Hennepin County wants more development near public transit, and they’re helping pay for it

Every year for the last two decades, Hennepin County has helped fund a handful of projects through their Transit Oriented Communities grants, spurring development that makes it easier for people to live and work car-free.

It’s not huge sums of money we’re talking about – a couple million dollars each year. But it adds up. Since the program started in 2003, Hennepin County has put nearly $53 million into more than 180 projects. Those projects, according to county figures, have created or maintained more than 18,000 units of housing and more than 3,600 jobs.

$53 million is not much compared to the billions of dollars used to fund transit itself, especially as long-awaited and very expensive extensions of Metro Transit’s Blue and Green lines get into gear. But for projects like a long-running North Minneapolis radio station looking for a new home, or a community grocery store hoping to reopen, the funds represent one step toward building a more connected community.

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Ryan Kelley, Hennepin County’s community investment manager, has seven years of experience with the program and a clear passion for its work. He can rattle off what he calls the “nerd-out details” of walkable streetscapes, like the number and size of windows on a building’s facade, where the doors are located, how close they are to vehicle traffic and how fast that traffic is moving.

Kelley notes that TOC was one of the first programs of its kind in the country when it started, just a year before Metro Transit’s Hiawatha Line – now called the Blue Line – went into operation.

There was a realization, he said, that bigger projects needed to be located near transit, and that proximity to the light rail was something that could be marketed. Since then, he said, the program’s aim has been to help fund the creation of housing, businesses and third places like cafes and community centers that form a “complete community.” The idea, he said, is to find “what is missing from these areas and how can we help the market realize that.”

If you’ve ever marveled at Juxtaposition Arts or the Minneapolis American Indian Center, or had an Xtra-Citra Pale Ale at Surly’s Beer Hall, you’ve seen projects that were aided by TOC funding.

At a Hennepin County Board meeting on June 2, county staff said this year saw a record number of applicants for the funds. Ultimately, the county distributed $1.7 million to five projects.

One of them was a $200,000 grant to KMOJ, a Minneapolis radio station focused on communities of color. The station needs a new home, given that the building in which they currently rent space is slated to be torn down – coincidentally, due to the expansion of the Blue Line.

But CEO and General Manager Freddie Bell says he took the news as a “spark” with which to find the station’s “Forever Home,” which is also the name of their $17 million fundraising campaign.

KMOJ’s new building would be in North Minneapolis’ Jordan neighborhood on a currently vacant lot at the corner of Lowry and Oliver Avenues. The location is close to the Metro C Line and the Blue Line extension, set to begin service in 2033.

“It’s really important for us to be in the heart of the community,” Bell said, adding that he hoped to expand KMOJ’s services and add staff beyond the current six employees.

The station also works to increase the number of people of color in the media industry through training and intern programs, which Bell said would also see a boost from the project.

“If you can think of getting five students into a 10-by-10 room filled with equipment and trying to teach them something,” Bell said, “it’s kind of confounding.”

Another funded project is Hopkins’ 525 Mainstreet building, which got $150,000 to aid development of a currently vacant lot, creating 45 units of housing close to the Green Line extension, scheduled to open in 2027.

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Cody Fisher, president of Footprint Development, said he’d also received funding for the nearby 501 Mainstreet building. Both developments are “Passive House” certified, a standard that represents significant energy efficiency. Residents would live within a two-minute walk of downtown Hopkins, with its farmer’s market and numerous shops and restaurants.

Other projects that received funding include $550,000 to The Ruckus, a community-innovation hub that aims to create 60 jobs at a vacant lot near Chicago Avenue and East Lake Street, $300,000 for a mixed-use building in North Minneapolis and $500,000 to help redevelop North Market, the nonprofit-owned community grocery store that closed in December 2025, pending a relaunch with additional commercial spaces.

When grant applications open for 2027, Kelley said the county hopes to maintain a focus on projects that stand to improve neighborhood livability – developments that “really serve a community need,” he said.

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