7 Twin Cities Megaprojects Reshaping Where People Buy Homes

There’s a building on the edge of the metro that made gunpowder in World War II. Soon it’ll run Meta’s artificial intelligence. That’s one of seven big projects changing the Twin Cities right now. Here’s each one, and what it can mean for homes nearby.

Knowing this stuff is part of my job. Big employers, roads and transit decide where people want to live, and the people who understand that early tend to do better than the people who read about it three years later. Figures below are as of my video above (September 2026).

1. A new Timberwolves and Lynx arena (still just an idea)

Target Center opened in 1990. The new owners, Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez, started talking about a new building right away, and said they would pay for it privately. Team leadership has said a site could be picked by the end of this year. The names that keep coming up are City Center, the Warehouse District and the Minneapolis Farmers Market.

To be straight with you: nothing is signed, no site is picked and no dirt has moved. Don’t buy a condo tomorrow because of it. But understand what an arena does. Downtown Minneapolis has 9.5 miles of skyway connecting 80 blocks, and skyways only work if people have a reason to be downtown. An arena brings people in on a Saturday night in February. Condos near a real entertainment anchor tend to hold their value better. Keep this one on your radar.

2. Boston Scientific in Maple Grove

This one barely made the news, and it’s already handed out hundreds of paychecks. Last October, Boston Scientific opened a 400,000-square-foot campus in Maple Grove, a building it paid about $189 million for. A second expansion nearby added $131 million and 440 new jobs. A phase two of another 300,000 square feet could nearly double the Arbor Lakes campus.

Boston Scientific is already Maple Grove’s biggest employer, with roughly 4,000 people there. Medical device jobs are steady and pay well. When thousands of stable jobs sit in one place, people start drawing circles around them on a map: Maple Grove, Plymouth and Brooklyn Park are inside that circle.

3. MSP Airport’s $1.9 billion program

You think about the airport in the security line. But MSP may be the biggest real estate engine in the south metro.

• 37.2 million passengers in 2024, the 18th busiest airport in North America.
• A capital program of about $1.9 billion across 2026 to 2028, with $501 million going to new construction this year: new gates, and more food and shops in Terminal 2.
• J.D. Power ranked MSP the number one mega airport in North America.
• MSP supports about 93,000 jobs and puts $21.3 billion into the economy every year.

Bloomington, Richfield and Eagan all feel it. The Blue Line runs from the airport to the Mall of America and into downtown, so you can live near it without living in your car.

4. The I-494 rebuild

If you’ve driven east on 494 through Bloomington at any time of day, you know. Phase one, about $377 million, is wrapping up this fall with new E-ZPass lanes and rebuilt bridges through Edina, Richfield and Bloomington. Phase two runs 2027 to 2030, extending those lanes from 35W toward Highway 77.

A MnDOT study found that on a typical workday, 86 of Minnesota’s 87 counties had a vehicle on 494, and the I-35W interchange alone carries about 21% of the metro’s commuters. This isn’t a Bloomington road. It’s a Minnesota road.

Construction is miserable right now: detours, closures, noise. But good access has always helped home values. Look at the spread along this one highway: Edina’s median sale price is in the mid-$600,000s, with pockets well past $1 million, while Richfield, right next door, is in the mid-$300,000s. A faster, more predictable commute helps both.

5. United Village at Allianz Field, Saint Paul

Picture the lots around Allianz Field: acres of asphalt, busy about 17 nights a year and empty the rest of the time. United Village wraps around the stadium in the Midway with restaurants, a four-story office building, a boutique hotel and a 1-acre park with sculptures and a flower garden. The restaurants and offices are under construction now, and the hotel is targeted for 2027.

The best detail: it sits on the Green Line, which runs between both downtowns and past the University of Minnesota. The developments that take off are the ones you can reach easily. See Saint Paul homes and neighborhoods.

6. Downtown Minneapolis office-to-apartment conversions

Nearly 28% of downtown Minneapolis office space is empty, almost three of every ten square feet. Developers are turning some of those towers into homes:

• The Grain Exchange, kitty-corner from City Hall: 232 apartments, a $120 million project, starting construction this fall.
• It’s been done before: the old Northstar Center is now 216 apartments.

More residents means more people walking to dinner and more shops open on Sunday. Downtown has always been the region’s biggest job center. Now it’s slowly becoming a place people live, not just commute to. Outside of downtown, Minneapolis home prices sit in the mid to high $300,000s. Explore Minneapolis.

7. Meta’s Rosemount data center

You could drive past this one and never know it. Meta is building a 715,000-square-foot data center in Rosemount: $800 million on 280 acres at UMore Park. That land was a federal gunpowder plant in World War II, then University of Minnesota land for decades. Now it’ll run artificial intelligence on renewable power.

A data center isn’t a jobs factory. The real prize is the tax base: Meta’s property taxes help pay for roads, parks and schools, money that isn’t coming out of nearby homeowners’ pockets. When a company this size picks your county, it’s an expensive vote of confidence.

What it means for you

Seven projects: an arena that’s still a concept, an airport people take for granted, a road project trying to fix rush hour, and a gunpowder plant turned AI center. All of them are redrawing the map around them right now.

If you own near one of these, we’ll give you an honest take on what it means for your home. Same if you’re looking to buy nearby. Tell us which project is closest to you, see what your home is worth, or search homes on the map.