Brooklyn Center Officials Updated on Plans for Wangstad Commons

[Originally Published on 6Park News: View Source]

City officials in Brooklyn Center received an update this week on the status of a proposed affordable apartment complex.

JO Companies wants to build a complex called Wangstad Commons on a vacant 1.79-acre site at 61st Avenue and Brooklyn Boulevard.

The project calls for a 54-unit, four-story building, with each apartment having one to four bedrooms. About a dozen of the units would even be made especially for people with disabilities.

The developer hopes to receive tax credits from the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency to help pay for the project, which has been scaled back from its original 88-unit proposal. On Monday night, JO Companies provided an update on the project to the Downtown Brooklyn Economic Development Authority.

“I think it’s very important that projects like this get highlighted and developed so that individuals and families, multi-generational families, can have access to quality housing that represents my ideals,” said Johnny Opara, president and CEO of JO Companies. . “Which is basically market-rate design, but affordable housing. That is what we are building in St. Paul, and we want to bring it to the city of Brooklyn Center.”

The Minnesota Housing Finance Agency rejected the developer’s application last year to receive the tax credits. JO Companies is scheduled to submit a new funding request in July. They will find out in October if that application is successful.