Open house Sun 1:00–3:00 · Private tours weekdays after 4 · Offer review begins Mon 9 a.m.
214 S 3rd St №312 · Minneapolis, MN 55415
A corner loft carved from an 1912 flour mill, where the light arrives from above. Fourteen feet of sawtooth clerestory, old-growth Douglas fir trusses left exactly as the framers left them — and a 2023 renovation that added everything the mill never had.
Number 312 has been viewed 3,914 times and saved 43 ways — the strongest two-week stretch for any Mill District loft this year.
Nineteen north-facing clerestory windows run the full depth of the unit, set into the sawtooth roofline mills used to feed grinding floors. In practice: no direct sun, no hot spots, and an even, shadowless glow from breakfast until dusk. Photographers and painters have bought units in this building for that reason alone.
The 2023 renovation removed a clumsy 1996 subdivision and put the shell back the way it was: 22-inch brick, exposed fir decking, steel sash windows re-glazed and re-balanced. New work was kept quiet — white oak floors, lime plaster, hidden storage — so the mill reads as the author.
The den off the entry takes a queen bed and a desk under 11 feet of ceiling — the loft's most common upgrade, and the reason 312 competes with units two hundred dollars a foot more expensive. The mezzanine study above it was added in 2023 and is engineered, permitted, and floored in matching fir.
You can walk to the Marcy-Holmes end of the Chain of Parks, the Mill City Museum, and most of the dining that has grown up around the old wash-house. Grocery in six minutes by foot, light rail in nine, MSP in twenty-two without traffic at 6 a.m.
$1,026 a month covers heat, water, insurance, the rooftop, the elevator and the reserve. No special assessment is pending; the 2024 reserve study funded the roof replacement through 2039. Minutes and the study are in the data room, unredacted, before you offer.
Comparables drawn from 11 closed mill-loft sales within a half mile, 2023–2025. Adjusted for ceiling height, exposure and finish vintage.
Cut 3.7% on day 26 after 14 showings and two near-offers.
Adjust the levers. HOA, taxes and insurance are estimated from actual 2025 figures.
Estimates only · Not a loan commitment · PMI included when down payment is below 20%
The clerestory banks run the full 38-foot depth. Steel sash were re-glazed in 2023 and retain the original counterweights.
Thirty-eight feet long and unbroken. The fir decking overhead is original 1912 stock — old-growth, tight-grained, the kind of timber you cannot buy at any price today. The previous owner's 1996 drop ceiling came down in April 2023 and revealed the trusses, still painted in the mill's ochre primer, which the architect decided to keep.
Two gas lines and a rough-in for a wood stove are capped in the east wall. Radiant floor loops were added under the white oak in 2023 and are zoned in three circuits with a thermostat in the great room and one in each sleeping area.
A ten-foot island in honed limestone seats four; the cabinets are rift white oak with brass hardware and no upper units, which is what makes a 310-square-foot kitchen feel like the widest room in the house. Appliances are Thermor, all under manufacturer warranty through 2028, including the 48-inch range the seller had shipped in from Portland.
Plumbing was relocated onto the original mill stack, so the island drains fast and the dishwasher is serviceable without moving a single panel. A butler's pantry behind the range takes the small appliances out of sight.
Set on the quiet southeast corner, away from the elevator shaft, with a window seat cut into the original two-foot brick. The dressing room is a genuine dressing room — eight feet of hanging on two sides, a vanity in the north light, and a door that closes.
The den across the hall measures 11'4" × 12'8" with a closet and 11-foot ceilings; it takes a queen, or works as a studio, or a second office. It is not a converted hallway, a frequent Mill District disappointment.
Primary bath in honed limestone with a freestanding tub set under the clerestory and a curbless shower big enough to argue in. Second bath in matching palette with a stacked washer-dryer closet beside it; laundry also has a sink and hanging bar.
Both baths were rebuilt to the stud in 2023 with new pans, new valves, and accessible 36-inch doorways. Grout is epoxy; the previous owner did not want to scrub it, and neither will you.
Permitted in 2023, engineered by Kraus Hagen, and floored in reclaimed mill fir so it reads as though it was always there. It holds a desk for two, a library wall, and — because the loft below is open — it is the only room in the house where you can hear the river.
Load rating 60 lb/ft², documented in the permit file, which is included in the data room along with all invoices from the renovation: $214,600 in total, itemized.
Tap a room on the plan for dimensions, finish and a photo. Third floor, northwest corner, elevator opens into a private vestibule.
Unbroken 38-foot run under the sawtooth. Radiant floor on its own zone; two capped gas lines in the east wall.
Commute times from 214 S 3rd St at 8:15 a.m., typical weekday.
Seller contributes up to $8,000 toward buyer's closing costs with an offer at or above list before August 15. Survey, COI and reserve study complete.
Covers centrally controlled heat and chilled water, all water and sewer, master insurance, elevator maintenance, the rooftop deck, snow and trash removal, exterior masonry reserve, and fiber internet at 2 gig. Dues were unchanged 2021–2024 and rose 4.2% in January with the roof work completed. No special assessment pending.
2025 estimated property tax: $6,180 (effective rate 1.04% on the assessed value of $591,400). Mill District properties carry a 0.1% infrastructure levy. Homestead and 20% market-value exemptions apply to owner-occupants and have been filed on the buyer's behalf in prior transactions — the reduction runs roughly $940 a year.
Two pets, no weight limit, no deposit. Rentals permitted with a 30-day minimum (12 of 38 units currently leased; the board has no pending cap). Short-term rentals prohibited since 2019. Alterations require board approval for anything touching the masonry, the roofline or the plumbing stack — interior finishes are yours. Quiet hours 10 p.m.–7 a.m.; freight elevator reservation required for moves over 100 ft² of furniture.
Roof membrane replaced 2024 (20-year guarantee). Tuckpointing on the south and west elevations completed 2022 by Lindgren Masonry, transferable warranty. Freight elevator modernized 2021 with new controls and a phone/dialer. Boilers replaced 2019; each unit has its own thermostatic interface. Reserve study by Kraus Hagen, dated February 2024, projects 30-year sufficiency at current dues with a 3% annual increase.
Disclosed: the unit sits beneath the historic 62-foot mill stack; a faint brick-dust smell persists after heavy rain in the northeast closet, addressed with a dehumidifier line and a sealed hatch in 2023. Lead-based paint present in original mill trim per MN disclosure (all accessible trim was encapsulated in 2023). Window-wall AC sleeves roughed-in but AC units excluded. Excluded: the seller's dining table and the two brass floor lamps in the great room. Everything else — all appliances, window treatments, the built-in library wall, the refrigerator's water filter subscription through 2026 — conveys.
Two grills, 14-seater, river-facing.
Co-working lounge + bookable studio.
Original freight elevator, in service.
Grilled-brick, 12 trees, dog run.
Within a half mile, similar shell vintage. Subject highlighted in rust. Hover a row to compare line by line.
Data: StellarMLS, 2025. Adjustments by Arda Realty. Not an appraisal.
"She talked us out of one loft and into a better one, then negotiated $31,000 and a new roof schedule on the second. Nobody else on that board was going to tell us the first building had a water table problem."
In person, or a live video walkthrough with Nadia holding the camera.
Nadia has your request for
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You'll get a confirmation with the freight-elevator code, the visitor parking gate remote instructions, and a link to the data room (reserve study, HOA minutes, renovation invoices, floor plan PDF).