Editor’s note: The “Whatever happened to” feature dusts off proposals and projects we haven’t heard about for some time.

It took longer than expected, but Schafer Richardson is moving forward with a transit-oriented development project local leaders hope will prove “catalytic” to St. Paul’s Payne Avenue corridor.

The Minneapolis-based developer plans to build 99 affordable apartments and 5,600 square feet of commercial space at 848 Payne Ave., at the southeast corner of Payne and Aguirre Avenue and just north of the intersection with Phalen Boulevard.

The vacant, city-owned site on the city’s east side is near a bus line and a proposed Rush Line bus rapid transit station. But soil contamination from a mechanic’s garage once located there has made it difficult to redevelop.

In April 2017, the city designated Schafer Richardson as the tentative developer for the site, with an unusually long window of opportunity. The company had through Dec. 31, 2018, to move forward with a project, giving the developer extra time to nail down financing and public funding.

In the end, Schafer Richardson cut it pretty close to the deadline. The company received approval Dec. 6 from the St. Paul Zoning Committee for a building height of 47 feet. The Planning Commission is scheduled Friday to vote on final approval for the conditional use permit.

The 20-month gap was largely due to “the timing of available financing for bonds and tax credits,” Schafer Richardson Project Manager Katie Anthony said in an interview. “At this point, we are applying to the city for financing and are hoping to close and start construction in the second quarter of 2019.”

Since it was first proposed in 2017, the 848 Payne project has increased the apartment count by two units and reduced the commercial footprint by 1,900 square feet. Anthony declined to discuss the current cost estimate, but the cost when it was proposed last year was $17.5 million.

The apartments will be affordable to renters making 60 percent or less of the area median income. Rents will range from as low as $800 for a studio to $1,200 for a two-bedroom unit, Anthony said.

The project has local support, including the endorsement of the Payne-Phalen Community Council. Board members are pleased to see infill development with affordable housing that would close a gap in the key commercial corridor, Executive Director Jack Byers said Tuesday.

“I think Schafer Richardson’s project is really going to be catalytic,” Byers said, noting the planned bus rapid transit station nearby. “This is exactly the kind of development that both the city and neighborhood are looking for.”

The developer sees a lot of upside in the Payne-Phalen district, Anthony said.

“This area has a great energy, really committed residents and businesses, and a really eclectic group of businesses along Payne Avenue,” she said.

The project, which has not been formally named, adds to a growing part of Schafer Richardson’s business: affordable apartments.

“We completed an affordable project in the North Loop of Minneapolis a couple years ago, and we have other projects in our pipeline that we’ll be starting in 2019,” Anthony said. “It diversifies our portfolio. We certainly see a need to increase supply across all markets.”

Although the St. Paul City Council will need to approve the project’s funding package including tax-increment financing, Schafer Richardson is confident it will move forward on schedule, Anthony said.

If so, it will be a big boost for the Payne-Phalen district, Byers said.

The neighborhood “certainly had its rougher years, but there has been a lot of rehab and a renaissance that’s starting up along Payne Avenue,” he said. “… There’s a lot of positive momentum already happening, and we think this project will certainly add to that.”

Minneapolis-based UrbanWorks Architecture is designing the project, and St. Paul-based Flannery Construction is the contractor.