex into a 70-unit senior housing project and a public senior center to adjoin the newly renovated Steeple Center. The project will integrate multiple uses and strengthen Rosemount’s downtown," the Met Council said.

According to the Met Council, the grants were given to cities involved in the Livable Communities program, which includes Rosemount. 

"The development and pre-development projects throughout Minnesota were reviewed and evaluated by the Livable Communities Advisory Committee, which recommends projects for funding to the full Metropolitan Council," the Met Council said in a press release.

“The Livable Communities program has been in place since 1995 and continues to experience one success after another, including the Excelsior and Grand redevelopment in St. Louis Park and the Town Square project in Falcon Heights,” said Metropolitan Council Chair Susan Haigh in a press release. “These grants, year after year, performing extreme makeovers on outdated development, improving connections between people and jobs and helping to ensure the region maintains the quality of life that continues to attract quality employers.”

The City of Rosemount has chosen Development Representation Associates (DRA) as the company to carryout the development in downtown Rosemount. The units in the housing project will be privatized, market-rate, rentable living spaces. For the first time in years, the land will be the site of a tax-paying structure.

Concerning the Met Council's contribution, Rosemount's Community Development Director Kim Lindquist said, "It's something that's been an extendend process - we've been kind of tracking it - I think after we scored with the Livable Communities committee we were pretty pumped."

She added that Rosemount was competing against other cities for development and pre-development monies.

Rosemount's portion of the money will go toward various uses, including stormwater improvement to the site, lighting, creating new and reconstructing public sidewalks, furnishings and an outdoor plaza area surrounding the senior housing, senior center and Steeple Center.

"We're calling it a plaza but we haven't determined what attributes [it'll have]," Lindquist said. 

have also been visiting other sites similar to the one that will be finished sometime in 2012. They have already been to Wyoming, Minn. and they still plan to go to Redwing and Mahtomedi, too.

"We're trying to hone in on where we're headed [with the project]," Lindquist said. 

Currently, the city is working with the architect to figure out site layout issues and financing.