Minneapolis residents form cooperative to buy 6 historic Victorian houses

Families on Nicollet Island have called the houses they have been living in homes for years. While some work as artists, others as healers and social workers. But recently, they got to know that their homes may have been listed for sale by property managers Twin Cities Housing Development Corporation, a nonprofit based in St. Paul, back in April 2026.Residents have received a letter from the property manager reading that it was "beginning to explore the potential sale of the Nicollet Island Historic Homes buildings." TCHDC manages six historic Victorian houses on Nicollet Island. Divided into a mix of duplexes and fourplexes, there are 22 rental units total, five of which are for low-income households. The affordable housing units are for people earning 50% or less than the area median income, which was nearly $52,000 for two people in Hennepin County in 2025, according to state reports.All six houses were publicly listed on the market on September 10, 2026. Unable to buy their homes back individually, the community of artists, healers and social workers have banded together, attempting to collectively purchase the properties. They legally formed the Nicollet Island Cooperative in August and have since gained the support of neighbours and the East Bank Neighbourhood Partnership.“We have to do our work and do that well, but we also have to be smart enough to figure out how to navigate the system so that we can survive financially,” Patrick Scully, a resident said. In a cooperative, residents collectively own property, democratically elect internal governance and pay monthly operational costs.Executive Director Amanda Novak said TCHDC is operating under a constrained resource environment and dubbed it the reason for its sale. “The decision is a strategic one based on TCHDC’s affordable housing mission and how we can best steward our limited capital, staff capacity and long-term ownership portfolio,” she said. The fourplex in which Scully lives was listed for $670,000 with the others being listed between $450,000 and $750,000. TCHDC is asking $3.94 million for the entire portfolio of six houses.Scully and other residents said they felt disconnected from the higher-income management in their time on the island. Scully said the management has mowed their wildflowers, put salt on their wooden porch despite requests not to and poorly communicated with residents. “What capacity do [property managers] have to really understand what it’s like to be 72 years old, faced with the possibility of having to find a new place to live and figure out if I have to find a new place to live?” Scully asked. “Am I still going to be able to withdraw from my retirement account to support myself, or will I have to take some of that money to pay for where I live? And if I have to do that, maybe I don’t really get to retire. Maybe I just have to keep working.”Novak said coordination with the Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission and their third-party management company, MetroPlains, can lengthen service delivery times, and TCHDC takes its responsibilities to residents and historic properties seriously.“We recognise that residents may have concerns about individual maintenance experiences, and we remain committed to meeting our responsibilities to residents and to the City throughout this transition,” Novak said. The cooperative is working with Land Bank Twin Cities, a real-estate investor, to negotiate a deal with TCHDC for purchasing the houses.Nicollet Island Cooperative President Terry Tauger, who has lived on Nicollet Island for more than a year, said the cooperative would protect affordable housing. “It’s more about the people,” Tauger said. “Not just about the houses.”Though no deal has been made, LBTC hopes to purchase the houses from TCHDC on behalf of the cooperative. The cooperative would then enter a repurchasing agreement with the bank, buying the properties over time while allowing tenants to remain. Tauger said this agreement would overcome the hurdle of providing the money upfront and allow the cooperative to organise.Garrett Peterson, program manager at LBTC, said the repurchasing agreement would begin the same day the bank purchases the properties, and would take an estimated one to three years for the cooperative to finish paying.Novak said TCHDC is exploring all options, as long as they show financial stability and will protect the historic properties. “We are open to seriously considering any proposal the Nicollet Island Cooperative submits, just as we would consider other serious proposals for the properties,” Novak said.But nothing is certain until a deal is made. As is the case for Nicollet Island, many of the houses in the area were built in the late 1800s by wealthy families. John Chaffee, who’s lived on Nicollet Island for over five decades, said his home was built in 1873 by a Civil War veteran named George Brookins.The land is owned by the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board, but has been leased to the Minneapolis Community Planning and Economic Development department since 1985.CPED leases the properties to Nicollet Island Historic Homes, a limited partnership, of which TCHDC is the managing partner. The limited partnership previously included an investment firm from Boston and a cooperative of residents called Mid-River Neighbourhood Restoration, Inc. The Boston firm exited the limited partnership when federal tax credits ran out, and Mid-River attempted to purchase the properties from TCHDC in 2007 and 2008, but the Great Recession prevented its success.TCHDC had leased the properties to Mid-River since 1988, but announced its switch to individual leases to residents when the second of two leases expired in 2013. The cooperative soon dissolved, and the arrangement has continued since.In an effort to finish what Mid-River started nearly 20 years ago, Nicollet Island Cooperative is working to keep residents in their homes. Kortan said that though some things are out of his control, he is holding onto hope.“Well, I guess if we have to move, hopefully we have a tree out the window,” he said.