North Dakota Multifamily Project Wins Award from the State

By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor

Watford City, N.D.—Wolf Run Village in Watford City has received the Champions of Affordable Housing Award from the North Dakota Housing Finance Agency. The award was presented to the lending institutions and local organizations that funded the project at the 23rd annual Statewide Housing Conference recently.

Katie Walters, Wolf Run’s property manager, nominated the development for the award. Unlike housing projects that are a mix of market-rate units and a certain number of units as affordable housing, all the housing in Wolf Run Village is affordable—a critical consideration in a boomtown, where market-rate housing tends to be either very expensive or in such short supply that it’s unavailable.

Watford City is the seat of McKenzie County in western North Dakota, and has been affected by the oil boom in the region. According to the Census Bureau, the 2010 population was 1,744; more recent estimates put the number of residents at nearly 2,500. The town is home to the main offices of Frontier Energy Group, as well as the McKenzie Electric Cooperative.

Developed by Bakken Housing Partners, the Wolf Run Village project provides housing for essential personnel in Watford City, including city and county staff, teachers and emergency responders. The development includes six buildings, each consisting of seven units, for a total of 42 one- and two-bedroom townhouses and apartments.

The project was completed in August 2013 by Champion Commercial Structures, a specialist in modular commercial buildings. That style of construction was selected to keep building costs down and production swift. Both were important considerations for Watford City, which is short of affordable housing in the face of rapid growth.