Our Buildings

Our Houses

The Minnesota Students' Cooperative owns and operates five homes on Cleveland Avenue N., across the street from the University of Minnesota Saint Paul Campus, in Saint Paul, MN 55108.

From North to South these houses are:

The Little House (L-House)

1475 Cleveland Ave N.

Built (1913)

7 Bedrooms, 2 bathrooms

House Coordinator: Brian Ashman

MSC Sustainability Coorinator:  Brian Ashman

MSC Secretary: Dylan O'Brien

The letters IMC on the front porch, refer to the Independent Mens Cooperative formed in ____.  Our name changed to the Minnesota Students' Cooperative in 196? because we consist of both male and female residents, and perhaps other houses merged into MSC at that time.

The initial rain-garden serves to culture rain garden plants for when we redesign the parking lot for better winter driving safety and runoff management.  It was dug by hand and planted with $20 worth of plants in Spring 2009.  So far raspberries are the favorite plant.

The Main House (M-House)

1469 Cleveland Ave N.

Built (1890)

9 bedroom units, 2 bathrooms

House Coordinator:   Thomas Lake

Treasure: John Tram

Our managers' office is in this building, and rent payments are received here.  The tile hearth of the fireplace still reads IMC, referring to the Independent Mon's Cooperative as for Little House.  Originally all meals were served in the Main House, and Little house was built  with no kitchen on the same Main property.  Our current MSC constitution dates back to the 1960s, but the original IMC appears to date back to at least 1948.

We are introducing more perennial native plants in the gardens around L & M houses, and are considering letting forest trees fill in over more of the back yard.  We should get raspberries, blueberries and gooseberries this year in addition to perennial herbs and annual vegetables.

Ecclesia House (E-House)

1403 Cleveland Ave N.

Built 1909

11 bedroom units, 3 bathrooms

House Coordinator:  Mitesh Rai

At Large: Naomi Nagle

Our workshop is located here, and the three level porch is a nice place to hang out in summer.  Residents have plenty of space to hang laundry to dry, and to picnic on the lawn.  This house was bought from an individual owner.  A storm destroyed two large trees that once shaded this house.  We must plant something for future summer shade.  This is the nicest kitchen within this coop, with granite counters. 

The Castle

1399 Cleveland Ave N.

Built 1918

3 bedroom units, 1 bathroom

So few people can coordinate themselves

Keda House (K-House)

1393 Cleveland Ave N.

Built 1910

11 bedroom units, 3 bathrooms

House Coordinator:  Leticia Dourdo

One can see stumps of the two trees we lost a few years ago.

Keda's basement  Kitchen was remodeled in 2011, conveniently joining a room with refrigerators to that with a stove and new counters with a sink in the center island. The ceiling was raised to open up the space.  Residents from other houses but significant design effort, and intervention effort, to ensure that what was MSC's most disgusting kitchen was transformed into our nicest kitchen.  The total cost was under $12000.  It was worth every penny we saved up to throw at the project.

Our Indoor Environment

If we were incorporated as an resident owned housing cooperative we'd be exempt from Freedom to Breathe (FTB) provisions of the Minnesota Clean Indoor Air Act (MCIAA).  We were originally incorporated as an Agricultural Coop before housing coops existed here.  Improving the quality of living in our buildings is our higher priority, though we now contract with Common Properties Management Cooperative to eventually clear up legal matters. 

So isn't MSC registered as "Smoke Free"?  We do not have record of what rooms people smoked in and our lease does not exclude smokers.  To protect ourselves as residents and as owners MSC prohibits smoking within all of our buildings, both common and private rooms.  Some houses still allow smoking on the porch. Residents may enter by another entrance, but enforcing where people smoke outside our buildings is difficult.  Our volunteer House Coordinators, and Coop Officers deserve the same right to breath as would employees.  It will take time to get residue from smoke completely out of our homes.

Most of us love the character of our old buildings, and the pleasant quietness of our wooded neighborhood.  However, transforming old buildings to surpass modern performance standards for safety and efficiency is challenging.  As recently as 2011 we found and removed some disconnected lead pipes that were in the way of insulating. We believe all of our tap water pipes are copper except for some recent pex, but we keep our eyes open.  There are some floor coverings we dare not disturb until we are ready to abate asbestos properly.  When we open old walls we often find wiring that needs to be replaced to meet modern code. All fireplaces are sealed now.  Forced air duct systems in two houses need replacement for use with efficient heating systems.  As we tighten houses, continuous ventilation will be needed to maintain indoor air quality.  Cleaning up is a process.

More than anything we share our houses. They are MSC's prize possession and will embody MSC's greatest achievements. We spend hours cleaning them, and ought to spend some moments planning how to make cleaning easier.  Kitchens are the most intensely shared rooms in our houses, so we give them much attention.  Our next challenge is more complex, and less visible to people looking for a room to rent, but it determines the quality of air we breath and the cost we share to maintain healthy temperature and humidity indoors year around.

It is not easy being green, but sustainable success is fulfilling.

For years members have facilitated recycling for the rest of us residents.  In addition to the two curbside pickup spots by our two dumpsters that we pay for, all kinds of scrap metal and numbered plastics are gathered and delivered by environmentally or socially conscientious residents. Always a few leaders share their passion for healthy wood cutting boards, indoor plants that improve air quality and not wasting our power consumption on lights or other appliance that nobody is using.  However, simply conserving, recycling, and doing without cannot address the environmental impact of our buildings.  Even if residents agree to accept 58°F winter temperatures in their home (we are resident owners after all.  It is our right), we can still save much more energy and reduce more pollution in the long term by improving the efficiency of our buildings. 

Sacrificing comfort is not the solution.  Rather careful plans and budgets are required to meet standards like "Passivhaus" which consumes 1 tenth the energy of a typical modern building; the little heat that is required can be provided by a single heat pump device that adjusts temperature as it circulates ventilation air and supplies hot water.  Once in operation, the house costs less to run and less to maintain.  So much less that additional costs of more rigorous design and quality control to build are made up for in energy savings.  Since our cooperative has no intention of moving, or dying, it makes sense for us to look at the long view of sustainability.  Even after members move away, we know we contributed to how this cooperative operates.  Our impact on the environmental footprint of this cooperative will not decrease because we moved away; it will continue to help address one of the major drivers of climate disruption that will effect our lives anywhere on this planet.  If approximately half the energy the United states uses is consumed by buildings, then reducing the energy use by buildings 90% makes a bright future possible.  That is worth some study at Minnesota Students' Coop.