The parking garage at The Heights has been ordered closed since 2024. Staff now want state housing money to finish fixing it. At the Oct. 13 Housing and Redevelopment Authority meeting, staff asked the board for $622,222 in Local Affordable Housing Aid, or LAHA. The money would go out as a 0% forgivable loan to help close a gap of nearly $700,000 in the condo's repair budget. The request also includes an amendment to the development agreement for the Heights Condominium Housing Improvement Area.
City of Bloomington@CityofBloomingtonMNStaff present the $622,222 LAHA request and explain how a garage repair already underway ended up nearly $700,000 short.10/13
The Heights is a 30-unit condominium at 8045 Xerxes Ave. S. Staff said the budget grew because of problems that only turned up once work began. Those included hidden structural deterioration.
The Heights has been looking for help for years. In September 2022 the HRA took up the association's application for a Housing Improvement Area. That's the city program that lends money to condo and townhome associations for common-area repairs they can't finance on their own. The association then pays the loan back through fees on the units. That application asked for about $3.2 million.
City of Bloomington@CityofBloomingtonMNThe HRA takes up The Heights' original Housing Improvement Area application in 2022, the start of the city's involvement with the building.09/13
Staff recommended denying that application at the HRA's Oct. 25, 2022 meeting. Today the city has a development agreement for a Heights Housing Improvement Area, and that agreement is the one staff now want to amend. Under city rules, HIA money can only pay for common-area work that an association can't cover with its reserves, commercial loans or loans to individual owners.
City of Bloomington@CityofBloomingtonMNStaff summarize The Heights' HIA application and recommend that the board deny it.10/25
The money staff want to use this time is newer. LAHA is paid for by the metro-area sales and use tax for housing, which the Legislature approved in 2023.
Commissioners didn't wave it through. Several said 3 years is too short a forgiveness period. They asked for a full accounting of the cost increases and of any concessions the contractors made. They also wanted a firm final project cost and some protection against The Heights coming back for more money later.
City of Bloomington@CityofBloomingtonMNCommissioners question the short forgiveness term and ask for a firm final cost before more public money goes in.10/13
The chair of the homeowners' board told commissioners the building has decades of deferred maintenance and that many of its owners are seniors or living on fixed incomes. The chair said owners can't sell their units while the building is condemned. The chair also described rising costs.
City of Bloomington@CityofBloomingtonMNThe head of the Heights homeowners' board explains what the condemned building means for owners who can't sell and can't afford more.10/13
The sources we reviewed don't show what the board decided on Oct. 13. The published agenda listed the request by title only and gave no dollar figure. No follow-up meeting date has been announced. This story will be updated once the HRA's action and any revised terms are public.
To weigh in, residents can comment to the HRA at its meetings. They're held in the Council Chambers at Civic Plaza, 1800 W. Old Shakopee Rd.
From the meeting: Housing and Redevelopment Authority Meeting, October 13, 2026.
