New Town
New Town
Property Address(es): 728, 732, 735, 736, & 740 16th Street East
Property Name: New Town
Partners Names: Co-North, City of Minneapolis
Project Overview
For more than 40 years, Old Town in Town Cooperative provided affordable homeownership opportunities in Minneapolis' Elliot Park neighborhood. By 2022, however, years of financial instability, high vacancies, and management challenges had pushed the cooperative into technical default. With only weeks before foreclosure, five adjacent brownstones were at risk of being lost to speculative investment. One building had already been overtaken by a drug operation, further destabilizing the property.
Alerted by Twin Cities LISC and the City of Minneapolis, Land Bank Twin Cities moved quickly to acquire the properties. By stepping in at a critical moment, Land Bank created the time and stability needed for community partners to develop a long-term solution. What could have been another foreclosure instead became a model for preserving affordable homeownership and strengthening community ownership.
Land Bank Twin Cities Role
Land Bank Twin Cities intervened at a critical moment to prevent the cooperative from being lost through foreclosure. We satisfied the outstanding mortgage, stabilized operations, partnered with the Minneapolis Police Department over eight months to remove a drug operation, and are completing critical capital improvements to restore the property as a safe, stable place to live.
With the crisis addressed and the property on solid footing, Land Bank is actively collaborating with Co-North to lead the next chapter. We're organizing with residents to renew a limited-equity cooperative, New Town, and rebuild a path toward long-term community ownership.
Partner Role
The City of Minneapolis strengthened the recovery by subordinating and deferring debt from the previous cooperative. Co-North is leading resident engagement and organizing New Town Cooperative, creating a path toward renewed community ownership.
Outcome
A cooperative once on the brink of foreclosure is being transformed into a renewed, resident-led community. By stabilizing the property and creating time for partners to act, Land Bank Twin Cities preserved an affordable homeownership opportunity and expanded pathways to cooperative ownership.
