Community members gather for groundbreaking
The Wabasha Port Authority, City, State, and community partners gathered to celebrate the groundbreaking of the Alleghany apartments, a new 50-unit market rate property in downtown Wabasha. The project fills a gap for needed housing in the city, particularly residential rental that is new construction.
The apartment building will be a four-story building, with studios, one, two, and three-bedroom units, an exercise room, a community room, and 38 underground parking stalls. Project completion is planned for February 2027.
“Housing is a pressing issue all across Minnesota. Our partnership with the state and the developer aims to build units that align with ongoing market demand for accessible, quality rental housing suitable for our current and future workforce. It makes use of existing utilities, making the project feasible for the City and of no impact to local taxpayers,” states Mayor Emily Durand.
Nicola Viana, from Minnesota Housing, echoed these sentiments on the importance of the project, “Minnesota needs more housing of all types, in every region of the state, that’s affordable to Minnesotans.”
Getting the project underway required significant planning and collaboration. The City purchased the site in the 2000s in preparation for parking for a riverfront hotel development that was never realized. With ongoing maintenance costs and a non-taxable property, the City of Wabasha released a request for proposals in December 2023 to identify a developer capable of developing the property for private, market-rate housing. In September 2024, Minnesota Housing awarded a $2,950,000 Workforce Housing Development deferred, forgivable loan to the City, assisting with the capital for the selected developer, Keller-Baartman, to move forward on the project.
The two existing buildings at the project site had a long history of uses, including an auto repair site, truck storage and transfer building, gas station, canoe manufacturing. In addition to the demolition costs of the buildings, this site required some contamination clean-up costs. The City was able to receive grants through Minnesota DEED to cover these costs.
“This project was a great example of utilizing the trifecta of DEED grants: Investigation, Cleanup and Redevelopment. These programs help Minnesota communities to clean up and redevelop blighted and contaminated properties for productive uses that support jobs, local tax bases and community economic growth. DEED is proud to be a partner with Wabasha — it’s easy to see why the project was awarded,” said Kristin Lukes, Director of the Brownfields and Redevelopment Unit of the Department of Employment and Economic Development.
The groundbreaking ceremony, finalized with remarks from, John Friedmeyer, President for the Wabasha Port Authority, who said, “I want to thank City Staff, Cathy Enerson and Cris Gastner, our Economic Development consultants, for helping to make this goal a reality. I, as with many of the Port members present here today, are happy to see this actually at this stage. So thank you for your efforts on this project, it’s been a long time coming.”
“We are really excited to see this project finally begin. Our general contractor Frana brings a lot of great experience to the table and we are really happy to be partnering with them on this project,” stated Andy Baartman, owner of Keller-Baartman Properties.
FAQ sheet: Frequently Asked Questions Apartment Project
Wabasha Port Authority: Dave Wodele, Craig Falkum, Jeff Sulla, Mary Flicek, Caroline Gregerson, Robin Gwaltney, John Friedmeyer
