ELY — Ely’s long-anticipated workforce housing project has crossed a critical threshold, with major funding secured and final financing in motion, and city leaders say construction on the 37-unit Wilderness Escape apartment complex could begin as early as next spring.
That’s a far cry from where things stood a year ago.
City officials had pursued a $4.5 million funding request to the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency in 2024. The bid was rejected, and with it, hopes for addressing the city’s deepening housing crunch took a serious hit.
“When we did not get the workforce housing funds like we had hoped from Minnesota Housing, it was kind of a setback,” said Ely City Clerk-Treasurer Harold Langowski. “Are we going to have to look at a smaller project? Are we going to have to wait and reapply? The concern was that it was a one-time additional allocation into that program by the state, so we were fearful that the one shot we might have passed us by.”
The project got new life this spring when the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board awarded a second grant of $3.7 million, adding to a prior $850,000 commitment. And a new $1.5 million MHFA grant has been assured and is expected to be approved in August.
“When Minnesota Housing said, well, we can come in with $1.5 million, now we’re talking about $6 million in grant funds on this $9.5 million project,” Langowski said. “It took a project that was just not feasible and made it feasible in one fell swoop.”
The city is working with St. Louis County to handle the remainder through bonding.
“They’ve got bonding capacity that exceeds the city’s limit– a double A minus, I think, is their bond rating,” Langowski said. “So the interest rate is very favorable utilizing their bonding authority.”
That process takes about six months and is already underway.
Langowski said the city is aiming to bid the project in January, break ground in May or June 2026, and have units ready by the following June.
“I don’t think that’s being overly optimistic,” he said. “I think that’s very doable. And our developer believes it to be doable.”
Developer D.W. Jones, Inc. brings construction and management experience and is well-known to state agencies.
“Utilizing a known developer to Minnesota Housing is a key piece as well,” Langowski said. “They … work with people that do housing projects all across the state. Once you know the program and there’s trust with the developer, well, I think that also helped us get this money.”
The apartment building will be located just west of Ely-Bloomenson Community Hospital, with units ranging from studios to three bedrooms and from under 450 to over 1,200 square feet. It will be owned and managed by the Ely Housing and Redevelopment Authority.
But Wilderness Escape is more than just a construction project.
Ely’s rental shortage has long hampered local employers.
“People can’t find a place to live. It’s pretty tough for them to move here to take a job,” Langowski said. “That’s what we’ve heard from the hospital and a lot of the other places in town.”
Langowski said the new apartments may also unlock availability for single-family homes.
“Many people are interested in selling their house because they’re at a place in their life where they want to downsize,” he said. “If there are newer apartments, they’ll sell their house, move into the apartment, and then guess what? Now we’ve got housing stock available for these people wanting to move up here to take a job.”
It’s also the next chapter in a much longer effort by the city and the HRA to expand local housing. “This is just a continuation of what they’ve been working on for many years,” Langowski said. “We were hoping to build townhouses, but we soon found out they’re not cost feasible.”
The shift to apartments came with updated data showing strong demand.
“We did a housing study for workforce housing, and it just shows still a significant deficiency in housing units available in the area,” he said.
Years ago, the city extended utilities to the project site for a different initiative that’s become a fortuitous investment.
“Now those utilities are available for this apartment complex that we always hoped to get,” Langowski said. “But I was thinking, honestly, that would be 10 years from now. Now, here we go.”
For Langowski, Wilderness Escape is affirmation to never give up.
“Persistence is key, and also to have a little bit of patience sometimes,” he said. “People want to see things happen fast. And you’ve just got to keep working.”