First residential lots to hit market at former Ford plant site start at $475,000

The first residential lots are set to go on sale Monday at the former Ford Motor Co. 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 site now known as the Highland Bridge development. The lots will be developed into custom homes that sit along Mississippi River Boulevard 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's Crocus Hill office, 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 convert 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 site, which will ultimately encompass 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.

"We accomplished many things in 2020 on the site. But a lot of it was underground and infrastructure. So this year, in 2021, is when the general public will start to see more obvious building going on the site. It's now more vertical," said Maureen Michalski, Ryan's vice president of real estate development.

Construction of the new Lunds & Byerlys and the 230-unit Weidner Apartment Homes that will sit above the supermarket started in November. That building is due to open in summer 2022.

Once complete, employees at the nearby Lunds & Byerlys on Ford Parkway will relocate to the new store.

This summer, model units will open for what will become 325 Pulte row homes that will eventually span 15 blocks at the Highland Bridge site. Those houses are expected to be built over the next few years.

Construction also begins this summer on the Presbyterian Homes senior housing project along Mount Curve Boulevard. The two-block campus will feature two buildings with 300 apartments, including 40 assisted-living units and 40 memory-care slots. The project should open in 2023, Michalski said.

By the end of this year, Highland Bridge developers are expected to complete the outdoor Civic Plaza, two of four parks and a series of ponds and creeks that will course through the emerging community.

The master project also sports several affordable-housing efforts. Construction is scheduled to start this fall on two buildings with 135 affordable units provided by Project for Pride in Living. Those buildings will sit near the corner of Mount Curve Boulevard and Ford Parkway.

There will also be 60 units of affordable senior housing built by Common Bond on the corner of Cretin and Bohlands avenues. Construction is set to begin next winter.

Dee DePass • 612-673-7725