The first residential lots are set to go on sale Monday at the former Ford Assembly Plant site in St. Paul’s Highland neighborhood.
Twenty lots ranging from $475,000 to $1.15 million will be available for purchase starting next week at the former Ford plant site now dubbed the Highland Bridge development. The lots will be developed into custom homes that sit right along Mississippi Blvd, between Montreal and Bohland Avenues.
Fourteen additional residential lots are also part of the parcel on the bluffs and will be put up for sale later, said officials from Coldwell Banker Realty-Crocus Hill, the brokerage firm handling lot sales.
“We’ve had more than 1,000 inquiries about [all 34 lots] so far. Part of it is everybody’s excited about Highland Bridge and they are not sure what the options are going to be,” said broker Jim Seabold. “Between land and construction costs, investments will start at $1.3 million all in.”
The 20 land parcels that go on sale Monday are set to become a mix of custom-built single family homes, row homes with up to six units, and carriage houses. A list of preferred builders and design requirements for the project will be released Monday on HighlandBridgeCustomHomes.com.
The residential lots are part of the much larger 122-acre redevelopment plan to covert the former Ranger truck assembly plant site along the Mississippi River bluffs into a mix of residential, retail and commercial properties. The plans have taken a nearly decade to bring to fruition. The Ford plant closed in December 2011 and was torn down soon after.
Now, Ryan Cos. is developing the expansive site, which will ultimately include 3,800 housing units including a senior complex, single-family homes and row homes as well as a new 51,000 square foot Lunds & Byerlys grocery store.
Construction of the Lunds & Byerlys and another 5,000 square feet of retail space is already underway. The retail stores plus a 230 unit Weidner Apartment Homes building are due to open summer 2022.
Once complete, employees at the nearby Lunds & Byerlys on Ford Parkway will relocate to the new store.
This summer, about 325 Pulte row homes will open nearby and span 15 blocks at the Highland Bridge site.
Also around summer time, construction begins on Presbyterian Homes’ senior housing project. It will feature 300 apartments, including 40 assisted living units and 40 memory care slots by spring 2023.
An outdoor “Civic Plaza” and central water feature are expected to be completed late this year.
Lastly, an $18 million affordable apartment building is slated for the Highland Bridge property. That 60-unit structure will house low-income senior citizens. Last year Ramsey County granted CommonBond $4.5 million to help bring the project forward.
Dee DePass • 612-673-7725