Sometime mid to late September four modular houses will be built in Grand Marais and offered for sale to the public.
The homes are being constructed and sold through One Roof Community Housing out of Duluth. They will be adjacent and to the west of Homestead Cooperative. One Roof Housing purchased the property from the Johnson Trust.
“This is workforce housing for folks employed in the area,” said Cliff Knettel, deputy director of One Roof Community Housing. “We will have two price points geared toward folks earning up to 80 percent of the Area Median Income and 115 percent of the Area Median Income, which translates to prices under $150,000 and under $225,000.”
Knettel added the price of the homes aren’t set in stone and prices may change.
Working over the past year with One Roof is the Cook County/Grand Marais Economic Development Authority (EDA).
Once the homes are at the building site, it is expected they will be completed within 30 to 45 days of delivery.
“We anticipate they (homes) will be sold by year-end,” Knettel said. “The lower priced homes are three bedrooms, one bath with a 10 x 10 shed. The higher priced homes will be three bedrooms, one bath with some upgrades, and a two-stall garage.”
The houses are “chalet style or bungalow style with vaulted ceilings over the living/dining area. There are two bedrooms up, one bedroom down. They will be sided with LP smart side, and the colors will be very complementary to the environment. It is a maintenance-free siding, and should not need to be re-painted for several decades,” Knettel said.
One Roof has its own general contractor, Common Ground, which has built several types of homes, including stick-built, structural insulated panels, and modular.
“One Roof/Common Ground is a dealer for a modular home factory called Homark Homes, which is a Minnesota company. We will be building these modular homes in Grand Marais,” added Knettel.
All of these residences are Community Land Trust homes, which means they will be permanently affordable. They cannot convert to rentals or vacation rentals. The first buyer and every subsequent buyer must be income qualified and must own and occupy the home, Knettel said.
One Roof is involved in the resale of the homes, noted Knettel, “as we need to ensure they (homebuyers) are income qualified. Other than the transfer of ownership and resale restrictions, following local planning, zoning, land use codes, local wetland regulations, etc. there are really no other restrictions as to what they (homeowners) do with the property. They own the home and accessory structures and lease the land. They can do as other land owners do and pay taxes the same as if it were a non-community trust home.”
The first four homes make up Phase I. Knettel said, “There will be up to seven homes in Phase II, of which three will be the lower priced homes, and four will be the higher priced homes.”
After that, EDA Director Mary Somnis said more houses could be developed if warranted.
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