Essential Living Completes ND Rehab Project

Park South Apartments is the first affordable housing community in Minot to be supported by the National Disaster Resilience.

Park South Apartments

Park South Apartments

Essential Living has finished work on the rehabilitation of Park South Apartments, a 40-unit community in Minot, N.D. The project marks the city’s first affordable housing property to be supported by the National Disaster Resilience. The non-profit renovated the building’s 35 existing apartments and also added five new units.

Located at 234 14th Ave. SE, Park South is less than 3 miles of Minot International Airport. The 1948-built community originally served as a convent, but became a residential property more than three decades later. Essential Living rehabilitated all of the units’ kitchens and bathrooms, plumbing, electrical, hardware and flooring, but also renovated the building’s common areas. Moreover, the company added a new entrance, air conditioning and an elevator. Currently, 75 percent of the apartments serve income-qualified households, with four of these units being fully accessible to individuals with disabilities.

During the renovation process, Park South residents didn’t need to be displaced. As of August, 22 of the building’s apartments were occupied. Next year, Essential Living plans to build affordable patio homes on the five acres attached to the property, provided it secures the necessary funding.

Complex financing

Park South is one of the first projects in the country to be completed between the recipients of the 13 NDR grants provided by HUD. The City of Minot received $74.3 million through the NDR program, with $21 million set aside for affordable multifamily housing. Local authorities awarded $2 million to Essential Living to renovate the building and add new units.

The non-profit also received $2.2 million from the North Dakota Housing Finance Agency through the Housing Incentive Fund. The project received additional support through the North Dakota Department of Commerce, $714,950 from the Governor’s Community Development Block Grant Discretionary Funds and an interest-rate buy down from Bank of North Dakota’s FlexPACE program. Total project costs exceeded $7.4 million.

Image courtesy of the City of Minot