Attending the golden shovel ceremony were, from left, Jan Sivertson (Cook County commissioner), Pat Campanaro (SBDC), Jeremy LaCroix (DEED), Ginny Storlie (Cook County commissioner board chair), Rae Piepho (Lutsen Township supervisor), Howard Hedstrom (EDA), Cliff Knettel (One Roof), Scott Harrison (EDA), Mary Finnegan (IRRRB), Linda Jurek (VCC), Jim Boyd (director of C. C. Chamber of Commerce), Christine Ordemann (Lutsen Township supervisor), Mary Somnis (EDA director), and Julie Petrusha (One Roof). Staff photo/Brian Larsen
After four and one-half years of planning, seeking permits, partners, grants and other types of financing, the workforce housing will be built in Lutsen, with a target completion date of November 1, 2018.
On hand for a celebratory groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday, July 31 were representatives from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB), One Roof Housing in Duluth, and local officials from the EDA, Lutsen Township, Visit Cook County, Cook County Chamber of Commerce and county board.
One Roof Community Housing (ORCH) will construct a 16-unit apartment complex on land adjacent and to the west of the Arrowhead Electric Cooperative in Lutsen Township. The project consists of four buildings with four units of housing in each building.
Half of the units will be one-bedroom, and half will be two-bedroom apartments. One Roof Housing will be the developer and owner of the apartments.
S&R Construction started work on the Highway 5 bridge over the ski hill at Lutsen. The pedestrian bridge remains open to the gondola, Papa Charlie’s, and the Superior Hiking Trail during construction. The new bridge is to open to traffic in August. Minor traffic impacts for bridge painting, lighting installation, and road striping are expected in September. Staff photo/Brian Larsen
Monthly rents are expected to be in the $850- $900 per month range for one bedroom and about $1,100 for the two-bedroom apartments.
“We could not have kept those rental rates as low as they are if we didn’t have help from the IRRRB and DEED,” said Cliff Knettle, director of One Roof. “Without their help, this wouldn’t have worked. Between the two we received about $900,000 for this project. Without that money, we would have had to charge $2,000 per month.”
Jeremy LaCroix, a regional manager for DEED, said without tremendous community support, lots of planning, and letters of support from area businesses, DEED may not have chosen to get involved.
“Typically we help with low to moderate income housing, not workforce housing,” he said. “We receive a lot of competing applications for financing. What set this application apart was that it was well documented, and we were impressed by the amount of work that went into the planning. It went back years, all of the way back to the Go Team.”
With the land currently being cleared and the project in full swing, EDA member Howard Hedstrom said, “We are going to advertise for applicants in the next couple of weeks. We feel there will be an excess of applicants. One Roof will have a third party screen and select from those applications.”
DW Jones will manage the apartments, said Knettle. “They manage several properties in Grand Marais and Silver Bay and Duluth.”
While many people spoke, the highlight of the afternoon was hearing from Alta McQuatters, who once owned the land purchased for the development.
She gave a history of the property, her love of the animals that frequent her house, which is just above the location of where the apartments will be located, and she offered a traditional Ojibwe blessing to the land and four winds over the property with tobacco smoke.
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