A Black-owned development team is pressing ahead with plans to turn the long-dormant ADM mill on Hiawatha Avenue in south Minneapolis into an affordable housing complex named for historian Carter G. Woodson. The cousins behind the Zachary Development Group say it will be the firm’s first ground-up housing project, and that they intend to prioritize Black-led contractors and developers. The move effectively closes a long-running chapter at a site that has stirred years of argument over preservation, contamination and what should come next.
Developer, project name and local partners
As reported by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, the Zachary team has purchased the roughly 2.4-acre former ADM parcel and plans to name the development in honor of Carter G. Woodson. The Business Journal notes that the developers intend to bring in Black-led companies for construction, property management and community programming tied to the project. The outlet also reports that this will be the Zachary Development Group’s first major housing effort in the Twin Cities.
Mill to housing: A contested path
The site’s conversion followed a high-profile city review after the Heritage Preservation Commission approved a demolition permit, a decision later upheld by city officials. According to the Star Tribune, city planners and the developers cited contamination, structural complexity and steep adaptive reuse costs when backing demolition, with approval conditioned on a mitigation plan to document the site’s history. Public filings and testimony showed developers arguing that a full teardown would allow far more housing at a much lower per-unit cost than attempting to rehabilitate the century-old structures.
Louis Zachary told the council the buildings are not salvageable: “If it was economically advantageous to leave buildings in place, we’d have already done that,” he said, per the Star Tribune. Preservation advocates pushed back, saying the mill embodies Minneapolis’s industrial memory and calling for thorough documentation and mitigation before any demolition occurs. That mitigation requirement remains baked into the city’s approval process as the team moves into design, cleanup and financing.
Honoring Woodson and centering Black businesses
Developers say naming the project for Carter G. Woodson, the scholar widely credited with establishing a systematic study of Black history, is meant to foreground Black history and ownership in a neighborhood that is changing. As reported by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, the team plans to hire Black-led firms for substantial roles, from construction to management and resident services. Local advocates, sounding cautiously optimistic, say they will be watching to see whether those promises translate into jobs, training and long-term ownership stakes for community-based firms.
What comes next
Before any shovels hit the ground, the project still has to clear remediation, permitting and financing hurdles, and satisfy the mitigation steps the city required when it allowed demolition. Developers and city staff have previously cited cleanup and security costs as part of the reasoning that favored a teardown, but specific unit counts, income targets and the overall affordable mix have not yet been made public. Upcoming public planning sessions and permit filings are expected to reveal more on the construction timeline, the number of homes and how contractors will be chosen.
The Woodson-named proposal lands as an uneasy compromise: a Black-owned development team promising to center Black contractors and history on a site preservation advocates had hoped to save. We will monitor filings and community meetings as plans for the former ADM mill continue to unfold.
