A new development company spawned from St. Paul-based LS Black Constructors has pitched its first project, a 164-unit affordable housing building in Northeast Minneapolis.

LS Black Development founded by LS Black CEO Sterling Black along with a pair of young developers, Willy Boulay and Mike Hudson. The two started on the same day five years ago at Dominium, the Plymouth-based national developer of affordable housing. Boulay left Dominium in April; Hudson left a couple years ago to work on Life Time’s new multifamily development business. 

Boulay said Sterling Black, CEO of the 43-year-old construction company, has been interested in getting into the development business, especially affordable housing. In April they launched LS Black Development, which will be headquartered in the St. Paul building with the construction company. The development company will be separate but affiliated with the LS Black Contractors, Boulay said. 

LS Black Development will focus on affordable housing in Minnesota and Texas. Both Boulay and Hudson have extensive experience developing in the Dallas-Forth Worth and Austin markets. 

Their first project, in Northeast, is a six-story building with affordable apartments on top of 13,400 square feet of ground-floor light production space for artists. 

The 2.6-acre site is at 2301 California St. N.E., which is just south of Lowry Avenue. The land was previously occupied by grain silos before they were demolished in 2018.

Twin Cities Land Bank has been holding the property and previously had a deal to sell it to Minneapolis-based Lander Group for a townhome and apartment project. When that project stalled, LS Black Development came in and got the property under contract, Boulay said. Lank Bank buys and hold properties for projects that help people with low and moderate incomes, as well as people of color.

“I think our missions were aligned, and they were happy to see what we were proposing,” Boulay said. 

The project will be discussed at Thursday’s Minneapolis Planning Commission Committee of the Whole meeting. 

According to the 2040 Comprehensive plan, the site is classified as Corridor 4, which calls for heights of 1 to 4 stories, but requests to go above four stories will be considered if the project achieves goals in the 2040 plan. Those goals include more jobs and more affordable housing. 

LS Black Development is seeking low-income housing tax credits and tax-exempt bonds for the $40 million project. Because of the wait time for the credits, LS Black is targeting an early 2022 construction start. 

Minneapolis-based ESG Architecture & Design is designing the project.