When it opens next month, it will be completely smoke-free — notonly in hallways and lobbies, but also within the walls of thetenants' residences. The complex, which burned during constructionlast year after being struck by lightning, is more than 50% leasedwith a month of construction still ahead.

Gateway Real Estate L.L.C developed the $11.5-million project.The project includes about one-fifth affordable apartments.

As cities throughout the metropolitan area weigh smoking bans inbars and restaurants, the Association for Nonsmokers-Minnesota ismaking the rounds to landlords promoting the idea for apartmentbuildings. Anti-smoking advocates have created a Web registry ofsmoke-free complexes, www.smokefreeapartments.org, in cities acrossthe country, including Minneapolis. For instance, the board of the38-unit Produce Exchange building in Downtown St. Paul, managed byHalverson and Blaiser Group Ltd., is considering a ban.