Another New Apartment Complex Taking Shape

Another new apartment complex taking shape

While the single-family housing construction market might have cooled due to higher interest rates, a tight labor market and inflated prices for materials, multifamily construction has made impressive gains the past two years, according to the National Association of Realtors. And it’s an especially hot market in Waconia. In recent weeks we have reported on the completion of the Trail’s Edge affordable housing apartments near Target and the start of construction on a market-rate apartment building at the old Waconia American Legion location on Olive Street.

Meanwhile, near the Marketplace commercial area on the west edge of town close to Highway 5 and County Road 10, steady progress is being made on The Otto. That’s a 163- unit apartment complex under construction at 601 Industrial Boulevard West, a mixture of studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom units.

Construction started in late May, and helped by a dry summer work has proceeded at a brisk pace, according to Paul Tucci, executive vice president of investment with property development firm Oppidan Investment Company. Work is expected to continue through the winter targeting opening in fall 2023.

The pace of activity in the building trades has slowed down a bit with the advent of winter weather and the builder has been able to keep labor in place to maintain that schedule for now, Tucci said.

The underground garage with nearly 120 parking stalls is done and building framing is well underway. With building components now coming in segments or panels, winter doesn’t present as much of a challenge as it once did, Tucci explains. Once the building is wrapped and topped off with roof, indoor sheetrock and electrical work can begin, he said.

Interest level in The Otto has been high, said Jamie Korzan, Oppidan vice president of investor relations, and project pricing is expected to be in place by the first quarter of next year.

Generally, apartment residents can expect rent starting at $1,245 a month to a high of $2,500, subject to change before opening. In addition to underground parking, amenities include a community/party room, rooftop deck, maybe a pool (yet to be determined), exercise/yoga room, mailroom, leasing office, bike storage, exterior dog run, and a patio overlooking the adjacent woods and wetlands and a natural trail running through them.

More information is available at The Otto

As a footnote, The Otto is named after an important Carver County resident, according to the Oppidan team. That person is Otto Diedrich Sell, born in 1875 to German immigrants, who settled in Laketown Township, just 2 1/2 miles southeast of Waconia. Sell founded the Carver County Historical Society, organized in April 1940, as he traveled the county and observed that much of its local history was being lost.

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