Huntington Place Apartments To Receive $10M in State Funds
The Minnesota Legislature recently awarded Brooklyn Park’s Huntington Place Apartments a $10 million grant.
The funding was included in the state’s $1 billion housing and finance policy bill. Gov. Tim Walz signed the bill on May 15.
Aeon, a nonprofit housing developer and manager, owns Huntington Place.
The bill gave a one-time appropriation of $10 million to Aeon for “community stabilization.”
“The funds will be used for rehabilitation but the specifics aren’t determined yet,” a spokesperson for Aeon said.
Aeon’s spokesperson said that the state is still determining criteria for how the funds can be used. As a result, Aeon does not expect to have solidified spending plans for a few weeks.
“Like all the different apartment communities that were built in the 60s, they require constant reinvestment just like a single-family home,” said Kim Berggren, Brooklyn Park’s director of community development. “You constantly have to be reinvesting in your place of living, so we expect that of all our apartment communities.”
The Minnesota Legislature recently awarded Brooklyn Park’s Huntington Place Apartments a $10 million grant.
$10 million for State’s Second Largest Complex
Located at 5805 73rd Ave. N., the complex is home to an estimated 2,500 residents. By comparison, in the 2021 census, the city of Osseo has a population of 2,606 residents.
With 834 one-bedroom units, it’s the second largest apartment community in the state.
Residents have often complained about the living conditions in the troubled complex.
Berggren said conditions are improving at Huntington.
“We’re happy to see that the livability in the Huntington Place community has improved a lot with a lot of effort from Aeon and the city and other partners,” Berggren said. “What we’re seeing is a better maintenance program that’s getting at repairs faster. The city inspectors have been out there a lot to ensure that’s happening. And [we’ve been] working with the community there to make sure they’re getting responses from their management group.”
Aeon purchased the complex from former owners Dominium in 2020 with a pledge to keep rent affordable.
Brooklyn Park loaned $5 million to Aeon in 2020 for reinvestment in the property. Hennepin County also gave Aeon $3.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding in spring of 2022.
Hennepin County valued the property at $80 million this year.
“It’s great to see the state come to the table with some resources to make sure that that community remains stable in Brooklyn Park,” Berggren said. “The $10 million from the state will go a long way in reinvesting in some of the basic needs of the community.”
