Historic building, now affordable rentals
Peter Wampole has two jobs, overnight cashier at a Byerly's grocery store and clerk at Macy's. The 20-year-old from Chippewa Falls, Wis., attends cosmetology school and hopes to become a hair stylist.
Despite his jobs, finding an apartment he can afford has been so tough that Wampole has been crashing in a friend's spare bedroom in Minneapolis.
But that will change Friday when Wampole moves into St. Paul's newest affordable housing development, the Crane Ordway Building in historic Lowertown.
His first-floor apartment is tiny. The windows are small. But Wampole is thrilled.
"I fell in love with the industrial feeling of loft living," Wampole said Thursday, as city leaders celebrated the renovation of the 102-year-old former plumbing supply warehouse.
The six-story brick building on the northeast corner of 5th and Wall Streets marks the first foray into St. Paul for the nonprofit Central Community Housing Trust, which has built 1,400 units of affordable housing in Minneapolis and Chaska.
The Crane Ordway building includes 70 affordable apartments, with rents ranging from the $390 that Wampole will pay for an efficiency to $610 for one-bedroom units overlooking the Farmers Market. Fourteen of the units are aimed at homeless people, who will pay one-third of their income in rent.
The $11.4 million project came about through a combination of state and city funds, foundation grants and private investment sparked by federal tax credits.
The Crane Ordway's architects, the Reed and Stem firm, also designed Grand Central Station in New York and the St. Paul Hotel. A year after it was built, Lucius Ordway acquired control of a three-year-old company now known as 3M.
In 1998, the Crane Ordway's owner sought to demolish the building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. But City Council members voted unanimously to reject a demolition permit.
"The building was saved and will now be a home to school bus drivers, entry-level teachers and others struggling to find affordable housing in our community," said Gina Ciganik, a vice president of the Central Community Housing Trust.
The organization plans to convert 70 units in the nearby Renaissance Box building into similarly affordable apartments next year.