Sumner-Glenwood, Minneapolis


Sumner-Glenwood is historic name of a small neighborhood in the Near North community of Minneapolis, MN, now called . It is roughly contained by 15 city blocks bordered to the north by 11th Avenue N., to the south by Glenwood Avenue, to the east by I-94, and to the west by both Girard Terrace and Emerson Avenue N. 3,336 people lived in the neighborhood before 1998, of whom roughly 66% were Asian, Hmong Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, 29% were black, and 5% were White. Almost all of these people lived in public housing. Most notably where the Hmong's, which resided there in the late 80's up until the demolishing of the housing projects. They are a group of people from southeast Asia with refugee status whom fled from the Vietnam war.
The Sumner Field Homes, constructed by the WPA in 1938, were the first federally subsidized homes in Minnesota. The homes were demolished in 1998, along with high-rise project housing buildings constructed in the 1960s and 1970s. According to the US Census, the area experienced a 95.7% population loss from 3,336 in 1990 to 144 in 2000. Plans are in place to rebuild the area, re-incorporating it into surrounding street grids. Buildings following the "New Urbanism" style will mix of affordable and market rate units, and will replace the old project housing.
The new community, developed by McCormack Baron Salazar was funded with HOPE VI grants has been renamed , and includes mix-income rental and owned units. One of the new streets in this development, Van White Memorial Boulevard, is named for Van Freeman White, the first African-American to serve on the Minneapolis City Council.
In addition to mix-income rentals, there is also a strong homeowners association that represents the owners of single-family homes, townhomes and condos in the neighborhood.