To say that David Frank has played a major part in the renaissance of Downtown Minneapolis is not hyperbole.

As director of development with Schafer Richardson, Frank helped build private-sector projects like Phoenix on the River near St. Anthony Main, as well as a handful of the new housing that has transformed the North Loop neighborhood he calls home.

In fact, if any contribution outshines Frank's professional work, it's the time he's spent volunteering for the North Loop Neighborhood Association (NLNA). As president, he has helped the NLNA guide development decisions, from retail to housing to the planting of trees along Washington Avenue to the building of a Twins ballpark--and its adjacent transit improvements--in his backyard.

Now, Frank is completing the triumvirate of private/citizen/public contribution as the city's new--and first--director of transit development, beginning this month.
 
Frank's charge: to stimulate development around transit, from the Central Corridor to bus rapid transit and streetcars. It's part of a larger effort, he explains, to leverage existing investments in order to grow the city's amenities and, ultimately, the population and tax base.

The new role is a return to the public realm for Frank. Before moving to Minneapolis, he similarly helped transform Portland, Oregon's downtown, most notably the very North Loop-like Pearl District, first as a private developer, then for the Portland Development Commission.

Two common Minneapolis/Portland concerns intersect in Frank's new title: development and transit. A coincidence? Not entirely.

Frank sat down with The Line's Jeremy Stratton to talk about his past work and his new role with the city.

The Line: Is there a certain kind of development you are looking for [around transit]?

David Frank: If there's a one-word answer: "Good."

The Line: Define good.

David Frank: Something which, first of all, meets the existing plans that people have spent a lot of time and energy and money formulating. Well-designed, to the extent possible; that has neighborhood support, to the extent possible; that has political support; and which is denser than what's there now.

The reason to do this work, the reason to put in the transit investments, is to give more people more choices. We need as a city to grow, meaning more people have to live here to support all the good things we all want � more retail options, more restaurant options, more public safety, and from a financial perspective, more support for the services that we all want without having to pay for them all spread only over the people who live here today.

For the Public

The Line: How will this work be similar to what you've been doing, and how will it be different?

David Frank: In some ways it's the same; it's calling on property to see if it's available. It's working with designers to come up with a project that fits in with plans.�It means advancing a project--from a land-use perspective, from a financing perspective, from a public-support perspective, to make it happen.

The way that it's different, of course, is that, when you're working for the public, it's about how the public benefits, which in this case can partially be measured financially, but it's also about how much it's supported by the people that have to live with it, who are currently there,

The North Loop Difference

The Line: How has your volunteer work with the North Loop Neighborhood Association prepared you for this position?

David Frank: The North Loop neighborhood, I'm happy and proud to say, has been very proactive in trying to do things which are not standard for Minneapolis neighborhoods: planting trees in the public right-of-way, along a major commercial thoroughfare�We fund-raised and partnered with the Park Board and Minneapolis Parks Foundation to get a new kids' playground�We've started to work on how to get some green space in the heart of the neighborhood, a real park.

The neighborhood has had all sorts of things happen that don't happen in other Minneapolis neighborhoods: there's a Minnesota Twins ballpark, there's a farmer's market, there are other regional amenities and attractions that we're proud to have, but that create issues that don't exist in single-family residential neighborhoods.

Helping development to happen around big public investments is exactly what the North Loop neighborhood is about, is exactly what I've been volunteering my time on for years now.

Priorities and Challenges

The Line: Can you talk about specific priorities or areas of development?

David Frank: One of my first tasks will be to figure out what that list is. Some examples: prioritizing Cedar-Riverside; there's a lot of potential to happen around the Central Corridor as it splits off from Hiawatha. Lake and Nicollet, transit investments along the Greenway, reconnecting Nicollet at the Kmart site. Planning for Southwest [Corridor light-rail line], Central Corridor, Hiawatha, bus rapid transit, bus lines--they're all on my radar.

The Line: What are the funding challenges in light of the current economy?

David Frank: As somebody once said, 'Money is not always the problem, but it can always be the solution.' [Author's note: Frank heard it from his father.] With a huge budget, money in the checking account, it's much easier, whereas a challenge--let's call it an opportunity--is identifying the public resources, minimized as much as possible, to make the right thing happen.

Let's pretend for a second that everyone knows and agrees what the right thing is. The easiest way to make whatever that is happen is to write a check. OK, that's not going to happen. So now, dialing back, what is the best way to get as much of it as you can?�There we get into the art of the thing.

Financing is a challenge in this [economy] or a fabulous economy. It might be the right thing for the public, the city to step in and buy some property, but it's not like, 'Oh, great, David's here, give him the credit card!' Finding and identifying creative funding sources for the things policy makers, community groups, and the private sector want to see happen will be a key part of this.

The big picture is to help make more intensive development happen where the public has already decided to spend money. So we've decided to spend our scarce resources here; now what else can we leverage out of that? Tax base, cars off the road, pollution minimized, people with choices and more money to spend on other things.

If there's a right time for the city to be doing the kind of things we've been talking about, now is that time.

Jeremy Stratton is Innovation and Jobs editor of The Line.


All photos by Bill Kelley