Participating in the groundbreaking last Wednesday afternoon at Blue Earth’s Prairieview Subdivision were, left to right, APX Construction developer Jorge Lopez, Blue Earth mayor Rick Scholtes, city administrator Mary Kennedy, economic development specialist Amy Schaefer, Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA) chairman Lars Bierly and APX Construction job superintendent Paul Lang.

The city of Blue Earth and its Housing Redevelopment Authority (HRA) held a groundbreaking ceremony at Prairie View Subdivision on the northeast side of town last week on Wednesday afternoon.

The first construction in the new housing development got underway last week. It will be a duplex on the first lot to the north at the entrance to the subdivision.

The duplex will be owned by the HRA and rented out. It is being built by APX Construction Group of Mankato.

APX has also purchased all six lots in the cul-du-sac just to the south of where the HRA is building their duplex. APX has plans to build three duplexes on the six lots and have them available for purchase.

In addition, the HRA is having APX build another duplex on Fourth Street where an old duplex was recently demolished. Plus, they are having APX build a four-plex on a lot on the corner of Eighth and Rice streets, which also had a duplex located there which was demolished last year.

The multi-family building projects were set to start construction earlier this year, but became delayed as the city applied for a Small Cities Development Program grant. The city did receive a $317,400 grant to help with the costs of the multi-family units.

The cost estimates for the HRA-owned duplex now under construction in the housing development is $509,960. The four-plex at Eighth and Rice streets has an estimated cost of $787,200 and the duplex on Fourth Street has a cost estimate of $418,215.

The HRA purchased the lot in the Prairie View Subdivision for $22,500 from the city. APX is buying the six lots for their three multi-family buildings for $109,000.