Sustainable Urban Multifamily Development

[Alyssa Strom]

Join the Millennial Investor Group and local developers Kaleidoscope to discuss their newest 12-unit development project in Minneapolis. 

About the project:
2718 Grand will be an urban oasis amidst diverse, independently owned businesses and plentiful green space. The 12-unit, eco-friendly building is scaled to fit its surroundings and designed to foster community and an authentically sustainable lifestyle.

About the presenters: Adam Bradley Jones and Jay Rajaratnam

Adam began his professional career at BKV Group in Minneapolis while residing at a housing co-op in the Whittier neighborhood. While cultivating community in the shared home and gardens, he paradoxically designed buildings for large-scale developers that were motivated solely by financial profits. Adam’s drive to find a more balanced way of building led him to Locus Architecture (where he designed and built homes while gaining architectural licensure), the Real Architecture Workshop (where he assisted teaching students in Mexico), and Solhem properties (where he gleaned development and building management experience). In 2020, he evolved his practice of architecture into a human-centered approach to real estate development - valuing people, place-keeping, and positive impacts beyond the walls of a building.

Jay is a south Minneapolis resident and father of two young children. Having moved to the US at the age of 8 as a civil war refugee and growing up in a working family, they were fortunate to have had an uncle who helped them for the first year until the family got on its own feet. Through this experience, he is deeply familiar with the impact housing costs have on the less fortunate and is passionate about seeking solutions to the housing crisis. Jay honed his problem solving skills while working as a process engineer and maintenance supervisor at Ford and brings an acute understanding of systems to housing development. While working at Xcel Energy, Jay worked on a company wide software implementation project where systems integration was a key component of success. These professional experiences have shaped Jay’s way of thinking on how to build more sustainably and cost effectively.