Alternatively, click on our Valentines for the Mill District tab to send an e-valentine!

We celebrated Cynthia Froid’s 15th year in real estate here in the Mill District AND Holly Holt’s Mpls/St Paul Magazine’s “Super Agent 2011″ status! We have some huge talent here! Congratulations to you both!

Thank you to all our friends, neighbors & colleagues who came to our party last night. Many of our favorite local vendors helped make it a success: the fabulous moroccan menu by Brenda at SpoonRiver, the cupcakes from Chef Shack, the cranberry sparkling drinks from Chris at Sorella, the gorgeous boquets from Dan at City Gardens… we thank you all!

Email us to be in the know for the next time ~ you definitely don’t want to miss the next one!

admin@cynthiafroid.com

To get on our mailing list for next year’s coupon, email us at admin@cynthiafroid.com.

In the meantime, print out our coupon to receive our thank you gift to you! We’ll be there from 10:00am-12:00pm

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http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/homegarden/blogs/131074063.html

Downtown condo sales eat away at supply

Posted by: Jim Buchta

Going, going, gone? Well, almost. Two high-rise downtown condo buildings that were once caught in the cross-hairs of the housing downturn are in the sales home stretch. Skyscape, a 248-unit tower on edge of downtown Minneapolis, has one unit left. Phoenix on the River is down to just six.

It’s a notable achievement for both buildings, but not without some pain for their developers, both of whom suffered financial setbacks as units took longer than anticipated to sell.

The buildings, which are about 16 blocks apart, were marketed to different audiences. The Phoenix is a refined 17-story brick and stone building with fewer than 100 units and is in the middle of a historic district on the east bank of the Mississippi River near St. Main and Riverplace. Though the building had some units for less than $500,000, most are much more expensive.

One of the unsold units, listed by Edina Realty sales agent, Fritz Kroll, is on the 17th floor and has more than 6,000 square feet. It’s listed at $3.9 million. Kroll has been with the project since the beginning and said that during the past year sales have been relatively brisk.

Shortly after beginning construction of Phoenix, Schafer Richardson started marketing an ambitious redevelopment project of the nearby Pillsbury A-Mill building and surrounding structures.

That project, which included renovating existing historic buildings and building new ones, was particularly noteworthy because it took shape only after a protracted approval process involving historic preservation groups and nearby neighborhoods. At issue was the height of several high-rise towers planned for land adjacent to a set of grain elevators that have historic status.

With the housing market in a free fall and the lending industry in turmoil, Schafer eventually lost control of that site to a lender, which has since sold the land and buildings to two local developers who now plan to renovate the existing structures and to build rental apartments.

Skyscape, by contrast, is a more sleek glass and concrete 27-story high-rise between downtown Minneapolis and the Elliot Park neighborhood. It was developed by a company from Chicago that hoped to attract primarily buyers who were more cost-conscious with compact units in a building with lots of amenities aimed at creating a vertical community.

The efficiency of the units was based on the notion that buyers would be spending much of their social time in common spaces. The building has a rooftop lawn and a sprawling fitness center overlooking the downtown skyline.

Tandem Developers eventually sold more than 70 of those units in a bulk sale to a local investment group, which sold many of them at an unusual – and controversial “close-out” auction. That sale was deemed a success, but many of the residents who bought earlier worried that the auction would drive down prices.

Ben Ganje of Downtown Resource group said the remaining unit is on the 26th floor and has two bedrooms, a den, two balconies and just shy of 2,000 square feet. It’s listed at $450,000.

There are other condo buildings in the Twin Cities metro that hit the ground during the housing downturn and are still selling units. At last count, Bridgewater, a massive low-rise condo building with nearly 300 units that occupied most of a city block in the downtown Minneapolis Mill District, was down to just a couple dozen units. And down the street the Zenith still has unsold units. Across town in the downtown Minneapolis Warehouse District there are still 17 unsold units at 730 Lofts, which has 111 condos.

By and large the downtown Minneapolis and St.Paul condo markets have fared better than those in the suburbs as buyers focus on proximity to amenities and public transportation.

In Minneapolis, for example, the number of condos and townhouse listings on the market during the past year is 17 percent lower than it was during the previous year, according to the latest data from the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors. Single-family house listings are down only 3.9 percent.

And that means the overall supply of condo and townhouse listings has remained stable at a 10-month supply, meaning that at the current sales pace there are enough listings to last 10 months.

When the housing market crashed developers scrapped plans to build several other proposed condo towers, so when these are sold out there are none to replace them. Instead, developers are focusing on building rental apartment buildings to help satisfy growing demand for apartments. Many of those buildings are built with a high level of finish for possible condo conversion in mind to satisfy demand once the condo market makes a rebound.

PRODUCE PLANNER: apples, apples and more apples! Get them at the Market fromSweetland Orchard, Prairie Hollow Farm, Ames Farm and Women’s Environmental Institute. 

WHAT’S NEW:

• Northern Lakes Wild Rice is back from their harvesting season with fresh wild rice from Minnesota’s great lakes!!
• Martha Joy’s has home-canned watermelon rind. This jar of all natural sweetness is a excellent topping for a bowl of vanilla ice cream!
• Local D’Lish is now carrying biscotti from Lindalicious in chocolate cherry and savory goat cheese and herbs.
• Sweetland Orchard has applewood chips in bags ready to take home and add flavor to your next grill out. They also have apple cider donuts-make sure to get ‘em early because they usually are so popular they’re gone towards the end of the market day!
• Burning River Farm has broccoli and spinach coming in and soon pumpkins for pie!
• We’ve seen some great pictures throughout this summer and now we want to invite all of our customers to share the cream of their crop! Tweet @MCFarmersMKT with#marketmemories with your favorite picture and the Market crew will vote on a photo that best captures what this market is all about. The winning picture will be featured on our website’s main page and will be sent out in the Mill City Beet! So let’s see your best pictures of the sheep at the Mini Farm, our farmers colorful produce or our unique location in the Historic Mill City ruins, or…or…or…! Let the tweeting begin!

Mill City Cooks, 10AM: Market Chef, Nick Schneider is joined by Gretchen Perbix from Sweetland Orchard to talk about growing apples and varieties. Nick will demo 3 recipes: Russian Brined Apples with Tarragon, an Apple Canape from Scandinavia and a Warm Apple, Cabbage and Onion Slaw for Autumn. And, Apple Trivia!

Live Music, 11AM – 1PM: Dan Newton (“Daddy Squeeze“) has been playing offbeat accordion music since 1987, when he won the Nebraska State Accordion Contest at the Czech Festival in Wilber, Nebraska. He has used the squeeze box for playing all kinds of music not normally associated with free-reed instruments, as well as standard accordion material.

Activity: Mill City Farmers Market Ride for UMN students with Nice Ride. Find out more here!

Art Market, all day: Featuring Hmong ABC, ceramics by Tom Jaszczak and Heather Wang, Barnswallow Garden and Woodsport

The information below is from the website: millcityfarmersmarket.org.

Minnesota State Fair-Style Canning Contest!

Enter your home processed goods to a panel of judges in one (or all 3!) of these categories: Sweet, Tangy, and Market Fresh, and have your works of art evaluated based on the official MN State Fair criteria. Find out more here.

Rule #1: all produce ingredients must be LOCALLY GROWN!

PRODUCE PLANNER: watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumbers, peppers, many varieties of summer squash, beets, radishes, arugula, salad mix, herbs, potatoes, green beans, long beans, garlic, tomatoes (oh so many different kinds!), raspberries, greens, kohlrabi, cabbage and more! 

WHAT’S NEW:

• Sweetland Orchard is back at Mill City — which means apples (and summer pears) are in!
• Stop by the Local D’Lish General Store for your Smude Sunflower Oil fix! They’ll be sampling this delightful local oil this Saturday.
• Purchase tickets now for a gala feast and live auction to support Mill City Farmers Market! The event, Harvest Moon Benefit Dinner by the Riverfront, will be held in September. See you there!
• Market Chef, Heather Hartman is taking Mill City Cooks to the MN State Fair this Friday, August 26th.

Mill City Cooks, 10AM: With all this talk on preserving the harvest, Nick Schneider is making late summer sauces to enjoy now or save for later by freezing or canning.

Live Music, 9AM – 11PM: KBEM’s Bluegrass Saturday Morning broadcasts LIVE from the Market with guest musicians. Listen in and learn more about Mill City vendors during one-on-one interviews with host, Phil Nusbaum

Community Activity, 10AM – 1PM: Kolam: Art on the Riverbank “A hands-on experience of traditional South Indian floor drawing presented byRagamala Dance”. Join them for a month-long festival of events atCowles Dance Center

Art Market, all day: Featuring Hmong ABC, Cracked Clay, Fruits of the Sea and Jim Benson