Hiawatha Flats — Minneapolis, MN

Hiawatha Flats was built by a local developer to take advantage of the light rail line through Minneapolis. This apartment complex reaches out to the neighboring single family homes with a series of individual, front porches for the ground floor units. Built of three stories of wood frame construction, over a masonry parking garage, the building has 70 rental apartment units, ranging in size from 570 square foot studios to 1260 square foot two-bedroom units. The typical unit is a one bedroom with a bonus room as an office or media room. The design of the project took into account many principals of LEED including the re-use of an old industrial site, careful selection of local materials, and the the individually controlled apartment utilities.

Hiawatha Flats was built on an old industrial site in south Minneapolis within walking distance of the 46th Street LRT station. The project was designed so that each of the three buildings would have distinct personalities. The larger buildings are four stories of wood frame over a ground floor of concrete and act as a buffer between Minnehaha Avenue and the neighborhood. The smaller building is three stories of wood frame over an underground parking garage. There are also seven two-story townhouse units built into the street edges of the main buildings.

This multi-family housing architecture project includes a broad mix of apartment floor plans ranging from studios to two bedrooms. Property amenities include a clubroom, game room, media room, swimming pool, and a party room with a gourmet kitchen, as well as a loaner car. The project took into account many principals of LEED design and building.