The Hollows Wangstad Commons The Heights Penn Station

We Are Committed to the Development of Communities and Neighborhoods That Need It Most.

 

JO Companies is dedicated to the development of commercial and residential spaces that will improve lives and allow communities to thrive. Our development capabilities include mixed-use, market rate, senior housing, residential, and commercial properties.

The development of affordable multi-family housing is one of our top priorities. We believe everyone has the right to live in a safe, high-quality, and equitable place.

 

Residential Development

The Hollows

520 Payne Ave, St Paul, MN

The Hollows is a $18.4M new construction multi-family development that brings 62 units of luxury housing that's affordable to the Greater Eastside community in St. Paul, MN.

View The Hollows

Residential Development

Wangstad Commons

61st Ave & Brooklyn Blvd, Brooklyn Center, MN

JO Companies closed on new construction financing in the third quarter of 2023 for its next development, Wangstad Commons, a $23 million affordable housing development! Wangstad Commons is now open, and delivers 54 homes for individuals and families to the City of Brooklyn Center.

View Wangstad Commons

Residential Development

The Heights

Larpenteur Ave E & McKnight Rd, MN, 55109

The Heights - Phase 1 is a $75M new construction multi-family development that will bring 199 units of workforce affordable housing to the City of Saint Paul on the Greater Eastside. The Heights - Phase 1 is projected to close in 2025.

View The Heights

Residential Development

Penn Station Apartments

6501 Penn Ave S, Richfield, MN 55423

Penn Station Apartments is JO Companies next affordable housing development, and is a $23 million new construction development that will deliver 42-Units of affordable, and supportive housing units to the City of Richfield. Penn Station is projected to close on new construction financing in the second quarter of 2025.

View Penn Station

Latest News

 
News
Met Council Grants Help Address Region’s Need For Deeply Affordable Housing
Met Council Grants Help Address Region’s Need For Deeply Affordable Housing

[Originally published by Metropolitan Council: View Source]

The Metropolitan Council in January awarded $2.5 million in Livable Communities grants to help four communities build and rehabilitate apartments affordable to lower-income households…

Read more →
Johnny Opara featured on F&C's The POWER List 2024
Johnny Opara featured on F&C's The POWER List 2024

[Originally published by Finance & Commerce: View Source]

Welcome to The POWER List, a regular feature from Finance & Commerce that examines the power brokers who lead and influence Minnesota’s business community.

For this edition of The POWER List, we’ve chosen to focus on the development of commercial real estate. Inside you’ll find profiles of leaders and movers and shakers who are key players in Minnesota’s development community…

Read more →
Developer is starting to make his mark in Twin Cities through affordable housing projects
Developer is starting to make his mark in Twin Cities through affordable housing projects

[Originally published by The Minnesota Star Tribune, Written by Dee DePass: View Source]

Johnny Opara and his JO Cos. have $200 million in projects in the pipeline and opened a $23.4 million affordable housing complex in Brooklyn Center earlier this month.

Read more →
Wangstad Commons Grand Opening
Wangstad Commons Grand Opening

On behalf of JO Companies I want thank, and recognize everyone that attended our Official Grand Opening for Wangstad Commons in Brooklyn Center on December 12th. It was absolutely AMAZING!…

Read more →
Johnny Opara named as TCB's 100 List for 2025
Johnny Opara named as TCB's 100 List for 2025

[Originally published by TCB Mag, Written by Liz Fedor, Allison Kaplan, Kelly Kegans, Sarah Lutman, Stephanie March, Steve Marsh, Tina Nguyen, Dan Niepow, Adam Platt, Gene Rebeck, and Hannah Ward: View Source]

The TCB 100 is the list of all lists, the essential guide to people in and around Minnesota business likely to make news and drive change in the year ahead. We include not just corporate types, but also leaders in government and philanthropy who intersect with business. We’ve dynamited silos to bridge specialties and industries to introduce you to a group of individuals who may not all be household names, but whom we expect to emerge in that direction in the year ahead. So read on and share in the success of a few old friends and get to know a big bunch of new ones…

Read more →
Met Council grants help developments become shovel-ready
Met Council grants help developments become shovel-ready

[Originally published by Metropolitan Council: View Source]

The Metropolitan Council in September approved $1,050,000 in Livable Communities Act predevelopment grants for seven projects in five cities and one $50,000 grant for policy development...

Read more →
JO Cos. proposes affordable apartment complex on Penn Avenue in Richfield
JO Cos. proposes affordable apartment complex on Penn Avenue in Richfield

[Originally published by Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal, written by Alyxandra Sego: View Source]

Twin Cities housing developer JO Cos. wants to build an affordable apartment complex on Penn Avenue in Richfield. The firm's proposal is for approximately 40 affordable units to be built at 6501 Penn Ave. S., currently a vacant lot that has been owned by the Richfield Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA) since 2018. JO Cos. CEO Johny Opara presented his preliminary plans to Richfield City Council, HRA and Planning Commission during Monday’s hearing...

Read more →
Low-cost housing pitched for key Richfield corridor
Low-cost housing pitched for key Richfield corridor

[Originally published by Finance & Commerce, written by Brian Johnson: View Source]

Like other metro-area cities, Richfield has identified a need for more affordable housing, larger rental units suitable for low-income families, and investments in key corridors. A local developer’s pitch for a city-owned site in the heart of town could check all three boxes...

Read more →
Minnesota House of Representatives: House File 4278
Minnesota House of Representatives: House File 4278

Minnesota House of Representatives: House File 4278 (St. Paul; The Heights housing development funding provided from the housing infrastructure program, report required, and money appropriated)

Read more →
St. Paul commits nearly $32 million in first phase of tax subsidies for affordable housing in 'the Heights'
St. Paul commits nearly $32 million in first phase of tax subsidies for affordable housing in 'the Heights'

[Originally published by Star Tribune, written by James Walsh: View Source]

The city of St. Paul has committed nearly $32 million to subsidize affordable housing at the Heights, St. Paul's new mixed-use development transforming the former Hillcrest Golf Course on the city's East Side...

Read more →
The Heights housing project in St. Paul needs $73M in state aid, developer says
The Heights housing project in St. Paul needs $73M in state aid, developer says

[Originally published by Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, written by Mark Reilly: View Source]

A plan to build more than 1,000 affording housing units at the former Hillcrest Golf Course will need $73 million in state assistance to move forward, development leaders say...

Read more →
Developers seek $73M from the state for The Heights
Developers seek $73M from the state for The Heights

[Originally published by Finance & Commerce, written by Brian Johnson: View Source]

Sherman Associates and its development partners are asking state lawmakers for $73 million to close a funding gap for The Heights, a $450 million effort to bring more than 1,000 largely affordable homes to the former Hillcrest Golf Course site in St. Paul...

Read more →
The POWER 30: Johnny Opara
The POWER 30: Johnny Opara

[Originally published by Finance & Commerce, written by Frank Jossi: View Source]

After spending almost two decades in corporate positions, Johnny Opara founded the real estate firm JO Companies after being laid off in 2009 during the Great Recession...

Read more →
Interview: Johnny Opara of JO Companies and Don Bernards of Baker Tilly
Interview: Johnny Opara of JO Companies and Don Bernards of Baker Tilly

[Originally published by Finance & Commerce: View Source]

Beyond the Skyline is a podcast about economic development, commercial real estate and construction in Minnesota. (...) In this episode, Johnny Opara, the founder of JO Companies, and Don Bernards, a partner in Baker Tilly’s real estate group, talk to F&C reporter Brian Johnson...

Read more →
Impact Capital program provides funding to developers, fulfills promises
Impact Capital program provides funding to developers, fulfills promises

[Originally published by US Bank: View Source]

Program focused on helping first-time developers of color is gaining momentum in second year and expanding across the U.S...

Read more →
 
View More

JO Companies has received support from the City of Saint Paul, the City of Brooklyn Center, elected officials, and both local and business communities who all see the value in bringing much needed equitable housing to the State of Minnesota.