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Called Marketplace & Main, Beard’s plans call for 64 housing units and first-floor retail at a site that formally housed the Hopkins Honda used-car sales lot and auto-body shop. Beard, which has a long history of successful redevelopment projects in Hopkins and calls the first-ring suburb its home, downsized the size and price range of the units in response to the changing market conditions for suburban condos, say Ron Mehl, a development principal with the firm.

"We’ve looked at the price points, and we’re making changes in the levels of finish that comes with the standard package versus what will be counted as extras," he said. "for instance, granite countertops and hardwood floors were included in the base price. We’re trying to make these units more affordable for us to build and make them more attractive to first-time home buyers."

Marketplace & Main consists of three pieces: a 44-unit condominium building with 5,500 square feet of first floor retail on the northeast corner of Mainstreet and 7th Avenue N. and two townhouse clusters- one of six units on the same block as the condo building and another of seven units fronting the north side of Mainstreet and 7th and 6th Avenues N. The units will be 750 to 1,800 square feet with an average price of $275,000, which was around the staring price under the former plan.

One reason the Cornerstone/Beard proposal got all but unanimous backing from the city was the opportunity to eliminate an “inconsistent use” from Mainstreet: the automotive-based business there, said Jim Kerrigan, the city’s community development director.

"The desire is to take and redevelop this site so that it better fits with the image of downtown," he said. "What we want to do is bring in more business and residential into the downtown area and removing some of the uses that are inconsistent is important."