Case Study: The Cameron

The Cameron is located in the heart of the North Loop neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and represents the combination of historical redevelopment and well connected, transit- and pedestrian-oriented affordable housing. The apartments are within walking distance of a multimodal transit station and the popular commercial and entertainment corridors of Washington Avenue and Hennepin Avenue.

Formerly a vacant warehouse historically known as the Cameron Transfer and Storage Company Building, the Cameron was rehabilitated by Schafer Richardson. The project makes use of the 4% Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) to rehabilitate a historic building into affordable lofts. The project offers 44 units of historic housing and units are meant to be affordable to lower-income working households. 17 of these units are affordable to households at or below 50 percent of the area median income (AMI), and 27 units are affordable to households at or below 60 percent of AMI.

The total development cost for The Cameron was approximately $12.2 million, with the main sources of financing being a HUD 221(d)(4) loan and 4 percent low-income housing tax credit equity. According to Maureen Michalski, director of development for Schafer Richardson, receiving the historic tax credits was a “game changer” in filling their financing gap. The project received a combined total of $3.2 million equity in federal and state historic tax credits.

Learn more about the history, redevelopment, and financing of the Cameron.