news
Coburg's 180-Unit Elm Street Project Reshapes Maplewood Traffic and Parking
The 180-unit project approved last month will reshape traffic patterns and open space access in a neighborhood already short on parking.
How we reported this
City planners approved construction of 180 apartments and ground-floor retail on a two-acre lot at Elm Street and River Road, with work scheduled to begin August 15.
The decision comes as Coburg faces a documented shortage of 2,400 housing units, according to the 2025 city housing report. Maplewood residents, whose homes sit directly behind the site, now face the prospect of added vehicles on already narrow side streets and the loss of an informal green buffer that has served as a neighborhood shortcut to the river trail.
Local detail centers on two fixed points. The new buildings will sit one block from the Coburg Community Center at 412 River Road, where after-school programs currently draw 140 children daily. The project also borders the weekly Coburg Farmers Market on Market Square, which operates every Saturday from April through October and generates roughly $85,000 in vendor revenue each season.
Parking and school capacity already stretched
Maplewood recorded 1,120 on-street parking permits last year, according to city data, yet only 680 legal spaces exist on its residential blocks. The development will add an estimated 240 new vehicles, based on the planning department’s traffic study released June 28. Nearby Coburg Elementary, which enrolled 312 students in the 2025-26 year, projects an additional 45 children from the new units within two years.
City records show average one-bedroom rents in Maplewood rose from $1,425 in 2023 to $1,690 this spring. The new apartments are listed at $1,950 to $2,350, a range that local real-estate agents say will likely push some existing tenants to seek units farther from the river corridor.
Next steps for residents
A public information session is set for July 22 at 7 p.m. in the Coburg Community Center gymnasium. Attendees can review the final site plan and submit comments on the proposed loading zone along Elm Street before the permit is issued on August 1. The city’s housing office has also posted a list of nearby transit routes that will receive extra evening service once construction begins.