Sauk Rapids Plans 76 New Apartments To Meet Housing Needs

SAUK RAPIDS (WJON News) -- A new apartment building is in the works for Sauk Rapids.

During Monday's Economic Development Authority meeting, they'll discuss the plan for a 76-unit apartment building on the corner of Mayhew Lake Road and 18th Street Northeast.

That property was approved to be an apartment building in 2006. City staff have been working on various apartment projects on the property over the past several years, but the economics couldn't come together for the developer.

Now, under the new workforce housing TIF statute that was created in the 2024 state legislative session, the economic challenges to the site have been overcome.

The project will be a market-rate building largely made up of one and two-bedroom units.

The statute has a vacancy rate requirement of less than three percent within a 15-mile radius.

Besides the city, Benton County and the Sauk Rapids-Rice School District must approve the TIF plan. The county has already approved it. The statute requires there be a public hearing to consider the TIF plan and the creation of the district. That would take place at the Sauk Rapids City Council meeting on September 22nd.