#lake shore

ELECT and Construction at the Lake

Zoning is always a contentious issue, and in the late 1980s part of that contention centered around Bde Maka Ska (then Lake Calhoun). High rises were beginning to appear on the lake’s north shore. In 1987, a new 24-story addition to the Calhoun Beach Club building was proposed. In response to the proposal, the Emergency Lakes Environmental Coalition Task Force (ELECT) was founded in September 1987.

ELECT opposed the new building and created a coalition of neighborhood groups, environmental organizations, and interested residents to fight the development. For three years, the group lobbied city hall and even joined in a lawsuit to prevent such a tall structure from being built on the lakeshore. Together with another citizen’s group (Minneapolis Park LoverS, or MPLS), ELECT succeeded in limiting the height of the new Calhoun Beach Club apartments building. The structure (now part of the Beach Club Residences) was built at a shorter height, and the city’s shoreline ordinance was amended to limit the height of other buildings.

Photo of the construction of the Calhoun Beach Club addition (C52781) from the City of Minneapolis Collection in the Hennepin County Library Digital Collections. ELECT flyer and brochure for the Calhoun Beach Club from the E.L.E.C.T. Records archival collection (M/A 0388).