Cedar Ridge Apartments will get an upgrade

• The Cedar Ridge Apartment buildings

The Cedar Ridge Apartment buildings at 1400 and 1401 Namekagon Street were built in 1993. Most of the Cedar Ridge Apartment units have a deck or patio. Approximately $1.08 million will be spent on upgrades to the one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. They will remain moderate-income housing under the new owner, Dominium Development and Acquisition of Plymouth, Minn. Photo by Randy Hanson

Talk about it

The Cedar Ridge Apartments on Namekagon Street will have a new owner and undergo renovations in the coming year.

The Hudson City Council on Jan. 9 authorized the issuance of $8.3 million in revenue bonds that a Minnesota company will use to purchase the two 36-unit buildings and make improvements to them.

Dominium Development and Acquisition LLC of Plymouth is the buyer of the apartment buildings and will make the renovations.

The Hudson Housing Authority will ostensibly issue the revenue bonds for the acquisition and improvements, but Dominium Development will be solely responsible for their repayment.

The federal government apparently requires local approval of projects financed with tax-exempt bonds to assure that they are in the public interest. A mix of tax-exempt and taxable bonds will be issued for the Cedar Ridge project.

Jody Branson, executive secretary for the Hudson Housing Authority, said the bonds are similar to those the authority has issued for expansion projects at Christian Community Homes in Hudson.

Branson said the housing authority approved the bonds to keep the apartments from going to market-rate rents. Under the financing agreement, three of the units will be reserved for tenants paying up to 30 percent of their income in rent. Eight will be for people paying up to 40 percent of their income in rent.

Tenants will pay up to 60 percent of their income in rent for the remaining 61 apartments.

The monthly rents range from $430 to $1,031. The average is $864. The buildings have one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. Most of the units have a deck or patio. The buildings were constructed in 1993.

Ron Mehl, the senior developer for Dominium, reported to the City Council’s Finance Committee that about $1.08 million, or $15,000 per unit, will be spent on upgrades to the apartment units, buildings and grounds.

All of the units will get new countertops, cabinet doors, drawer fronts, sinks and faucets, window blinds, bathroom vanities and hardware, Mehl said.

He said appliances, flooring, air-conditioning units, ceiling fans, lighting and interior doors will be replaced as needed.

New picnic areas are planned for the exterior of the buildings, as well as parking lot repairs and new sidewalks and landscaping. Improvements also are planned for the common areas of the buildings and the automobile garages.

Park user fees

The council approved increases in city park user fees for 2012. Public Works and Parks Director Tom Zeuli said a number of the increases amounted to rounding up to an even-dollar figure.

The per-game fee for use of Grandview Park ball fields increased to $30 for adult and school district teams, $20 for Hudson Booster teams, and $45 for lighted fields. The previous fees were $29.44, $18.99 and $42.20.

The non-profit rate for rental of the band shell in Lakefront Park was set at $130, a $1 increase from last year.

The fees for rental of the large pavilion in Prospect Park also increased nominally to $85 for city residents and $195 for non-city residents. A $170 security deposit also is required.

City residents will pay $105, and non-city residents, $215, to rent the large pavilion in Weitkamp Park. A $250 security deposit is required for the Weitkamp pavilion.

The city-resident fee for the small pavilions in both Prospect and Weitkamp parks is $25. The non-resident fee is $30.

The season-long fee for mooring a sailboat next to the dike road will remain at $560.

Other action

In other business, the council: