$92M affordable housing project to break ground in Woodbury

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A long-planned $92 million affordable housing project is on the cusp of construction in Woodbury.

The project, developed by Broadway Street Development, will bring 237 new apartments to a site at 580 Manning Ave. S., which is near a new Amazon light industrial facility and the city of Woodbury’s Prairie Ridge Park.

The units will be affordable for households at 50% to 70% of the area’s median income, according to Broadway Street Development, which announced the project’s closing late Monday.

“It’s raining today, but they will be out there tomorrow commencing construction,” Willy Boulay, developer and vice president with Broadway Street Development, said in an interview Tuesday.

The imminent start of construction comes more than a year after the project was approved.

“Affordable housing resources are fairly scarce, so we had to wait our turn … in order to get the resources,” Boulay said, adding that the project is primarily funded by low-income housing tax credits from Washington County CDA. “By the time we closed last week, we had entitlements for over a year, and we had owned the land since May of last year.”

Scheduled for occupancy in spring 2027, the four-story building will house one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments.

Apartments will feature nine-foot ceilings, quartz countertops, LED lighting, Energy Star-rated appliances, a side-by-side washer and dryer, a balcony, walk-in closets in the primary bedrooms, keyless electronic fob access and more, according to the developer.

Also included are a clubroom, a courtyard with a pool, grilling stations, playgrounds, a fitness center, a year-round interior kids’ playroom, a secured package room, work-from-home suites, a reservable conference room, and a pet spa and dog park, among other amenities.

“We aim to build at or above market-rate quality,” Boulay said. “We will own these projects long term and want them to provide good value to our tenants and be a place where you drive by and don’t know the socioeconomic status of folks who live there.”

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Mike Hudson, vice president at Broadway Street Development, said in a press release that the development will “continue to show how affordable housing can be reimagined and will build a community where people can thrive.”

Boulay noted that Woodbury hasn’t seen much affordable housing development in the past 10 to 20 years.

“We love it from that standpoint,” he said. “It has great visibility, great access from the highway. There’s a lot of industrial, especially new industrial product, around that area as well, so lots of jobs for folks who can now live, work and stay on this eastern side of Woodbury.”

In a press release, the development team said The Meadows at Prairie Ridge will comply with the Minnesota Overlay to Green Communities, which includes an Energy Star for Multifamily Certification.

The development also includes “public improvements such as a public road connection to the site, expansion of public trails and the construction of turn lanes for the project on Manning Avenue,” the developers said.

Boulay said the development team dedicated 3.5 acres of land to expand the city’s Prairie Ridge Park, which is just south of the project site. Tenants will have direct access to the park, Boulay said.

Project partners include the Washington County Community Development Agency, the City of Woodbury Housing & Redevelopment Authority, U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance, KeyBank, Greater Minnesota Housing Fund, Bridgewater Bank, US Bank Trust Company, First American Title Insurance, Roers Residential, Colliers Securities, ESG Architecture & Design, Eastside Builders, and Loucks.