Steve Minn

Last updated

Steve Minn is the former Minority Leader of the Minneapolis City Council, former appointed state official, and is vice president and chief financial manager of Lupe Development, [1] a real estate development company in the Minnesota Twin Cities area. [2]

Contents

Education

Steve Minn earned a bachelor's degree in management from Syracuse University [3] and holds an MBA in urban development and finance from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. [1]

Career

Lupe Development

Since 1989, Minn has worked for Lupe Development. As vice president and chief financial manager, he oversees the planning, acquisition, budgeting, finance and construction management responsibilities. Since 2002 he has managed the development and construction of more than 1,000 units of housing and more than 2 million square feet of mixed use, commercial, and industrial property. [1]

During his career, he has also developed a number of homeless veterans housing complexes. [4] In 2018, Lupe Development announced it would build 111 affordable housing units in Minneapolis, using a $1.2 million grant and $2.375 million loan from the city. The development will include housing for homeless veterans. [5] [6] The project, Lake Street Dwelling, opened in November 2020. [7] [8]

Minn's work at Lupe Development also includes commercial properties, such as 1801 County Road B W. in Roseville. Lupe Development acquired the building in October 2021 and plans to convert the property into multitenant offices. [9]

In 2021, Minn was named to Finance & Commerce's POWER 30 list, a feature recognizing people whose achievements have made notable contributions to Minnesota's real estate development field. [10]

Elected and appointed government positions

Steve Minn was elected to and served on the Minneapolis City Council from 1994 to 1999, representing Ward 13, [3] while rising the ranks to become Minority Leader. [1]

He is not affiliated with a political party; rather, he ran as an independent. [11] In 1997, he won the election with 59.28 percent of the vote. In 1993, he won with 53.09 percent. [12]

In 1999, he resigned his position to join the Governor Jesse Ventura's administration, first as State Commissioner of Public Service in 1999, and then as State Commissioner of Commerce from 2000 to 2001. [1]

He was also appointed by the Minneapolis mayor as the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority Commissioner. [1]

Ethics investigation

In 2013, the Minneapolis city attorney's office reviewed allegations against Steve Minn after another developer, Kelly Doran, said Minn's use of fake identities to e-mail city officials and make online postings was inappropriate given his appointed role on the city's public housing authority. After reviewing the two instances that fell within the ethical practices board's one-year jurisdiction, ethics officer Susan Trammell determined Minn was acting in his private capacity and did not violate any ethics rules. Trammell wrote she could not find any section of the ethics code violated by the messages. [13]

Policy issues

$15 per hour minimum wage

In June 2017, the Minneapolis City Council quickly passed a $15 minimum wage over the strong objections of workers and businesses. The council's vote took place one week after the release of a study showing the high cost of Seattle's minimum wage. [14]

When Minneapolis first began to consider raising the local minimum wage to $15 per hour, Minn came out publicly in opposition. He believed that such a wage would hurt future affordable housing developments in the city. Affordable housing rents are on a fixed schedule that is determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Landlords cannot raise the rents to cover increased costs, and they are not allowed to pass on higher utility costs to their tenants. Minn believes that the $15 per hour minimum wage would dissuade developers from developing affordable housing units in the future for these reasons. [15]

Affordable housing

In Minnesota, cities are able to enter into contracts with existing residential building owners that keep rents and income restrictions below 60 percent of the area median income. In effect, this decreases the properties' taxable rate by 40 percent. The tax loss is much lower than the cost of replacing a "lost affordable unit." Minn advocated for landlords utilizing these policies to keep rents from rising. [16]

Minn also advocated for the government to pay landlords competitive rents under the Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) program. He believes that these policies, when used, would allow landlords of older buildings to keep those buildings, make some improvements, and hold rent at a steady amount. [16]

Public works

While serving on the Minneapolis City Council, Minn introduced legislation that would implement 24-hour snow plowing in the city. His underlying reason was to create a strategy to minimize the creation of potholes on the city's streets. [17]

Boards and commissions

Minn has been appointed to several civic boards, including: [1]

He also served on the board of directors of Bridgewater Bank, a financial institution based out of Bloomington, Minnesota. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metropolitan Council (Minnesota)</span>

The Metropolitan Council, commonly abbreviated Met Council or Metro Council, is the regional governmental agency and metropolitan planning organization in Minnesota serving the Twin Cities seven-county metropolitan area, accounting for over 55 percent of the state's population.

In the United States, rent control refers to laws or ordinances that set price controls on the rent of residential housing to function as a price ceiling. More loosely, "rent control" describes several types of price control:

46th Street station is a light rail station on the Metro Blue Line in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This station is located on the northwest corner of the intersection of 46th Street and Minnesota State Highway 55, in the Ericsson neighborhood. This is a side-platform station. Service began at this station when the Blue Line opened on June 26, 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cam Gordon</span> American politician (born 1955)

Cameron A. Gordon is an American politician who was a Green Party member of the Minneapolis City Council from 2006 to 2022. He was a co-founder of the Green Party of Minnesota and was called "the most prominent Green elected official in the US."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Affordable housing</span> Housing affordable to those with a median household income

Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median, as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on affordable housing refers to mortgages and a number of forms that exist along a continuum – from emergency homeless shelters, to transitional housing, to non-market rental, to formal and informal rental, indigenous housing, and ending with affordable home ownership. Demand for affordable housing is generally associated with a decrease in housing affordability, such as rent increases, in addition to increased homelessness.

Arlon Wayne Lindner was a Minnesota politician and a former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. He represented District 33A from 1993 to 2002 and District 32A from 2003 to 2005. The districts included portions of Hennepin and Wright counties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Hornstein</span> American politician

Frank Hornstein is an American politician serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2003. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Hornstein represents District 61A, which includes parts of the city of Minneapolis in Hennepin County, Minnesota.

Rent regulation is a system of laws for the rental market of dwellings, with controversial effects on affordability of housing and tenancies. Generally, a system of rent regulation involves:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohamud Noor</span> American politician

Mohamud Noor is an American politician serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2019. A member of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Noor represents District 60B, which includes parts of the city of Minneapolis in Hennepin County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Nash (politician)</span> American politician

James A. Nash is an American politician serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2015. A member of the Republican Party of Minnesota, Nash represents District 48A in the western Twin Cities metropolitan area, which includes the cities of Waconia, Victoria, and Chaska, and parts of Carver County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wells Fargo Plaza (Bloomington)</span> Building in Bloomington, Minnesota

Wells Fargo Plaza is a high-rise office tower complex located at 7900 Xerxes Avenue in Bloomington, Minnesota in the United States. Standing at 300 feet with 24 stories of Class A rated office space, the main tower is considered one of the more dominant landmarks of Interstate 494. The tower connects to an auxiliary three story building through a central atrium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacob Frey</span> Mayor of Minneapolis since 2018

Jacob Lawrence Frey is an American politician and attorney who has served as the mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota since 2018. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, he served on the Minneapolis City Council from 2014 to 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisa Bender</span> American politician and city planner

Elizabeth Peterson "Lisa" Bender is an American politician, city planner, and a former member of the Minneapolis City Council from the 10th Ward. In 2018, she was unanimously elected president of the Minneapolis City Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melvin Carter (politician)</span> American politician, mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota

Melvin Whitfield Carter III is an American politician who is the mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota. Elected to his first term in 2017 and reelected in 2021, Carter is the 55th mayor of St. Paul and its first African American mayor. His current term of office ends on January 1, 2026. Carter has supported raising the city's minimum wage to $15 per hour. He is one of 11 U.S. mayors who co-founded Mayors Organized for Reparations and Equity, a coalition of municipal leaders dedicated to starting pilot reparations programs in their cities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phillipe Cunningham</span> Transgender city council member for Minneapolis

Phillipe M. Cunningham is a former city council member for Minneapolis Ward 4 and the first transgender man of color to be elected to public office in the United States. Cunningham won the council position in the 2017 Minneapolis City Council election and lost it in the 2021 election.

Steve Elkins is an American politician serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2019. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Elkins represents District 50B in the southwestern Twin Cities metropolitan area, which includes the city of Bloomington and parts of Hennepin County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Howard (American politician)</span> American politician

Michael 'Mike' Howard is an American politician serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2019. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Howard represents District 51A in the south-central Twin Cities metropolitan area, which includes the city of Richfield and parts of Minneapolis in Hennepin County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Bierman (politician)</span> American politician

Robert Bierman is an American politician serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2019. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Bierman represents District 56A in the southern Twin Cities metropolitan area, which includes the city of Apple Valley and parts of Dakota County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamie Long</span> American politician

Jamie Long is an American politician serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2019. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Long represents District 61B, which includes parts of southern Minneapolis in Hennepin County, Minnesota.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisa Goodman (politician)</span> American politician

Lisa Ruth Goodman is an American politician who served as a member of the Minneapolis City Council from the 7th ward. First elected in 1997 and continuously re-elected for 26 years, she was the longest-serving member in council history. The 7th ward holds some of Minnesota's wealthiest neighborhoods, including Bryn Mawr, Cedar-Isles-Dean, Downtown West, East Isles, Elliot Park, Kenwood, Loring Park, Lowry Hill, and Stevens Square.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Jossi, Frank (December 22, 2021). "The POWER 30: Steve Minn, Lupe Development Partners". Finance & Commerce. Retrieved May 8, 2023.
  2. "Urban Development by Lupe Development Partners". Lupe Development Partners. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
  3. 1 2 "Steve Minn". Linkedin.com. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
  4. "Affordable housing for veterans approved by Minneapolis Planning Commission". Minnesota Business Daily. Retrieved 2018-10-05.
  5. "Lupe Development Partners predicts spring 2019 start for affordable housing featuring units for veterans - Steve Minn". Steve Minn. 2018-11-26. Retrieved 2018-12-04.
  6. "Lupe Development to Break Ground on Affordable Housing Project in Minneapolis This Spring – REBusinessOnline". Rebusinessonline.com. 27 November 2018. Retrieved 2018-12-04.
  7. "Lake Street Dwelling | Apartments in Minneapolis, MN". www.lakestreetdwelling.com. Retrieved 2021-11-15.
  8. Patchin, Ryan (2020-09-24). "Lake Street Dwelling | Lavender Magazine" . Retrieved 2021-11-15.
  9. "Lupe Development Partners moving to Roseville". www.bizjournals.com. October 13, 2021. Retrieved 2021-11-15.
  10. Jossi, Frank (2021-12-22). "The POWER 30: Steve Minn, Lupe Development Partners | Finance & Commerce". Finance & Commerce. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  11. Platt, Adam (2017-09-21). "Jacob Frey and the Minneapolis Mayoral Race". Mpls.St.Paul Magazine. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
  12. "Our Campaigns - Candidate - Steve Minn". Ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
  13. "Ex-Council Member Steve Minn violated no ethics rules, Minneapolis finds". Startribune.com.
  14. Britschgi, Christian (2017-06-30). "Minneapolis City Council Ignores Damning Seattle Study, Passes Its Own $15 Minimum Wage". Reason Magazine. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
  15. Minn, Steve. "Minneapolis, it's not just restaurants: $15 minimum wage would hit affordable housing, too". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
  16. 1 2 "Steve Minn: How the core cities can address the affordable-housing problem". Twin Cities. 2018-03-08. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
  17. Flanagan, Barbara (2 November 1998). "Two states to get Armajani works // '99 to bring construction of bridge, poetry garden: [METRO Edition]". Alexandergray.com. Retrieved 2021-10-27.