Speaking of things that have fallen in place (but are backed by years of work), Alliance Housing was pleased to receive the final piece of funding it needed to proceed with building 3301 Nicollet – future home for 64 households of low wage workers, many who need a 2nd chance at stable housing. We’re working on the paperwork to close on financing in early September 2021, will start construction soon thereafter and begin leasing apartments in October 2022. Hennepin County, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines and the City of Minneapolis have provided the $15 million of project funding needed to proceed with the project.
Our first meeting about the project was with the Lyndale Neighorhood Association’s Development and Housing Committee in 2016. The committee and organization gave their support from the very beginning. They wanted to see more productive and positive economic activity on the corner from the dilapidated commercial structure that was there until Alliance demolished it in Fall 2018. It has taken 3 years of persistence in funding applications to get to this point along with work by Frerichs Construction, our general contractor, to provide updated pricing and Paul Gates Architect to refine and create the design plan. We all look forward to the first shovel of dirt turning and the first tenant moving in to a brand new, affordable apartment.
Other work that keeps us moving are the search for additional family sized rental properties and discussing 3rd party management with other property owners with similar values as Alliance. Our list of interested family applicants, some 250+ families, is at a standstill. Our existing family tenants aren’t moving – they have really nice places for a really affordable rent. We’re scouring the market for 3-10 unit properties with 2 or more bedrooms to allow us to house more families. We’ve got a $1 million commitment from an anonymous donor to assist with a purchase. We’ve got access to credit and the know how in how to raise additional capital. If you know of any properties in/around our existing properties that are or will become available, please let us know.
We’ve built up a bit of property management capacity in our operation as a transition for the eventual retirement of a long time staffer. Tamuno Imbu came on fulltime in May 2020. Tiffany Simmons came on part-time in October 2020. Bob Bono became part-time in February 2021. We’re in conversation with organizations and individuals who own property but need some property management expertise.