Council to

review plans

for new

apartments

Artstone field may cost an

extra $100,000

By KREMENA TODOROVA

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM - The City Council today will discuss a report from the New Ulm Economic Development Authority that urges its support for developing apartments at the former St. Mary's School and Convent.

New plans for the St. Mary's property call for some $275,000 in local support, to help convert the school building into 26 "general occupancy" apartments.

Approximately a year ago, the city committed some $200,000 in assistance to an earlier version of the project which has since stalled. At the time St. Mary's planned to turn the property into 31 units of senior housing. But it failed to generate enough funds, after the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency (MHFA) denied its application for tax credit financing.

The revised plans increase the number of two-bedroom apartments. The new blueprint calls for 16 two-bedroom and 10 one-bedroom units, compared to 25 one-bedroom and six two-bedroom units in the old plan.

The new plans also call for a transfer ownership to a new organization, MetroPlains Properties, in order to rehabilitate the property as residential housing. This would help capitalize on a revised MHFA point allocation system, which "gives greater consideration to projects which promote building rehabilitation," according to the EDA report.

Local support for the project, intended to fill a $275,000 funding gap that would exist even if MHFA funds are granted, would consist of tax increment financing and a low interest loan, according to the EDA.

Tax increment financing, provided on a pay-as-you-go basis, is projected to generate $200,000. The loan, of approximately $75,000, would come from the city, the EDA or both.

The project's total estimated price is about $3 million.

"Project funding is dependent in part on the city's willingness to support the project from a financial and development standpoint," says the EDA report.

Artstone

baseball field

The council will also review a staff report which says a slope failure last April at the Artstone baseball field now under construction would cost another $100,000.

The council in May authorized an extra $98,861 to stabilize the slope, bringing the field's cost up to approximately $1.2 million. The field is funded with a $500,000 private donation and public funds.

Due to the July 4 holiday, the council meets at 4 p.m. today at the Public Library. Councilors will also informally meet at 2 p.m. at City Hall to hear development plans for Highway 14.