The Bunge Tower has been both an icon and a source of tragedy for Southeast Como.

Photo by File photo

The building boom that has brought so many new residents and businesses into other Southeast neighborhoods is about to move into Como with the start of work on the Van Cleve project, also known as the Bunge Tower redevelopment project.

On March 28, Project for Pride in Living (PPL) will host a meeting at Van Cleve Community Center, starting at 6:30 p.m., about the impact on neighbors from the upcoming Bunge site demolition. The work, which will begin this month, could include noise, some vibration, dust, and the closing of an alley for as long as two weeks, said Chris Wilson, PPL development director. PPL will “try to minimize [the impact] as much as we can,” he said. The demolition should be finished this spring, he said, “hopefully before [the weather] gets too nice.”

Once owned by the Bunge Corporation (the “g” is pronounced as in “hungry,” rather than “change”), the triangular, three-acre parcel of land is known for its most visible feature: the 200-foot white Bunge Tower that sits directly west of Van Cleve Park. The tower and grain elevators have been both an icon and the site of tragedy for the neighborhood. While the grain elevators will be demolished, the tower itself could be incorporated into a mix of affordable housing and market-rate condominiums.

The site is bounded by 13th Avenue Southeast on the east and the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe railroad tracks on the southwest. The northern side abuts the backyards of the homes and apartments facing Como Avenue Southeast.

The project, which will include five buildings, is being developed by PPL, a Twin-Cities based nonprofit organization that provides low-income individuals and families with housing, jobs and training. Two of the buildings (A and B) will together provide 85 affordably priced rental units, most of which are designed for families. Two other buildings will be blocks of townhomes: five in building C built by Habitat for Humanity and seven more in building D, built by PPL.

It is hoped that building F will be the current Bunge Tower, adapted for reuse as a high-rise featuring 139 market-rate condominiums. “It’s not 100 percent sure that it’s going to stay up,” said Chris Wilson, real estate development director for PPL and a Marcy Holmes resident. Part of the project, also known as the “headhouse,” is being developed jointly by PPL and a development group headed by Jeffrey Laux, who is currently turning the historic Ivy Tower in downtown Minneapolis into a mix of affordable apartments, market-rate condos and a luxury hotel.

Wilson says he knows the tower is an important symbol to the neighborhood, and that PPL will keep it standing, if possible. (The letters “BUNGE” will be removed, he said, to make room for windows and a downtown view.)

“One of the reasons the neighborhood is supporting this project is because we’re attempting to keep the tower,” he said. “We want to because it’s sort of an icon, a significant piece of the neighborhood, so we’re doing everything we can to keep it.” The key will be whether the structure can be adapted to residential use. Right now, Wilson said, the development group led by Laux “is working with PCL Construction to try to figure out how they’d put the floors in and so forth.”

Another partner in the project is Cabrini Partnership, a nonprofit organization that provides housing and support services to individuals with mental illness and chemical dependency issues. The organization has operated Cabrini House at 1025 SE Sixth St. for many years and had been looking for additional housing options for their clients, who are limted to two-year stays at Cabrini House. When the Cabrini board discovered the Bunge Tower site was for sale, they approached PPL, and the project was born. Of the 236 units in the Van Cleve development, 20 of them will be designated for Cabrini residents, and Cabrini will provide support services for them on-site.

While the Van Cleve project is designed to provide housing for a wide variety of residents, one group that won’t be living there is students. James de Sota, coordinator for the Southeast Como Improvement Association (SECIA), said the neighborhood didn’t want more student housing “because people feel like we’re losing a lot of families, which changes the feel of the neighborhood and affects schools and parks.” Wilson said that since students aren’t a protected class by law, PPL can specifically choose not to rent to them.

De Sota said that he and some other Como residents have been pleased with how well PPL and Cabrini have accommodated neighborhood concerns. He said that parking was a huge concern for neighbors, for example, and that PPL addressed that issue by including a lot of underground parking. Neighbors are also pleased PPL has been open to suggestions for “green” construction, said De Sota, who called PPL “a good partner.”

Not all Como residents are in favor of the project, however. De Sota says that a small but vocal minority of neighbors is uncomfortable with the influx of Cabrini clients and low-income renters into the neighborhood “Some people think there’s a connection with Cabrini Green,” said de Sota, referring to the infamous public housing project in Chicago. (There is no connection, Wilson confirmed.) “But plenty of other people think it will be a stabilizing force and will bring in families,” said de Sota. “It’s a definite positive.”

Part of the “positive” is that the new construction “will greatly impact the graffiti and safety issues associated with the abandoned grain elevators and head house,” said De Sota. In a tragic incident on Jan. 29, 2006, 20-year-old Germaine Vigeant fell to her death from the top of one of the abandoned grain elevators. “Any vacant building, no matter how diligently patrolled, will be a far greater risk for trespassing and vandalism then an occupied property,” said De Sota.

Work on the project will begin in April or early May, when demolition is set to start, and construction on the first building, B, will begin in June or July. Street work will begin about the same time and will involve re-establishing the Como street grid, opening up 12th Avenue Southeast, which will be extended a block south before turning east and becoming Brook Avenue, which will then connect to 13th Avenue Southeast.

The entire project is expected to take four to five years to complete, depending on market conditions. Wilson said that if all goes well, the first building may be ready for occupancy by summer 2008.

last revised: July 25, 2007

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