Golden State acquires Kyle Anderson in sign-and-trade with Timberwolves

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Tim Connelly noted the day after the season’s conclusion that one of Minnesota’s top priorities this offseason was to sign its own free agents.

The biggest one on the board is heading elsewhere.

Kyle Anderson agreed to a three-year, $27 million deal with the Golden State Warriors, per reports. Anderson will go to Golden State via a sign-and-trade deal in which Minnesota will receive cash and a future second-round pick.

The 31-year-old forward was the only member of Minnesota’s nine-man regular rotation not under team control for the upcoming season.

Veteran guard Monte Morris also left via free-agency, reportedly agreeing to a deal with Phoenix.

Jordan McLaughlin is the most significant free agent of Minnesota’s who has yet to agree to a deal. His return — while potentially unlikely — would sure up Minnesota’s point-guard rotation behind Mike Conley and new draft pick Rob Dillingham.

Anderson is touted as one of the best free-agent signings in Wolves history. He was imperative for keeping the ship afloat a season ago when a calf injury took out Karl-Anthony Towns for most of the campaign. This year wasn’t Anderson’s best as he adapted to playing small forward and battled vision issues.

Anderson was beloved and trusted by Wolves coach Chris Finch.

After the season, Anderson said he wanted to be back with the Wolves. He noted how well his family had settled here. And the Wolves wanted him back. But with a luxury tax bill already building, bringing the veteran back at a number like the one Golden State offered him simply wasn’t feasible.

“He’s not just a great player. He’s a great guy,” Connelly said after the season. “His voice and his toughness is hugely important to who we are.”

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Minnehaha Academy basketball coach Lance Johnson retires

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The leader of Minnehaha Academy’s rise to Minnesota boys basketball prominence is retiring.

Redhawks head coach Lance Johnson is retiring after 20 seasons at Minnehaha Academy. He guided Minnehaha Academy to five state titles, leading the likes of Jalen Suggs and Chet Holmgren to high-level success.

Even after those stars departed, Minnehaha Academy continued to thrive. The Redhawks reached the state title game in 2023 and were a consistent fixture at state tournaments.

TURPIN HIRED IN RIVER FALLS

Zach Turpin was named the new River Falls boys basketball coach on Tuesday. Turpin once served as St. Croix Central’s boys basketball coach, and since joining the River Falls district has served as an assistant coach of the Wildcats’ football and basketball programs.

He replaces Zac Campbell, who stepped down this offseason to spend more time with family.

St. Paul: Farwell-on-Water welcomes 284 residences at Esox House, Harbourline Apartments

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It started with a phone call. In 2019, artists who rent work studios in the six-level ACVR warehouse at 106 Water St., at the edge of St. Paul’s Harriet Island Regional Park, learned that their work spaces would be sold to an Edina developer and other partners who seemed intent on converting much of the former Farwell, Ozmun, Kirk & Co. building into long-term storage units.

Alarmed, St. Paul City Council Member Rebecca Noecker called Peter Deanovic, founding principal of Buhl Investors, and encouraged him to think bigger. Rather than pricing out artists — many of whom had previously been displaced by rising rents in Lowertown  — from the 1910 “F.O.K.” building, would he consider developing housing near Harriet Island instead?

Buhl Investors soon discovered that would require heavy infrastructure investment, including a new sanitary sewer line, as well as a new navigable street replacing Bidwell Street between Plato Boulevard and Water Street. City officials scrambled to put together more than $24 million in tax increment financing, a development incentive that allows the net tax revenue increase from the elevated market value of construction improvements to be used on site.

In late June, Deanovic welcomed St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, Noecker and a who’s who of city officials and project supporters to not one but two new apartment buildings — the luxury Esox House and the income-restricted Harbourline Apartments building — as well as the partially remodeled F-O-K Studios artist building. The three structures fill out Farwell-on-Water, a new micro-neighborhood now situated directly across the street from the Mississippi River and Harriet Island Regional Park.

Artists persevere

“Buhl has been very supportive of the artists,” said Melissa Critchley, an acrylic and abstract artist who has worked out of a F-0-K studio since January 2023. “They’ve given us some discretionary funds to help us hold our events there, such as the St. Paul Art Crawl.”

Even after improvements to several floors, rents for studio workspace at the F-O-K are some 30 to 50% below the going market rate, according to Buhl.

Keeping rents relatively low was made possible by the addition of three and a half stories of commercial storage space, as well as 30,000 square feet of co-working office space on the sixth floor, of which 7,000 has been leased to the Friends of the Mississippi River.

“I did some price comparison, and I felt that it was a good value,” Critchley said.

Esox House

Esox House, located nearby at 150 W. Water St., spans 221 market-rate, luxury studio alcoves and one- and two-bedroom apartments, as well as a ground-level commercial space being equipped for a future restaurant. Rents range from $1,375 to $3,850.

A view from Esox House in St. Paul, which overlooks Harriet island and the Mississippi River, on Tuesday, July 2, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Among its amenities, the Esox House courtyard hosts an outdoor heated sauna with two outdoor waterfall bucket showers, as well as a bocce ball court and a yurt for an intimate outdoor experience.

During the past century or more, the industry on site included a lumber yard, a shingle factory, a noodle factory and more. As homage to that era, the ruins of an old varnish plant have been preserved as public art, but previous structures have otherwise been replaced by a large public green dubbed The Farwell Yard.

“This has a long history of industrialized activity that limited the amount of access to nature and to Harriet Island,” said Deanovic, during a June 25 open house. “We’re really excited about being able to open the doors, and being able to adapt to change.”

Harbourline Apartments, located 115 Plato Boulevard, offers 63 income-restricted units targeted to residents earning no more than 50% of area median income.

Seven units have been reserved for residents who were previously homeless, with rents paid by Ramsey County. Otherwise, one-bedroom units are priced at $1,165 and two-bedrooms at $1,397, inclusive of utilities.

Community criticism, and feedback, taken to heart

Some advocates with the West Side Community Organization have chafed at the title Farwell-on-Water, given that the general area between Robert Street and what is now U.S. 52 has long been known as the West Side Flats, home in the first half of the 1900s to waves of new immigrants, including a large Mexican-American, Jewish and Lebanese population, among others.

Monica Bravo, executive director of WSCO, acknowledged that Buhl Investors had been in contact throughout the concept planning and development process, and they achieved deeper affordability at the Harbourline Apartments than many other affordable housing projects to date.

Still, she said, she would have preferred larger family-size units. The community organization ultimately wrote a letter of opposition against the substantial use of tax increment finance dollars.

Deanovic said in addition to affordability, community feedback was taken to heart to influence everything from building heights to green space.

Constructing luxury and affordable housing next to artist work space is “not for the faint of heart, because pivoting and doing multiple product types is something that is ordinarily taken on by the big guys or gals, and we aren’t that,” Deanovic said. “This (Esox) building is not six stories. It’s five. Artist studios exist today as a result of that feedback. This lawn is intended to bring people closer to nature.”

Anne Deanovic, a communications specialist for the project, said that having market-rate housing was key toward financing the affordable housing, as well as the new road. The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development provided a $2.3 million environmental clean-up grant, and the city awarded some $2.2 million in federal pandemic relief dollars through the American Rescue Plant Act.

Ramsey County and the Metropolitan Council provided smaller grants for environmental remediation and rental assistance.

The kitchen and living room of a one bedroom unit at Esox House on the West Side in St. Paul on Tuesday, July 2, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

‘A place people want to live’

The mayor also celebrated the side-by-side arrival of both luxury and affordable housing just off Harriet Island, within a general area that has proven to be a bright spot for new multi-family housing at a time of deep construction slowdowns in both Minneapolis and St. Paul. Among the large multi-family apartment buildings in the area are the Cordelle, Soul and the West Side Flats.

“When we find ourselves using phrases like ‘housing crisis,’ what we’re talking about essentially is the fact that we have more people than units in our community,” said Carter, during the June 25 open house.

“There’s a good thing in that, because it means that we’re a place that people want to live,” added Carter. “And there’s a requirement, there’s a responsibility for us to build new housing. When somebody invests in this space right here to say we can work together to produce not just housing, but amazing housing for our residents, that’s always a good thing. Let’s have a round of applause for that.”

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Twins prospect Brooks Lee, nearing debut, selected for Futures Game

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Brooks Lee is knocking down the door of the big leagues, likely to debut at some point this season.

But while his Twins debut date is still up in the air, he’ll have a chance to play at a major league stadium later this month, representing the Twins at the Futures Game at Globe Field in Arlington, Texas.

Lee is also set to participate in the inaugural skills showcase, which will be a three-part hitting contest featuring challenges called Hit it Here (hitters try to hit targets), Call Your Shot (batters predict where they will hit the ball) and Swing for the Fences (which resembles home run derby).

The event will take place on July 13 and will air on MLB Network. It will also be available to watch via MLB.tv, MLB.com and in the MLB app.

“It’s a nice honor for any young player to be given, and he’ll enjoy it,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “They all do. All the guys have fun. … It kind of boosts you in some ways. You could call it almost like a good ego boost in some ways.”

Lee, the No. 8 overall pick in the 2022 draft, has been productive at Triple-A since returning from a back issue suffered late in spring training.

In 19 games entering Tuesday, he was hitting .333 with a .617 OPS. He had six home runs and five doubles among his 27 hits. While he’s currently blocked at the major league level in the infield, he could force the issue sooner rather than later.

“He has been playing some really good baseball. Everything we’ve heard is right where we would want it to be, and he’s out there proving himself,” Baldelli said. “That’s really what this is all about for him right now. Getting out there, showing us what he can do, showing himself what he can do and turning himself into the best player he can be. He’s doing all that.”

Bright lights

There was a noticeable difference in the Twins’ clubhouse on Tuesday upon entry.

A new lighting system had been installed while the Twins were on their 10-day road trip, aimed at helping players adjust their eyes and bodies to help prepare for games.

The lights were so bright that right fielder Max Kepler was donning a pair of sunglasses inside before the game.

“One thing we talked about late in spring training, early in the season was the fact that we play a lot of day games. How do we get ready for these day games? How do we help ourselves prepare better?” Baldelli said. “We’ve done a lot of things. So just one of them is trying to brighten yourself up a little bit so you don’t feel like when you walk into the clubhouse here, you’re walking into a windowless casino or something like that.”

Injury updates

Reliever Brock Stewart has progressed into throwing live batting practice, with one session on Tuesday and another set up for Friday. The Twins will see how he responds before determining his next steps, which could then be a rehab assignment.

Stewart has not pitched in a game since May 1, dealing with right shoulder tendinitis. His return — he currently has a 0.68 earned-run average across 13 games — would be a big boost for the Twins’ bullpen.

Fellow reliever Justin Topa (knee) has also been progressing, and he is scheduled to throw two bullpens this week. Topa has not pitched in a major league game this season, experiencing more knee soreness after going out on a rehab assignment in late April/early May.

Briefly

Top pitching prospect David Festa will make his Target Field debut on Wednesday night. Festa gave up five runs in five innings in his debut last week in Arizona. … Tigers starter Jack Flaherty (back) was scratched from Wednesday’s game against the Twins.

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