(Jackson, Mn.)– Local leaders and community partners held a groundbreaking ceremony in Jackson on Tuesday. The event marked the beginning of Phase 1A in the Belmont Heights project. Mayor Marcus Polz says this has been a long time coming for the City of Jackson…
“It’s been an exciting up and down process and to finally see this all come to fruition it’s a little bit surreal. We had our moments and here we are.”
Plans for the housing development came together in the summer of 2022 and the groundbreaking for the infrastructure happened in November 2023. Jeff Anneke (Ay-nick-ee) with DBS Group says the goal is to deliver a planned and purposeful neighborhood…
“It was such a regular part of my life. I’d be leaving the office for a breakfast meeting and I would say I’m going to Jackson. People would make the Johnny Cash reference and it took three or four of those examples for me to actually plug in and realize there was a song, I’m Going To Jackson. It sounds like a lot of travel and that kind of thing, but it wasn’t because I was always heading out to a community that was welcoming, friendly. Everyone shared the same vision and interest in how do we help bring this housing forward.”
The initial phase features a three-story apartment building with 41 one or two-bedroom units along with 20 external garages. There will also be eight townhomes with three bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms, and a two-car garage.
Shawn Foster is the president of the Jackson Economic Development Corporation. He says this is a local investment in the current and future workforce…
“JDC believes housing is essential for the growth of Jackson. We’ll continue to do whatever we can to ensure its future success. I’m pleased to announce today that the JDC has committed $700,000 to this project. In addition to our financial contributions, a number of our JDC members participated in community outreach.”
AGCO director of operations Travis Van Genderen says the company is fully committed to the City of Jackson…
“Now I know we are going through a bit of a downturn. I know the environment that we’re in today with the ag industry looks a lot different than a year ago when we first got this project rolling, but it’s important that we don’t lose focus on our future growth. We’re going to rebound, we’re going to come back from this, and a project like this is so important for us to be able to capture that growth.”
Mayor Polz says this is a transformative project for Jackson…
“A large portion of our workforce commutes from outside the community and finally we have the opportunity to be able to retain some of those quality workers and we know the workforce is the most important aspect at keeping our industrial parkway going, so that’s extremely exciting. In Jackson there’s always been this huge shortage of housing. Now to just be able to have the opportunity for people to come, to have a place to live, it just really aligns a lot with what our goals and objectives have been in the community.”
Officials are expecting the townhomes in Belmont Heights to be ready during the summer of 2025 with the apartments available in the fall.
(Courtesy Community First Broadcasting station KKOJ in Jackson, Mn.)
