http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/news/2013/05/10/list-leaders-general-contractors.html?s=image_gallery

The latest is called “The Bridges,” which is planned for a site that’s at a busy corner in the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood where Interstate Hwy. 35W slips underneath University Avenue (918 & 928 University Avenue SE and 215 & 219 10th Avenue SE).

Once occupied by a Hardee’s restaurant, the site is highly visible from the freeway and is adjacent to the U of M campus, which is in the midst of an apartment construction boom. Just a few blocks west of the Bridges site, Doran is midway through construction on several hundred luxury apartments called Mill & Main. That project is next to the historic Pillsbury A Mill building, which is being converted by Dominium Corp. into several hundred income-restricted rental units for artists.

The Bridges will be reviewed by the Minneapolis Planning Commission Committee of the Whole on Feb. 21; the project  is among several low- and mid-rise towers planned for Minneapolis. The tallest to date is a 36-story tower in Loring Park that will have an indoor lap pool and an outdoor yoga studio.

http://www.startribune.com/blogs/191472461.html

Editor’s note: Boom to Bust? is an occasional series looking at the changing Twin Cities apartment market.

The Dinkytown commercial area near the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis has long been a gathering spot for students drawn to the funky charm of its coffee shops, restaurants and retailers. But today, it’s emerging as a battleground for developers who are competing for sites to build new student housing projects.

Read more:   http://finance-commerce.com/2013/02/boom-to-bust-developers-square-off-in-dinkytown-student-market/

Though hundreds of new apartments were built last year, the average vacancy rate remained largely unchanged at a scant 2.9 percent, according to Marquette Advisors, a national research firm. Rental prices climbed slightly to an average of $957, suggesting that peak demand is still ahead.

“It can’t get any better,” said Kelly Doran, a developer who owns several hundred apartments in Minneapolis. “Everything we have is 100 percent occupied.”  read more…..http://www.startribune.com/business/189520261.html

Doran Cos. is building “the Knoll,” a 101-unit student apartment project at 1101 University Ave. SE in Minneapolis. With help from student housing, homebuilding permit numbers rose in December. (Staff photo: Bill Klotz)

The Doran project, called “the Knoll,” is 70 percent leased and on schedule for completion in August, according to Doran Cos. owner Kelly Doran.

Doran Cos. is also proposing a 216-unit student housing project called “the Bridges” at 918-928 University Ave. SE in Minneapolis. Doran said the plan is to start construction in late spring and finish in August 2014.

Asked if the student housing market still has legs, Doran said it’s not a big issue for this coming fall, but fall of 2014 is “a bigger question.”

Also under construction in Minneapolis is Doran’s a 180-unit “Mill & Main” project, a market-rate luxury apartment building at 501 Main St. SE. Doran said it will be finished in July.

http://finance-commerce.com/2013/01/twin-cities-homebuilders-enjoy-their-best-year-since-2006/

In 2005, developer Kelly Doran announced that he was taking a break from commercial real estate to run for political office. Doran first planned to run for the U.S. Senate, but then switched gears to run for the governor’s office. Doran dropped out of the governor’s race in March 2006.

In 2007, Doran returned to the industry with the launch of Bloomington-based Doran Cos. Although he was best known as a shopping center developer, Doran has reinvented himself as one of the key players in the current apartment development boom.

Doran has been particularly prolific with student housing projects near the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis. But he is also doing market rate deals.

His two-phase Mill & Main project calls for 375 apartments in the St. Anthony Falls area along the Mississippi River on a site where a planned condo project never moved forward. He’s also teamed up with St. Paul-based Wellington Management Inc. for an apartment proposal along the future Central Corridor light rail transit line in St. Paul.

Not one to be pigeon-holed, Doran continues to adapt to the changing market. His next move calls for expanding into senior housing projects

http://finance-commerce.com/2012/12/10-key-players-to-watch-in-2013/

Rosemount city officials hope to save money by constructing the proposed senior center in conjunction with a private, $10 million senior housing project.

http://applevalley-rosemount.patch.com/articles/rosemount-council-may-partner-with-bloomington-firm-to-construct-senior-center