A six-story apartment building is planned for the former Casablanca Foods lot at 3246 Nicollet Ave.
The City's Planning Commission approved plans at its June 24 meeting for the mixed-used building, which includes 62 units of housing, 12 stalls for underground parking, and 62 bike parking spaces. Traphie Slocum, the property owner, also owns Akwaaba Restaurant and African Market at 1823 Nicollet Ave. and plans to move both businesses to the first floor of the new building. The building designer is Mobilize Design & Architecture.
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Susan Du of the Star Tribune talked with the new owner, Traphie Slocum, when an encampment was forming at the Casablanca Food lot in early 2023. Slocum told Du that buying the lot was to "fulfill a dream of building a new restaurant and affordable senior housing."
The approved City plans describe the project to be "affordable age-restricted senior housing, with all units affordable at 50% area median income (AMI), and some units affordable at 30% AMI." The three-bedroom units will be dedicated to multi-generational families with seniors. To encourage mass transit use, Mobilize Design & Architecture is planning to work with Metro Transit to build in real-time transit information in the lobby.