The Vintage site plan approved for Selby-Snelling

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The Vintage on Selby, Ryan Companies’ mixed use development at Selby and Snelling, will bring 208 dwelling units, a Whole Foods store and a new bank to the area. The project won St. Paul Planning Commission approval in December. The Vintage on Selby, Ryan Companies’ mixed use development at Selby and Snelling, will bring 208 dwelling units, a Whole Foods store and a new bank to the area. The project won St. Paul Planning Commission approval in December.[/caption]

By JANE MCCLURE

The Vintage on Selby, Ryan Companies’ mixed use development at Selby and Snelling, will bring 208 dwelling units, a Whole Foods store and a new bank to the area. The project won St. Paul Planning Commission approval in December. The vote is a key win for a project that has been on the drawing board for more than a year. Ryan Companies Senior Vice president Tony Barrranco said there have been many changes to the project to accommodate neighborhood concerns including adding more off-street parking and bike facilities. “I think we have a better project because of all of the input,” he said.

Much work needs to be done before all of the changes are seen. In fact, development will unfold over the next few years. Buildings on Snelling north of Dayton will be the first to come down, to make way for a new bank building. Once the bank moves into a new facility, the historic bank building at Selby and Snelling can come down.

Supporters said the project will bring the denser, mixed use development the city is seeking along its transit corridors. “This project brings multiple new private investments to our community and will create needed jobs and amenities,” the Midway Chamber of Commerce said in its letter of support.

Barranco said the Vintage on Selby is the type of mixed use, dense development the city is seeking on transit corridors. It is designed in a stepped-back way to complement heights of adjacent buildings and will fit in well with the area, he said.

But opponents fear more traffic and parking problems in an already congested area. “This development is being shoehorned into the neighborhood,” said Snelling-Hamline resident Mike Andert.

The advocacy group Neighborhoods First! argues that the project doesn’t do enough to address transit-oriented development. That group and several neighbors are worried about increased traffic and parking demand, as well as potentially negative environmental impacts.

The 3.72 acre development site is currently occupied by the Associated Bank building, a large surface parking lot and homes. It consists of much of the block bounded by Selby, Snelling and Dayton avenues and Saratoga Street. The mixed-use development (The Vintage) will be owned by Ryan. The bank will own its own building, which be at a new location at 202 N. Snelling Ave. A site plan for the new bank was approved this fall.

The five-story development will include a 39,000 square foot Whole Foods fronting on Snelling Ave., four townhouses on Selby and 208 apartments. There will be 149 efficiency and one-bedroom apartments, and 59 larger units. The apartments will be in two stepped-back, u-shaped areas of the building. Apartments will have access to a swimming pool, rooftop patios and shared fitness and community room spaces. Some units will have rooftop garden spaces.

The building will contain all of its own parking. Parking numbers have fluctuated over the past year of planning. The project will have more off-street parking than the roughly 300 spaces required. The site plan has 295 underground vehicle spaces, most of which are for building residents. There will be 150 ground-level spaces for Whole Foods. The project also includes 208 bicycle parking spaces for residents and 30 bike spaces for grocery store patrons.

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