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Hard Hat: The Wellstone
Mpls St. Paul Magazine - August 2008
 Minneapolis nonprofit partners Aeon and Hope Community teamed up for the long-haul redevelopment of a hardscrabble urban corner, billed as the Franklin Portland Gateway.
The Wellstone, which offers 49 rental apartments, is the third phase of the project. The bulk of the units are affordable, but 12 are market-rate. The building, slated for completion in December, will also offer a limited amount of commercial space.
"It's really the beginning of a new era on Franklin Avenue," says Gina Ciganik, vice president of housing development for Aeon, formerly known as Central Community Housing Trust. "There hasn't been market-rate housing built on Franklin Avenue, in that stretch, in I don't know how many decades."
The project's first two buildings, on the intersection's southeast and southwest corners, added 71 apartments to the area.
The building's name pays tribute to the late Senator Paul Wellstone, who Ciganik says attended a community meeting about the project early in the planning process. "He was very engaged and it meant a lot to the community that he was there with them supporting the project," Ciganik says.
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