The project includes four, four-story buildings and has been in the works since 1997. Senior housing and rental buildings will be developed by Stonebridge Cos., and the condominium section will be developed by Chase.

The project is seen as important to the neighborhood because it is one of the key entry points to the city, hence the name Gateway Village, and the neighborhood through the Highland District Council helped create a plan for the area. The community hopes to avoid a gas station here, apartment house there or a large parking lot to serve the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The neighbors wanted a development with housing that had an urban feel, not suburban, and that fit with traditional St. Paul.

In recent years, several developers have wanted to combine housing and businesses on the site. One plan included a large hotel. For a variety of reasons, none of those plans materialized. Finally, the all-housing Gateway Village plan surfaced and was welcomed by the community. Ground was broken a year ago. Some 42 houses had to be razed to make way for the project, and many were rental units.