4Marq project to ‘top off’ soon

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The new kid on the 400 block of Marquette Avenue has grown up quickly.

Mortenson Development officials said Monday that their 4Marq apartment tower — a 30-story, 262-unit building rising up at 400 Marquette Ave. in downtown Minneapolis — is close to reaching its full height after 10 months of construction.

Cruising through an aggressive 18-month schedule, Mortenson is up to the 26th floor and expects to “top out” the building by the second week of May, said Dan Lessor, Mortenson’s development manager.

Lessor said crews made a lot of progress during the winter and are on track to wrap up construction by year’s end. “We are right on schedule,” Lessor said.

Construction permits valued at about $60 million have been issued for the project, according to the city.

Specifically, the city has issued a footing foundation permit with a value of $1.6 million, and a new building permit valued at $58.26 million, according to city spokesman Matt Lindstrom.

4Marq has a lot of company on the block — and throughout downtown Minneapolis.

Last fall, Minnetonka-based Opus Group completed its 26-story, 254-unit Nic on Fifth apartment tower on the block, which is surrounded by Marquette Avenue, Fourth Street, Nicollet Mall, and Fifth Street.

Just a few blocks away, the 301-unit Latitude 45 apartment building is under construction at 301 Washington Avenue S.

Hundreds of additional units are proposed for downtown, which saw its apartment vacancy rate rise to 9.8 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, up from 4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013, according to Marquette Advisors’ Apartment Trends Report, which also said the increase was likely temporary.

More than new 18,500 apartment units have been proposed or in development overall in the metro area since fall 2011, but only about 10,800 have been built, according to Finance & Commerce’s apartment development tracker.

The Minneapolis Downtown Council wants to double downtown’s population to 70,000 by 2025. That’s consistent with the city’s goal of having 500,001 residents overall by 2040, Kjersti Monson, the city’s long-range planning director, said in an email.

As of 2013, the city had 37,526 downtown residents, so it would need to add about 3,500 residents per year to reach 70,000 by 2025, Monson said in an email.

“We’ve added about 4,000 new residents citywide on average over the past five years, and have accounted for 25 percent of the region’s building permits in the same time period,” Monson added.

“Policies downtown — including removing limits on unit density within a building envelope and eliminating height limitations — are intended to fully embrace growth,” which leads to more retail, an expanded tax base, and other benefits, she said.

Mary Bujold, president of Maxfield Research, said businesses are interested in moving downtown, which bodes well for residential growth.

A notable example: Xcel Energy’s new, nine-story, 222,000-square-foot headquarters is taking shape on the same block as the 4Marq project, and is scheduled for completion in July 2016.

Still, “if we continue to build and build and build, I think we will start to see vacancies creep up again,” she said.

Tom Melchior, director of market research at CliftonLarsonAllen in Minneapolis, said absorption overall has been very strong in downtown Minneapolis, although it has slowed of late.

After 4Marq and Latitude 45 are completed, “we might see a temporary burst of vacancies until the market absorbs those units, as well as the other ones that have not filled up,” Melchior said.

Big upcoming projects such as Opus’ proposed 32-story, 364-unit apartment building on the northeast quadrant of Nicollet Mall and Fourth Street won’t be finished until 2017 or 2018, which will give the market some time to absorb existing vacant units, he said.

4Marq will have units ranging in size from studios to three bedrooms. The average unit size is about 800 square feet, Lessor said. Parking will be available in an above-ground, onsite ramp.

Enticements include a pet-washing station and dog run, commercial-sized laundry, lobby-level concierge and lounge space, party rooms, a yoga studio, a business center, and an outdoor fireplace.

Mortenson also notes the building’s access to light rail transit — which runs along the project site — as well as nearby attractions such as the main Minneapolis Public Library, Target Field, Target Center, and the new Minnesota Vikings stadium.

But perhaps the most notable building feature is a 360-degree panoramic rooftop deck with views of the Mississippi River and the Minneapolis skyline. All tenants will have access to the deck.

Depending on which direction they are looking, upper-floor tenants will be able to see “in the front window” of the new Minnesota Vikings stadium, or look out at home plate at Target Field, Lessor said.

Rents haven’t been set yet, he said.

Pre-leasing for 4Marq will officially begin in July or August, said Cam Synder, Mortenson’s senior manager of public relations. Mortenson recently launched a project website at www.4marqapartments.com.