A prior version of this article incorrectly listed the owner as Croix Management. The owner is, in fact, Northland Village Partners. Croix Management is the management company, and it isn’t the debtor.
by April Scheinoha
Reporter
Carter Nelson has a lot of plans for Northland Village in Thief River Falls. On Tuesday, Sept. 26, he asked the Pennington County Board to waive about $145,000 in outstanding taxes, penalties and interest currently owed by Croix Management. If he were to purchase the property, Nelson would be responsible for that amount.
Nelson said Northland Village Partners also owes about $100,000 in delinquent utility bills to the City of Thief River Falls. However, it would be responsible for that amount.
County Board took the tax request under advisement. Chairperson Neil Peterson told Nelson that county leaders need to do some research. He advised Nelson to check with County Board at its next meeting in two weeks.
Nelson owns apartments in the Minneapolis area. He would like to buy Northland Village, which consists of three two-story apartments and three two-story townhouse buildings totalling 87 units. The affordable housing community is located southeast of Northland Community and Technical College.
A Northland Village Partners representative told Nelson that Northland Village is 70% vacant. Nelson has also spoken to law enforcement, which informed him about issues it has encountered there.
Nelson plans to offer Northland Village units at the market rate, specifically targeting young professionals. He has been told that the current U.S. Department Housing and Urban Development subsidy can be removed. Even though he will be offering the units at market rate, Nelson said he plans to accept Section 8 housing vouchers.
After purchasing the property, Nelson plans to spend about $2 million in remodeling the apartments down to the drywall. “This isn’t a slap-together remodel by any means,” said Nelson, who noted that the estimated market valuation would then increase and lead to more taxes being paid.
While Nelson was requesting the county to waive the outstanding taxes, penalties and interest, County Board is unable to waive city taxes. Peterson asked how much Croix Management owes in city taxes.
Nelson replied that he didn’t have city tax data since he was relying on the Pennington County website, which doesn’t separate city taxes from county taxes.
Nelson also asked commissioners about the potential for tax increment financing. Peterson informed Nelson that the City of Thief River Falls would consider any requests for TIF.