River Heights Apartments Hold Ribbon Cutting in East St. Cloud

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) - A new apartment building for single adults dealing with homelessness or home insecurity held a ribbon cutting Tuesday. River Heights Apartments has completed the construction of 40 one-bedroom apartments and was open for a ribbon cutting and tours.

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The new River Heights Apartments are on the same property as the River Crest Apartments, built in 2011. The River Crest facility is a 40-unit group residential home for the homeless and Chronic alcoholics. When it was built, the River Crest was the first of this type of housing in the St. Cloud Area.

St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis said, as a current member of the American Legion, he was happy to see the old legion post property continue to serve the community.

The American Legion was all about service. These are folks that served our country, came back, and then serve their community. So the idea of having something that continues service to a community is important. And that's important to understand and to always remember that folks who are experiencing homelessness are our neighbors.

Duluth-based Center City Housing Company will run the facility at 1307 Lincoln Avenue Southeast. At the ribbon cutting, new resident Richard DeMarce spoke on behalf of all the future residents of the complex.

I just like to thank everybody, Center City has been just awesome. I came in here about seven months ago, I struggle with mental health and addiction, and PTSD really bad. They've given me all the resources that I needed. They've gotten me into therapy. And now I'm going up to the bigger house, got my own place. And like I said, just having your own key that you can turn to your own apartment - it's an amazing feeling. If you've never been there, hopefully, you never have to be there. But if you do, it's just an incredible feeling.

Richard DeMarce, one of the first residents of the River Heights Apartments, at the ribbon cutting. Photo: Jeff McMahon

The first few residents have already moved into the building, with more residents expected in the coming weeks.