New housing options for Grinnellians have officially begun production after the Historic Rehabilitation Kick-Off at the Spaulding Center for Transportation this Wednesday, Feb. 18. The event was held by the Hubbell Realty Company, the company behind the loft rehabilitation project, and the Grinnell Area Chamber of Commerce.
The event was attended by members of the Grinnell Community and many of Hubbell’s key employees. Hubbell Realty President and CEO Rick Tollakson spoke at the ceremony.
“We’re really looking forward to transforming this historic building … into 77 apartment units that we hope Grinnell residents will call home,” Tollakson said during his presentation.
The rehabilitation of the lofts comes in response to a lack of available housing for those that want to live and work in Grinnell.
“Our housing starts have not kept up to our job growth, and we have identified a need for more variety in our housing stock,” wrote Chamber of Commerce Tourism Director Emily Counts to The S&B. “There are people who want to live in Grinnell but cannot find housing to meet their needs, which often results in them living in a neighboring community or—worse yet–not accepting the job they were offered in Grinnell.”
Having workers live in Grinnell is important to the Chamber of Commerce and the economy of Grinnell.
“We need more housing to attract a workforce for our companies, and it’s very important to our community that those people live and work here, because residents spend far more in the community than in-commuters do. If people want to live in Grinnell, I want them to be able to,” Counts wrote. “Hubbell’s investment in this housing project is a step in the right direction toward satisfying the demand for rentals.”
Hubbell was chosen to back this project due to their extensive experience with the conplications that can come with financing projects of this kind.
“Because the market here hasn’t naturally resulted in housing starts, we had to get creative. We don’t have a local developer that has the capacity to tackle a project of this size and complexity, so we began looking for larger developers that could help,” Counts wrote. “Hubbell did their market research and determined that this project was viable. A project like this takes many layers of financing to make happen, and Hubbell has a lot of experience with this type of project. We are so excited and grateful for their investment in Grinnell.”
