1 Housing mix. Prices and styles include a one-bedroom condo for $90,000, a remodeled 1940s home for $507,000 and upscale lakeshore dwellings for about $600,000. It's a small market, however, with only 73 homes sold last year.
2 What's typical. In 2007, the average sale price for a home was $328,841, according to the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors. Newer homes can be found on lots sprinkled among older neighborhoods.
3 Change is on the way. Arden Hills has one of the largest undeveloped pieces of land in an inner-ring suburb -- the former Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant, where weapons were made in the 1940s. The city plans to transform 585 acres of the site into a 21st-century blend of housing, businesses, parks and green space.
Although a specific plan has yet to be approved, it is likely to include townhouses, apartments, senior living and single-family houses and will be built in phases over the next 10 to 15 years, said city planner James Lehnhoff.
4 Don't call it a "bedroom community." The city has 13,000 jobs thanks to major employers such as Boston Scientific, Land O' Lakes and Celestica.
5 Lakes and leisure. The largest lake is the 230-acre Lake Johanna. On the north shore is Tony Schmidt Regional Park with a boat launch, beach and park trails.
6 Campus life. Arden Hills has nearby Northwestern College and Bethel University.
7 Namesake. In 1906, Joseph Hackey, a state senator and millionaire, built a hobby farm called Arden Farms. Three residential areas and the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant site became Arden Hills in 1951.
8 Quick commute. The city is about 10 miles from downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul.
9 Size it up. It covers 9.4 square miles (about 1/4 the size of Woodbury) with a population of 9,903 (2006 figure).
10 Women rule. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81 males (2000 census data).
LYNN UNDERWOOD
