Amid the sounds of construction equipment already working on the Edgewood Place site, state and local leaders held a groundbreaking ceremony last week to celebrate a new affordable housing project for Whitefish.

Alpenglow Apartments will include 38 apartments providing deed-restricted housing for residents who earn below the area median income. The project is the culmination of several years of work to obtain a site and financing for the project.

“This project means 38 extremely affordable homes and that impacts the lives of 38 families,” said Ben Davis, chair of the Whitefish Housing Authority board. “This project was started by this community and it will remain in the future for this community.”

The Whitefish Housing Authority has partnered with Homeword, a Missoula nonprofit housing developer, to develop the $8.7 million project.

The City of Whitefish has also been heavily involved in the project providing funding of $150,000 to assist in purchasing the 1.54-acre property roughly a block from Wisconsin Avenue north of downtown. In addition, the Whitefish Chamber of Commerce and business community provided support for the project.

Alan and Lisa Stinson previously owned the property and sold it at a discount for the project.

Davis thanked them for their contribution.

“A lot like this is very hard to find and that was critical part of this project,” Davis said. “I called them out of the blue to see if they’d be interested and they were immediately receptive. They were patient and allowed for a long time frame for it to close while we put the financing together.”

Andrea Davis, executive director of Homeword, said Alpenglow Apartments is a necessary project for Whitefish that has already received tremendous community support.

“What has always stood out is how proactive the business, community and municipal leaders of Whitefish have supported this project,” Davis said. “This has been a grassroots effort from the businesses, elected officials and citizens who have put forward the strategies to get things done.”

The project is made up of 38 apartments. The 12 one-bedroom units are 645 square feet in size, the 20 two-bedroom units are 760 square feet and the six three-bedroom units range from 940 square feet up to 1,500 square feet. Most of the apartments will be in three-story walk-up buildings, and other three-bedroom homes are townhouse style with their own attached one-car garage.

The apartments will be available to households earning 60% or less of area median income. For Flathead County, 60% of area median income is $33,420 for a two-person household. Previously, project developers have said rent on the housing units is expected to be between $400 and $890.

The goal is to have the apartments ready for occupancy in late 2020.

More than half of the employees who work in Whitefish commute to work, according to the 2016 Whitefish Workforce Housing Needs Assessment.

Mayor John Muhlfeld recalled when he moved to Whitefish in 1995 purchasing a two-bedroom home on Somers Avenue for $68,000, and today that same house costs $350,000, creating an affordablity gap that’s difficult to overcome for the average worker.

“Quite frankly we can do better than that,” Muhlfeld said. “People want to live here and grow their businesses here and they deserve the chance to do that.”

Muhlfeld said Whitefish is a community where bank presidents and teachers eat at the local restaurant, and the doctors and firefighters send their children to the same schools.

“This is about the fabric of our community and this project will only enhance our community by providing housing,” he said.

In November 2018, Alpenglow Apartments earned a low income housing tax credit from the state Board of Housing for $6.7 million to develop a rental housing. It also received nearly $1.5 million from the Montana Department of Commerce’s HOME Investment Partnerships and Housing Trust Fund programs.

Bruce Brensdal, Montana Housing Division Administrator with the state Department of Commerce, said Alpenglow Apartments will provide local workers and families an affordable home.

“Business and industry need workers and those workers need a place to live,” he said.

Alpenglow will be the first affordable multi-family rental property to be constructed in Whitefish since 2004, according to the state Department of Commerce. Currently, there are only 76 affordable rental homes with no vacancy in Whitefish.

Homeword is maintaining a list of those interested in the apartments. For more information contact Homeword at 406-532-4663 or email [email protected].