Editor’s Note: The story has been updated to provide the sale price of the property and a certificate of real estate value.
Two notable apartment projects — one in Minneapolis, another in St. Paul — are taking modular construction to another level.
Owatonna-based Rise Modular has a hand in both projects: A 192-unit building developed by the Ackerberg Group in St. Paul, and a 30-unit building developed by Rise Development Services in Minneapolis.
The Ackerberg Group said Tuesday it has acquired a site at 337 W. Seventh St. for its project and plans to begin construction later this month with help from Rise Modular, a growing manufacturer of commercial modular buildings. Acky-Northland II, LLC, an Ackerberg-related entity, paid $2.55 million for the property, according to a certificate of real estate value made public Thursday. The seller is Bonfe Properties LLC.
CEO Stu Ackerberg, who is co-developing the project with Northland Real Estate Group, said it will be the largest modular construction project ever built in the Twin Cities. Opus Design Build is the general contractor and DJR Architecture is leading the design work.
Rise Modular will manufacture most of the project’s apartment units at its 141,300-square-foot factory in Owatonna. Modular technology lends itself to faster construction, lower costs, greater productivity and greener buildings, according to the company.
Rise Development Services — the development arm of Rise Modular — is putting up the 30-unit building at 4200 32nd Ave. S. in Minneapolis, an infill site near Minnehaha Park in the Standish-Ericsson Neighborhood.
Designed by DJR Architecture, the Minneapolis project will have bragging rights as the “first multifamily/commercial building ever built with modular construction in Minneapolis or the greater Twin Cities area,” according to Rise Modular. The project team is aiming for a Dec. 1 completion.
Christian Lawrence, founder & CEO of Rise Modular, said the St. Paul project “represents the future of construction as one of the largest and most architecturally interesting modular apartment projects ever built in the United States and the first of its kind in the Midwest.”
Read the entire article at Finance & Commerce.
