White Oak Estates

Location
Baxter, MN – Congressional District 6

Contact
Laurie Busche
Property Director
Central Minnesota Housing Partnership
320-259-0393
[email protected]

Summary
White Oak Estates was designed to meet two complimentary needs in north central Minnesota for permanent supportive housing and workforce housing for families. Half of the project (20 1-BR apartments) was designed to assist individuals with serious and persistent mental illness, and the other half of the project (20 2-BR and 3-BR townhomes) was developed to serve working families in the region. This project will provide supportive housing on a single site for individuals and families with and without supportive housing needs. Previously, there were no housing options like this in north central Minnesota.

The Baxter, and surrounding areas economy, is dominated by tourism, retail and services. Unfortunately, these are not high paying jobs and often result in people not being able to find affordable housing in a tight rental market.

The site itself was ideal for the developer who already owned and managed other rental properties in the area, thus creating some economies of scale. The site is close to retail and service jobs and includes a city walking trail through the site.

Beneficiaries
Individuals served have persistent mental illness and qualify for Housing Support as well as low- to moderate-income families in north central Minnesota. Apartment building tenants have 24/7 oversite from support services staff, which helps with mental health illness barriers. Seven of the unit are designated for homeless individuals. The townhomes are set aside for low to moderate income families in need of affordable housing so they can live in close proximity to where they work.

Funding
HOME investment: $1,717,079
LIHTC (if applicable): $2,742,872
Other Federal funds: $2,511,840
Other public funds: $2,764,340
Private funds: $571,692
Total project costs: $10,307,823

Partners
The project was able to secure funding from local banks and individuals (Tom Johnson and family, American National Bank, BlackRidge Bank, 1st National Bank, Deerwood Bank, Riverwood Bank, Randall State Bank, Bremer Bank, US Bank) to assist with the acquisition of the foreclosed land purchased for the project. Additionally, the city provided TIF, the MN Housing Finance Agency provided federal funding sources, tax credits and a first mortgage to cover development costs. CMHP is acting as the developer and management company, but we could not do this without the support of Nystrom and Associates, who is the support services provider.