Rivoli Bluff

This site is located in the Dayton's Bluff neighborhood in East Saint Paul and has amazing views of downtown St. Paul, the State Capitol Building, the Cathedral of St. Mary and the Mississippi River. It is a short bike ride from the Metro State University  with easy access to the Bruce Vento Nature Preserve. The developer is Dayton's Bluff Neighborhood Housing Services.

The community will be multi-generational and senior-friendly and will include fully accessible design in the commons house plus several fully accessible units. We are emphasizing eco-friendly construction design and eco-friendly use of the site. Plans include green building techniques (LEED certification) and inclusion of additional features such as use of active as well as passive solar energy, re-use of gray water for lawns and landscaping and a community garden. Transportation options include easy access to bus line and bike paths.

We are currently collecting names of people who want to be at this site or another location in East St. Paul, who are ready to join the forming cohousing group and participate in twice-monthly meetings plus committee work between meetings. Once we have at least 10 households ready to meet, we will call the group together and begin the process needed for the group to partner with the developer. We expect final move-in to be about 18-24 months after the group begins meeting (status as of September 2008).

The Rivoli Bluff site is large enough for a cohousing community of 20-24 households plus additional single-family housing.  It is currently zoned as single-family housing but special zoning is being requested for cluster housing (2-6 units per cluster). The City of St. Paul has an interest in the development and has provided subsidy funding for the cost of the land.

 Average costs per housing unit will be in the $200,000 to $250,000 range. The developer has already secured financing for shared equity for a number of low to moderate income households, which could reduce prices for those homes by up to 25%. (Equity-sharing requires sharing of proceeds when a house is sold, to the same extent the purchase price is shared.)

Click here to see the developer's drawing of the site.  Other designs are also being considered.
rivoli-concept-040907.pdf

                                                    View of  Downtown St. Paul from Rivoli Bluff