Minnesota RealEstateRama

SolarCity aims to tap a potentially big new market: renters. The No. 1 U.S. residential solar installer announced that it will develop a series of community solar installations — that it refers to as "solar gardens" — to enable apartment dwellers, schools and others with shaded roofs in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area to purchase renewable energy without installing solar panels on their properties.

Seven properties that have been tax forfeited and under the care of the St. Louis County Land and Minerals Department for years are once again privately owned following today’s land auction. The sale brought in a total of $285,000 and, more importantly, returned those properties to the property tax rolls.

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) relaesed the following statement today after voting against the appropriations bill to fund the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Trnsportation.

With St. Louis County investing $119 million to improve 420 miles of roads and bridges over the next two years, motorists should expect to see a lot of orange cones. Even more important, motorists should remember to slow down, pay attention and take extra care when traveling near or through a work zone

Unprecedented land development opportunities are being offered by St. Louis County with the upcoming public sale of three large sites in Duluth’s Morgan Park and Gary-New Duluth neighborhoods, a 3.1 acre parcel on Park Point, plus more than 30 other properties throughout the County. The properties will be available for purchase via public auction on Thursday, June 11, beginning at 10 a.m. at the St. Louis County Heritage and Arts Center (The Depot), 506 West Michigan Street, Duluth

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is reminding people that turtles crossing roads now are often moving to familiar nesting locations. Allowing turtles to cross the roads is vital to the preservation of regional populations.

Motorists traveling on eastbound Highway 5 between Fort Snelling and St. Paul will encounter an overnight detour Wednesday, June 3 and Thursday, June 4.

The median crossover on Highway 10 at Feldspar Street in Ramsey will close to traffic at 7 a.m. Monday, June 1 as construction crews begin work on safety improvements to the intersection. The closure will allow crews to construct a new raised median island in the highway crossover to prevent motorists from making unsafe, prohibited left turns at the intersection

The City of Minneapolis launched Homeownership Opportunity Minneapolis (HOM), a new housing program aimed at increasing the number of homeowners in Minneapolis and reducing the racial disparity gap in homeownership. In the City’s 2015 adopted budget, the Minneapolis City Council approved Mayor Betsy Hodges’ recommendation of $940K ($840K for affordability assistance and $100K for outreach efforts) for HOM. It is anticipated that about 125 families will be served by the program this year

With a Department of Natural Resources Air Attack operator in a helicopter pointing out the targets, two Minnesota Army National Guard Black Hawk helicopters assaulted a series of controlled grass fires this month at Camp Ripley.

U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) has introduced a new measure to help prevent a repeat of last winter, when coal-fired power plants were forced to shut down temporarily because unreliable rail delivery issues caused coal stockpiles to dwindle to dangerously low levels

U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) cosponsored legislation to establish a new infrastructure financing authority to help states and localities better leverage private funds to build and maintain the nation’s outdated infrastructure. The Building and Renewing Infrastructure for Development and Growth in Employment (BRIDGE) Act helps to address the nation’s alarming investment shortfall in maintaining and improving our transportation network, water and wastewater systems, and energy infrastructure.

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) released the following statement today after the Government Accountability Office released a report providing a status update on new authority allowing nondepository community development financial institutions (CDFIs) to join a Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLBank)

U.S. Sens. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) introduced a bipartisan bill to make sure that young people and veterans who have faced homelessness don't have to make the difficult choice between a place to call home and a good education.

The Authorized Rural Water Projects Completion Act would establish a guaranteed annual investment of $80 million from the Bureau of Reclamation for 20 years to fund construction of six congressionally authorized rural water systems, including the Lewis and Clark project