13-05-2025
Council approves grant application for new apartments on Blazing Star Landing
May 13—The Albert Lea City Council on Monday voted to support a grant application for funding for a new 60-unit apartment complex on the Blazing Star Landing.
City Manager Ian Rigg said the grant, for $180,000, would be through the Housing Infrastructure Program of Minnesota Housing and would go toward capital costs associated with eligible workforce housing development projects.
The city intends to apply for the funding on behalf of Tapestry Companies, which has proposed constructing the complex.
Rigg said the grant program requires a commitment of 50% of the capital costs be covered by
sources other than grant proceeds and that the matching funds include non-state resources.
Eligible projects include construction of public roadways, bike lanes, sidewalks and trails, construction of publicly owned utilities and geotechnical and environmental testing and site preparation.
Background information provided by the city states qualified housing developments may be in any state of planning, pre-development or development.
Minnesota Housing in December announced $191 million for housing projects across the state, including the one in Albert Lea, which would build 60 new low- to moderate-income workforce housing apartments on the Blazing Star Landing, the former site of Farmland Foods that has sat unused for over 20 years since the plant burned down in 2001.
The apartments are slated to be built south of the Kwik Trip that has been approved for the northeast corner of the property. In December, Minnesota Housing stated the total cost of the project was estimated at $24 million.
Rigg said the developer was still interested in moving forward with the project regardless of the outcome of the grant. Construction would start in 2026, and he said the city would find out about the grant in late fall or as late as December.
The grant application is due June 12.
In other action, the council:
—Approved support for the Shell Rock River Watershed District's application for funding from the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council for the restoration of the channel between Fountain and Albert Lea lakes. The project would help reduce erosion, improve accessibility and build upon past funding.
—Authorized the Bayside Ski Club to rework the existing concrete pillows on the ski show site on Edgewater Bay and replace with sand to extend the landing area.
The site has been the club's show site for 54 years. The club practices at the site multiple days a week and also regularly hosts the Midwest Regional Ski Show Tournament as well as an Ironwood Springs national wheelchair camp on the lake.
The project as approved by the Department of Natural Resources, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Albert Lea Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and now the council.
The ski club is funding the project, and Dulas Excavating is doing the work.
—Accepted bids and awarded the contract for paving the gravel parking lot behind the Freeborn National Bank building. It would also include a landscaped space along the north and west sides of the parking lot, which could potentially be used for electric vehicle chargers in the future.
The city received two bids for the project, with the low bid coming from Ulland Brothers for about $152,000.
The number of projected parking stalls is slated to increase with the project to 32 stalls.
—Accepted bids and awarded the contract for the cured in place pipe rehabilitation project. It involves installing a cured in place pipe liner inside the existing sanitary sewer mains on St. Peter from Sheridan Street to Johnson Street, Pillsbury Avenue from Main Street to Johnson Street, Garfield Avenue from Main Street to Johnson Street and Garfield Avenue from Johnson Street to Sheridan Street.
The contract was awarded to Municipal Pipe Tools Company LLC of Hudson, Iowa, for about $144,000.
The engineer's estimate was about $235,000.
—Revised the city's municipal state aid street system to include Blake Avenue from East Main Street to Southeast Marshall Street. This will allow the city to use federal funding awarded through the 2029 State Transportation Improvement Program for a mill and overlay and construction of a shared user trail on the street.
The vote also approved adding Southeast Marshall Street, from Prospect Avenue to Blake Avenue, to the system. The council approved removing Madison Avenue from Commercial Street to Third Street, Pearl Street from Front Street to Broadway, Third Street from Broadway to Newton Avenue and College Street from Washington Avenue to Broadway.
—Accepted donations from the Friends of the Albert Lea Public Library for about $1,754 to go toward the library and Arcadian Bank $200 to go toward teen programming through the Recreation Department.
—Approved a resolution to not waive the monetary limits on municipal tort liability as established in state statute.
—Approved the first reading of a series of amendments to zoning ordinances.
