After nearly three years of unsuccessful attempts to secure public financing, the first building at the 14th Street Apartments development in Cloquet is set to begin housing tenants in the next six weeks.
Blackhoof Development, the company behind the project, failed to secure Tax Increment Financing (TIF) from the Cloquet City Council last July, but later received a $100,000 loan from the Carlton County Economic Development Department.
"[They] saved the project, and they deserve credit," said David Chmielewski, the principal manager of Blackhoof. "You just can't build affordable housing without tax relief or some kind of underwriting."
Chmielewski said the county's support kept investors -- who brought more than $1 million in private funding -- on board with the project.
The first of five planned 18-unit buildings will provide affordable housing in one- to three-bedroom units from a centralized location in Cloquet, said Pat Oman, Carlton County economic development director.
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While one building is opening, the status of the other four is "up in the air," said Chmielewski, who denied comment on the overall cost of the three-acre project and a timeline for completion of the other buildings.
To receive the loan, a study was required to look into the demand for housing in the area, Oman said.
"There is definitely demand for that housing," Oman said of the study's conclusions.
Blackhoof Development also needed to meet one of three financing criteria -- job creation, added property tax revenue and tangible community development.
"That project met all three," Oman said.
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College, the development's neighbor to the east, welcomes the additional housing for its more than 600 full-time equivalent students, 86 of whom will use school-provided housing this fall.
"Right now, we are full and have a waiting list for housing," college president Larry Anderson said. "We think the apartments will provide students the opportunity to get housing that they can't get through us."
One-bedroom apartments will cost $650 per month, with two bedrooms at $850 and three bedrooms at $990, Chmielewski said.
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Chmielewski said the apartments are "going pretty fast," with the majority of the tentative interest from workers planning to come to Cloquet to build the Enbridge Energy pipeline.
