(KNSI) – St. Cloud Senator Aric Putnam and Representative Dan Wolgamott propose spending $5 million to help the St. Cloud Center for African Immigration & Refugees apartment project get off the ground.
The money from Senate File 2503 and its companion House File 2330 would go toward CAIRO’s Iskufilan Village. The four-story apartment would also have commercial space and would be built on the corner of 3rd Street North and 33rd Avenue North, where the former Wells Fargo Bank once sat.
The building would house 70 apartments, 25,000 square feet of commercial space, and a 5,000 square-foot event center. There are also plans for 86 underground parking spaces.
The St. Cloud City Council gave it the thumbs up in November after unanimously approving the project’s planned unit development. At that time, CAIRO told KNSI News that 10% of the units would be set aside for low-income housing. The rest would be at market rate. The wording in the bill says at least 10%, defined as households with incomes that are 60% at or below the area median income, must be affordable housing. For a family of four in St. Cloud, that’s roughly $38,000 a year.
The bill has been referred to the Senate Housing and Homelessness Prevention Committee and the House Housing Finance and Policy Committee. Neither committee has taken up the measure at this time. If approved, the money would come from the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency.
CAIRO officials say the apartments will be available for rent to anyone, not just refugees. The nonprofit organization plans to hold classes for new renters to help educate them on how to care for their apartments.
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