Heritage commission continues hearing on Glendale Townhouses designation after hours of testimony

The Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission on April 8 continued the public hearing on a proposal to designate the Glendale Townhouses as a local historic district and scheduled further consideration for the commission's April 22 meeting.

City planning staff recommended denial of local designation, saying Glendale lacks sufficient historic integrity to meet local- designation criteria. "These later alterations from the 1970s and 1980s have diminished the historic integrity of the complex and its ability to convey its feeling and association as a post–World War II public housing complex," said Rob Skolecki, senior city planner in the historic preservation section of the planning division, during the staff presentation.

The designation question drew large public turnout and prolonged testimony from residents, neighborhood advocates and the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA). MPHA Chief Executive Officer Abdi Warsami said the agency opposes local historic designation because, he said, it would constrain investments residents want and would not protect them from displacement. "Historic designation stops Glendale residents from getting generational investment that they need," Warsami told commissioners, adding that the agency estimates about $22,000,000 in deferred capital needs at Glendale.

Why it matters: Glendale, a multi‑family development of 28 buildings on about 13 acres in the Prospect Park neighborhood completed in 1952, was developed as the city's first public housing project and is home to several hundred low‑income residents. The commission must weigh the site's historical significance against staff findings that roofline changes, siding replacements and other alterations limit the property's ability to convey its…