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Two new 12-plex apartment buildings to be ready soon

After a summer of construction, the new 12-plex structures along Division Street, known as the Kenmare Honkerville Apartments, are scheduled to be available to renters in November.

10/17/12 (Wed)

New housing . . . The two new 12-plex apartment buildings
are located on the south side of Division Street on lots
that have been vacant for most of Kenmare's existence.

By Caroline Downs

After a summer of construction, the new 12-plex structures along Division Street, known as the Kenmare Honkerville Apartments, are scheduled to be available to renters in November.

The public can stop in to see for themselves on November 2nd and 3rd.

“We should be done before [November] 1st on the west unit,” said Tom Serie, developer with S-W Design-Build, Inc.

The 12-plexes are projects of Gooseneck Implement and the Kenmare Community Development Corporation, designed to accommodate the increased demands for quality rental housing in Kenmare.

The results speak for themselves as 24 attractive, new living spaces are made available. “They’re spacious,” said Serie. “The three-bedroom units are larger than 50 percent of the houses in town.”

He predicted the apartments would appeal to a broad range of tenants, including families currently paying higher rents in Minot.

1-, 2- and 3-bedroom choices
Each unit has four three-bedroom apartments on the first floor with 1 3/4 baths and 1,423 square feet of space, renting for $1250 per month at this time.

The first floor also houses two one-bedroom, one-bath apartments at 701 square feet apiece. One of the one-bedroom apartments has a handicapped accessible bathroom and will rent for $539 per month. The other one-bedroom apartment will rent for $900.

Those two apartments, as well as one of the three-bedroom apartments, require specific median income qualification and verification under the North Dakota Housing Finance Agency guidelines.

The top floor of each building houses six two-bedroom apartments. Four of those apartments have 1 3/4 baths and 1,215 square feet of living space, renting for $1,100 per month.

One of those apartments has a single bathroom and 946 square feet, renting for $831 under the required income qualification. The sixth apartment on the top story has one bathroom and 959 square feet for $1,100 per month.

Kitchen appliances for all the apartments are furnished, including a stove, refrigerator, microwave, dishwasher and garbage disposal. A laundry room with two sets of washers and dryers is located on the ground floor of each unit.

Optional detached garages are available for all renters at a rate of $50 per stall per month. Apartment residents may choose to rent more than one garage stall.

Terms of the rental agreement include a one-year lease.

Final steps on a
$3.1 million project
Serie noted a tight work schedule through the end of October, with carpenters completing the finish work in the west unit this week.

Carpet will be installed in the units beginning the middle of next week, followed by cleaning crews for a last polish on the rooms before the new residents move in their households.

Work on the east unit will follow about two weeks behind the west unit.

Serie estimated the waterlines for both buildings would be dug in later this week and construction on the garages would be finished sometime early next week.

He noted the city sewer lines are already completed, but another project to finish the driveway and parking areas with a tar or asphalt coating may not be done until next year.

According to Serie, the units were built at a cost of $1.35 million apiece, with another $133,000 in street assessments and $68,000 in water and sewer assessments on each building. Serie said his company will directly pay a portion of the water and sewer assessments in order to reduce rental fees. “We had enough money in the account, we’ll do that,” he said.

The project was also approved for $480,000 ($240,000 for each unit) from the North Dakota Housing Incentive Fund in December 2011, which required a proportion of the apartments to be rented at lower rates, pending income verification from qualified renters.

Applications due for
Nov. 1 openings
As the finishing touches take place, Kenmare city auditor Barb Wiedmer is handling applications for potential tenants. She said 20 applications had been distributed for the 24 units. To date, seven of those applications have been submitted and apartments chosen.

Friday, October 19th, is the deadline for those original apartment requests and applications to be returned to Wiedmer. After that date, apartments reserved under those applications will be released for consideration by other renters.

Anyone interested in renting one of the apartments can contact Wiedmer immediately to be placed on her waiting list for openings. Wiedmer will also answer further questions about the income qualification information required to rent certain apartments.

At this time, six of the apartments in the west building owned by Gooseneck Implement have been rented, including two of the three-bedroom apartments, both one-bedroom apartments, and one of the two-bedroom apartments.

Only one two-bedroom apartment in the east building, owned by the Kenmare Community Development Corporation, had been committed as of October 15th. New renters should be able to move into these apartments sometime after November 15th.

The KCDC board is interested in selling the 12-plex they funded. “We are not property managers,” said Wiedmer, who serves as executive director for the organization. “Our goal was to get this constructed and finished.”

The public is invited to tour the Honkerville Apartments during an open house scheduled for November 2nd from 2 to 4 pm and November 3rd from 10 am to 1 pm.

Anyone with further questions about the 12-plexes or apartment openings should talk to Wiedmer at the Kenmare Memorial Hall or by calling 701-385-4232.