Work could begin in August on 40-unit apartment complex

Construction on a new 40-unit workforce housing apartment complex in the city of Medford could begin as early as August with a projected completion of August 2024.

On Tuesday, Tyler Sheeran vice president of development with Commonwealth Development Corporation updated members of the Medford city council on the Cedar Ridge Housing project which will be located on Progressive Ave. to the north of the Northcentral Technical College campus.

The project calls for the construction of a mixture of two and three bedroom apartments in three buildings with a dedicated clubhouse space surrounded by green space. The city had sold the parcel to the company to develop the project utilizing tax credits through a program with the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA). Unlike other income-eligible apartments that have been constructed in the past, once completed the property will be on the city’s tax rolls.

Sheeran reported they were able to secure investment funding in the project from WNC and Associates which is contributing $7.7 million and through additional loans from WHEDA totaling more than $10 million in addition to funds from the National Housing Trust and Capital Magnet Funds.

Sheeran said that with their ability to secure funding sources they were able to restore some of the design elements of the project such as each unit having its own outside exit which had been eliminated in prior drafts of the project plan.

Each unit will have a first floor entrance which will either lead directly into the apartment for the lower units or into a private landing and steps to upper units.

“I was very happy to see the individual doors,” said council member Christine Weix, noting she had objected to previous plans which called for shared entryways.

While he was able to put back in some design elements, he said the plan still called for parking stalls rather than garage structures. He said with the experience of their other apartment projects in the state, the attraction of garages did not outweigh their additional expense. He said across new apartment development projects are eliminating garages as not having the desired draw.

Council member Randy Haynes noted there was more than enough parking stalls on the plan, but questioned if it would be possible to go back in at a future date and build garages if there was a strong demand for them.

Sheeran noted that they would be much more likely to do things like reduce rent than go back and add garages if there was difficulty getting occupancy. “There would be other ways to get the building full,” he said.

Council member Laura Holmes asked when people can start applying to rent there.

Sheeran said their plan would be to start pre-leasing about three to five months out to ensure the apartments would fill up right away. He said it would be likely May or June 2024 that they would push the pre-leasing. He said they don’t want to go too far out or overpromise a set date only to have it delayed and people left homeless as they wait for the apartments to be ready.

“We want to get it preleased to get bodies in as soon as possible,” he said. To do this they would be working with the county housing authority and other agencies which have waiting lists of people in need of income-eligible housing. He said they have also reached out to the Taylor County Housing Authority with the plan to have five of the units in the complex set aside with priority to veterans and their families.

“Once they come on-line we want to fill them as soon as possible,” Sheeran said.

Madison Street project

Work on the planned Madison Street reconstruction project could begin as early as next week.

City coordinator Joe Harris said he has held a reconstruction meeting with the contractors for the project and while they had initially talked about an early start, he anticipated that with the weather change they would be pushing it back a little.

The city plans to rebuild Madison Street from Wheelock St. to Brucker St. a total length of about 725 feet. The project impacts seven private property owners and adjoins the city park. The total estimated special assessments for the project will be $105,597.60 which includes sewer, water, curb and gutter, surfacing and driveway aprons, with about $38,800 of that amount being assessed against the city park parcel. As with other city projects, the city as a whole covers the cost of the stormwater mains and pays for sidewalk installation.

According to Harris, the sidewalk will be on the park side of the road and will be built close to the road without the typical boulevard to reduce the number of trees that will have to be removed for it.

Harris answered questions from a resident assuring him that the city would work with them to provide connections for sump pumps to drain to the storm sewer system and remove trees as part of the project. As with other road projects, access to driveways may be limited at times. However, Harris noted that with sewer only going down one side of the road, the access may not be as limited as with other projects.

Council reorganization

In addition to its other business council members went through the reorganization process following the results of the April 4 general election. Haynes as well as Peggy Kraschnewski were elected to seats on the council replacing Dave Roiger and Greg Knight. Knight had served 18 years on the council representing the southeastern quarter of the city and Roiger had served eight years representing the southwestern quarter of the city.

Council members reelected Weix to serve as council president on a unanimous vote.

On a 5-3 vote, members chose Kraschnewski over council member Clem Johnson to serve as the council representative to the planning commission.

Council members also approved the mayor’s slate of appointments to various standing committees and boards. With Kraschnewski moving to being the council representative to the planning commission, her previous position as an at-large citizen member will be filled by Steve Mayer.

In other reorganization business, The Star News was named the official city newspaper and the following financial institutions were named as official city depositories: AbbyBank of Medford, AbbyBank of Abbotsford, Associated Bank of Medford, Forward Financial Bank of Medford, Nicolet National Bank of Medford, Prevail Bank of Medford, Taylor Credit Union of Medford and Pershing Advisor Solutions LLC of Jersey City, New Jersey.

In other business council members:

  Received a report on the spring election. Clerk Ashley Lemke said voting was actually down in the city by about 100 people compared to recent spring elections and there had actually been more voters for the primary than for the general election in the city. She also noted that about 35% of the voters used the electronic voting machine versus the paper ballots, including all 68 people who did in-person absentee voting prior to the election. She said she would look into the possibility of the city adding a third electronic voting machine.

  Received word that with Medford Motors planning to build an electric vehicle charging station in the city, that Medford Chrysler has told the city of plans to build its own charging station at its Hwy 13 garage location. Harris said he also received word from Wheelers of plans to build charging locations at their Hwy 13 location as well as the potential for elsewhere in the city. Harris noted that the challenge will be to get adequate power needs to a location noting there is a 13-month lead time for transformers.