Several years ago I decided to sell my turn-of-the-century house and move to a condo in downtown Minneapolis. I wanted the freedom and ease in retirement that comes with condo living and to be close to the amenities offered in the heart of the city. As my search progressed, I narrowed my focus to complexes developed by Jim Stanton due to his reputation for building quality condos at a reasonable price. However, the tight condo market made finding a unit in a Stanton building a challenge at the time, so I settled for another development. A year later, still feeling like I had settled, I learned that The Legacy was about to break ground and I jumped at the chance to purchase a unit.
A new-build condo is definitely the way to go. I got to pick the perfect floor plan and customize it to my taste. My unit is open and airy, with high ceilings and abundant natural light from its wall-to-wall windows. My view of the downtown Minneapolis skyline is beautifully framed by US Bank Stadium on one side and Stonebridge Lofts on the other. My new condo suits me to a tee…no more settling.
The Legacy isn’t just great on the inside. It’s also located in downtown’s most desirable neighborhood. Mill City has the Guthrie Theater, Gold Medal Park, ready access to miles of biking and walking trails along the Mississippi River, and much, much more. I knew all of that when I moved in. What I didn’t know is that it’s only a short walk from The Legacy to the University of Minnesota, which is great for those, like me, who want to continue learning in retirement.
I’m excited to be living at The Legacy and looking forward to getting to know, and building a community with, all of my new neighbors.
Jennifer
We love the location of The Legacy. We are on the river and can see all the bridges. We are just steps away from Gold Medal Park for our dog. We are inches away from The Guthrie and very close to The Vikings Stadium, restaurants, University of MN and many downtown happenings.
The specific location of The Legacy! The Legacy puts us downtown, but allows us privacy too! We had many friends say they were so surprised as to how quiet and peaceful our building and unit were when they got here. I think people expect a lot of noise and craziness, but instead our guests have been so complimentary about how private it feels and how close we are to EVERYTHING!
This is the first fall in 20 years we haven’t cleaned gutters/hauled patio furniture or had to prepare for snow plowing. It has allowed us to slip to a new Restaurant, watch the fans pour into The Viking Stadium or explore a new corner of Minneapolis we would never have been able to see if we were busy winterizing our home.
We are much close to action – food venues, sport venues, arts, university activities – the list goes on with so much to do. Our two daughters are away at college and love the idea of being downtown now when they are in Minneapolis.
Ross’s
We had lived in a townhome in Linden Hills in the mid-90’s, other than that, this is the first time for a condo.
We decided on The Legacy for several reasons: ability to customize our unit. Location, way less congested than other areas of downtown, just a few minutes from 35W or 94. We felt construction was extremely solid and well done.
We’d recommend The Legacy to anyone looking for this style of living. The sales staff has been extremely helpful. They would meet us to show us unit progress. Sales staff worked with us to understand the building and how it works and is laid out.
Randy and Gail
This is the first time we have purchased a condo – we did rent a condo in Loring Park before this. We chose to buyer here because of the proximity to the bike paths along the river, the proximity to the downtown, St. Anthony Main and the 7 corners area. Our 3 favorite things about The Legacy are the views, quality of building materials (hardwood floors, cabinetry, countertops) and the location. The golf simulator is quite fun. I use it typically once a week. I haven’t had the opportunity to experience the hot tub or pool but look forward to summer.
The 3 best things about condo living: So many single family homes nearest the city center are a hundred years old and require alot of upkeep. I wanted to live in the new condo to ensure I am close to the action but have little to no maintenance needed for my place. No yard work. Proximity ro restaurants and shops.
I find value in my Legacy unit and would recommend The Legacy to family, friends and co-workers.
The staff was great to work with.
Anonymous
The Legacy is our first condo. We moved here from a large home on almost 2 acres in the northern suburbs where we had lived for about 30 years. We were concerned about adjusting to a much smaller space, but have found we don’t miss the responsibility and work that’s required to maintain a large space and lots of possessions. It’s been liberating to downsize and we have much more time to do what we enjoy.
The best things we like about The Legacy are the location – it’s a walkable neighborhood – only a short distance t o do our shopping, to meet friends for dinner or to take in theater, music or films. We really like being so close to the river and regularly see eagles fly by. We love our unit with the large windows, light woodwork and our patio. We enjoy seeing the sunrise, watching storms move through and seeing the changing colored lights on the 35W bridge. Our family loves visiting us and enjoys the amenities – the swimming pool, the game room and the fire pits. There is always lots to do. Our 2 year old grandson loves the great playground and we use it often – sometimes meeting other grandparents or parents with young children. I personally love the sauna – the aroma of cedar instantly transports me up north. On cool evenings, it’s fun to take a drink out to the fire pits. We’ve reserved the community room a few times: it’s a beautiful space and the kitchen is amazing.
The best things about condo living are the energy of an urban, walkable neighborhood. It’s no longer necessary to get in the car all the time to shop or meet friends or find entertainment. There is always something interesting to do or see – both inside and outside the building. The simplicity of just locking the door and leaving when we want to travel or go away for the week-end. A warm garage – no more scraping car windows.
We’re watching the prices rise downtown and feel fortunate to be part of the rising tide. With the ongoing development along the river, we’re confident that we made an excellent investment.
Everyone was responsive and very pleasant to work with.
Cheryl
My husband and I moved downtown 11 years ago and bought a loft in Bridgewater. We had spent the previous 25 years in a huge house and there were many surprises about loft living, but we adjusted quickly. Our plans were to live in our Bridgewater home forever.
After 10 years at Bridgewater, we learned about The Legacy. Our experience living in a Shamrock building was outstanding. We had come to know and appreciate Jim Stanton and the quality of his buildings. Our unit at the Bridgewater sold after 1 showing and for an amount we never dreamed we could get.
Our adventure at The Legacy began while we lived at the Encore. Working with each of the contractors was fun and easy. Everything we wanted was quickly and seamlessly integrated into our plan. The Legacy is a beaufiful building and our unit is everything we wanted. We appreciate the quiet of our unit and the privacy of living in this huge building. With every building Jim built, there were things he learned and improved on. There are many more elevators at The Legacy and the community spaces are more versatile.
Claudia
After years of considering a downtown move and choosing the Legacy AND learning of the builder and developer’s reputation, we feel very fortunate! The process from beginning to end was well thought out. Each and every vendor was accommodating, creative and efficient! We love the results and the location in Downtown East is ideal!
No more gutters, lawn care or shoveling!!! Just call me Downtown Dougie D.
Stacy and Doug
We love living downtown. We have wonderfully easy access to the west river parkway bike trails, Gold Medal Park, the Stone Arch Bridge, St. Anthony main, US Bank stadium for Vikings game and great restaurants nearby. Also because it is so central, it is relatively quick and cheap to drive nearly anywhere in the Twin Cities. Furthermore, if you work downtown, you’re that much close but even if you work somewhere else, traffic moves the other direction so commuting is still pretty painless.
The sales team was incredibly helpful and responsive to questions. It was a pleasure working with them. The vendors, likewise, were very helpful and had the process streamlined for selection of their products (which were all very high quality!)
I will recommend condo living for the rest of my life! The downtown condo scene allows for a lot of easy city exploration. Because our condo is brand new, it’s nice to be able to spend our free time enjoying our neighborhood and our home instead of fixing it up or doing yard work like so many of our single family home owner friends have to do.
The whole process seemed pretty fluid. The only thing I can think of is because this was our first experience buying a home, we did not fully understand the process. Injecting a bit more information would have been helpful.
Danny and Adriana
We love our home. Our friends love our place. We have been able to entertain like we haven’t done for almost 3 years–makes us so happy. And Dewi loves all his new furr friends. Management does a great job keeping the building nice, staffing the desk and shoveling. We are happy campers!
Anne
We both lived in a condo for our very first purchased homes in the 90’s (before we knew each other).
Steve’s condo was in Minnetonka and Kimberly’s was in Golden Valley. From the very start of our home purchases, we knew we wanted to be close in to the city and so we chose first ring suburbs. Living near the action, bike trails, and museums has always been very important to us. We chose The Legacy because it was both the ideal location and timing for us. After walking many miles and even years in the Mill City District (MCD), we dreamed of it being our home some day. Most things we did for entertainment and exercise ended up being downtown and the MCD had the best of all worlds to us–the green spaces of the suburbs, the paths and water of the Chain of Lakes, and the culture and action of downtown.
The number one thing we like best about The Legacy is it’s location in the MCD, being near the farmers market and the Guthrie, not to mention the Stone Arch and the U of M. Of course, there’s the beautiful Mississippi as well, with ruins to explore and trails along the way. What we liked next about it was being able to customize our own unit with the new construction and also building a community at the same time with all the other residents. We also like the location of The Legacy within the MCD, being on the bookend of downtown, so we are connected to the action but it is so quiet and one does not need to drive through downtown to access it. Being on the edge of downtown, we are immersed in so much green space that it is actually tranquil here. Our favorite amenities are the 2 workout gyms (Steve and neighbors have the space to practice martial arts in the upstairs room while I do yoga off to the side), the dog grooming area where we can keep our pooch sparkling clean, and the hot tub, where our teenage sons like to sit and gaze at the downtown skyline at night.
We definitely find value in our Legacy unit. We researched for several years the price per square foot, HOA fees, and costs for certain features/floors/corners, etc. to determine what was a good value in the MCD. We were ecstatic when we learned that our corner unit was significantly lower in price than what we anticipated when calculating out the market value in this area. Also we believe the resale value and demand will be high in this area, whicvh was a big factor in our purchase option as well.
We have adopted a minimalist lifestyle. It has been very liberating to shed the yard tools and extra paraphernalia needed to maintain a house. Steve says he is happy not having to go to Home Depot. We like walking in and out of a warm and clean garage without all the sand, dirt, and cobwebs that accumulate in a suburban garage. We also love looking at the views–can’t beat that!
We would recommend the Legacy to our family, friends and co-workers. Wish we had some that would move in–but no big deal because we have made so many new friends here already and have enjoyed stopping over for a glass of wine or walking our dogs together.
We’ve not lived in one of the developers past 9 units but we’ve been in all of them and The Legacy is the best!
The staff has been really great to work with. Everyone has gotten back to us quickly and with a smile. No complaints!
Steve and Kimberly