By Anne Holzman

The Lauderdale City Council recently viewed a preliminary plan for a housing development on Luther Seminary’s lower campus, which sits in the Lauderdale Nature Area, also known as Breck Woods.

Edina-based Lifestyle Communities is proposing to buy the land from Luther Seminary, contingent on gaining approval to build housing. Lifestyle recently built the Zvago retirement complex at 2265 Luther Place in St. Paul and is in negotiations with St. Paul to develop other parts of the Luther Seminary campus.

The proposal drew general council interest in September. A previous attempt at developing the area fell through back in 2019–20 and resulted in the city’s rezoning the Nature Area as “high-density residential — conservation district,” allowing higher density if developers meet conservation standards. The plan also includes a small lot zoned for single-family homes.

Lifestyle proposes a cooperative apartment building at the north end of the parcel, which is steeply sloped and close to a ravine. The developers told the council that would be the best way to leave the ravine untouched and still build in housing density. South of the co-op would be a mix of smaller condominium buildings and single-family homes.

All of the homes would be for sale as opposed to rental. The developers said they will explore options for affordability but have not yet worked that into their plans.

There would be some new private streets and utilities to serve the new buildings. The large co-op building would have underground parking for residents and an area near the main entrance for visitor parking.

Council members, at their Sept. 23 meeting, expressed reservations about the height of the proposed co-op building and asked for more details about the design.

Lauderdale’s planning consultant, Jennifer Haskamp, explained at the meeting that the city has environmental studies from previous sale negotiations. Those would have to be updated in the course of reviewing the latest proposal.

Haskamp reminded the council that the development will need approval from the Metropolitan Council in light of the city’s current long-range comprehensive plan. The next step will be for the developers to document to the city how they intend to meet those requirements. 

Anne Holzman is a freelance writer who covers Lauderdale city government news for the Bugle.