Redevelopment of the former school land in Biwabik could move forward later this year through an agreement with the city and Zenith Property Management.
The company intends to build 10 market-rate rental units at the site, said Biwabik Councilor Patti Wallert on Monday, and the city planning and zoning commission has recommended rezoning the land from public use to accommodate the project.
“We’re really excited,” she said.
Aaron Schweiger, a representative of Zenith, expressed interest in entering a developing agreement with the city and pursuing grant funding in July from the Department of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation (IRRR).
Zenith locally owns and manages the Laurentian Apartment in Biwabik, Summit View Estates in Gilbert and State Street Apartments in Buhl.
“We have the school site we’ve identified and some other properties in town we’ve spoken to Mayor [Steve] Biondich about,” Schweiger said.
The potential influx of units on the Iron Range comes at a time when Greater Minnesota is seeing smaller populations, but more demand for affordable housing. The Center for Rural Policy Development (CRPD), last March, wrote that declining or stagnating population rates can push housing demand because smaller households are increasing within those community trends.
In every category of county groups established by the CRPD, the rate of household growth has outpaced population changes from 1970 to 2020.
St. Louis County is labeled as urban/town/rural mix, which in general across Minnesota saw population rise 35%, but households jumped by 81%. Narrowing it down, St. Louis County experienced a 9.4% decline in population in that timeframe, and a 22.9% increase in households.
“In 1970, nearly half of the households had 1 or 2 people living in them while 20% or more had 5 or more people,” wrote Kelly Asche, a senior researcher and author of the CRPD report. “By 2023, those percentages have changed significantly: around 70% of households now have 1 or 2 people while not even 10% of households have 5 or more people.”
Biwabik is far from the only community on the Range with housing projects on its mind.
Rock Ridge Public Schools recently sold its vacant land in Gilbert to an interested developer. The city of Eveleth is considering adding units to the former Eveleth-Gilbert school land. Hibbing announced a new development project last year, and the IRRR continues to see grant requests to help build out more options.
Accessing the Biwabik City Council
• Biwabik City Council agenda and packets are posted through the city’s website. Video recordings of the meetings are generally posted within 48 hours on the city’s Vimeo page.
