One of the metro area’s largest housing projects ever may be moving forward on land in Oakdale where officials have waited more than 50 years for development.

The 1,410-unit development in Oakdale is being proposed by Lennar Corp., a Miami-based housing company. The company has submitted a preliminary plat for the 208-acre property, according to Oakdale Community Development Director Bob Streetar.

The project will be built on land formerly owned by the 3M Co., northeast of Interstate 694 and 34th Street. The property is north of the former Imation campus, once a 3M spin-off company, now occupied by furniture retailer Slumberland.

Lennar plans to build 644 single-family homes, including townhomes and row-house units, Streetar said. On top of that there will be 766 multi-family units that will include senior housing, and some apartment buildings with more than 100 units each.

The project will be entirely residential — no commercial development is planned.

The city of Oakdale has been anticipating development at the site since the 1960s.

That’s when the land was purchased by 3M, as part of a larger parcel that was intended to be the home of the company’s main campus.

In 1975, the City Council approved plans for the enormous project — with 18,000 employees and 9.5 million square feet of office space in Oakdale and in neighboring Lake Elmo.

But in 1996 3M abandoned plans for a campus at that location. The city’s master plan was revised to include a 2-million-square-foot business park on the site.

3M sold a part of the property to Imation, which built a corporate headquarters along 34th Street. Imation sold its property to Slumberland in 2016.

3M announced plans to sell the remainder of its property — 208 acres to the north of the Slumberland building.

Since then, Slumberland used the property to start a business park named 4Front Technology and Office Campus, which currently has 65 acres of land available for future business development.

The 208 acres was purchased by Lennar to be used exclusively for housing.

BIGGER THAN THE FORD SITE

Streetar said the scale of the as-yet-unnamed project sets it apart.

It could add about 2,800 people to the city’s population, currently at about 28,000.

With the median price of new homes in the U.S. now more than $360,000, the 3M project might be expected to add more than $500 million to Oakdale’s tax base.

“This is bigger than the Ford site,” said Streetar, referring to the 122-acre former Ford Motor Co. property being redeveloped in St. Paul’s Highland Park.

However, the Oakdale development will not be as large as the 2,370-acre former Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant. That area is being redeveloped in sections by the city of Arden Hills.