The Albert Lea City Council Monday supported a workforce housing grant application to help develop the former Ramsey school building into market rate rental units.

The city plans to apply for the $150,000 grant through Minnesota Housing by Thursday to help fill the funding gap for the project, which is being developed by Schoolhouse LLC.

“That’s one of the areas of housing that we need the most in the community, is more of the market-rate rentals,” said Albert Lea City Manager Chad Adams.

Schoolhouse LLC purchased the property in 2016 and planned to build 12 units on the building’s first and second floors in the first phase of the project. An additional approximately 17 units were initially planned to be built in the second phase, and an addition to the building was planned to accommodate second-phase development.

Adams said the city plans to contribute $75,000 for the development, with an investment of $800,000 to $1.2 million by the developer.

The city is expected to learn about the status of its grant by March or April, with construction possibly immediately following. Occupancy is planned by 2019.

Adams said a housing study showed the city needed 100 units of market rate rentals to accommodate its workforce.

“In the community we continue to hear from employers that they’re looking for workers,” he said. “A lot of those workers that are prospects oftentimes have difficult time finding a place to live here, or are not able to retain them because they don’t live here, so the more we can do in the housing market to attract and retain workers, the more this community will grow,” he said.

Adams said Wedgewood Cove Townhomes has been successful in filling its 30 units and cited a recent uptick in the city’s population as proof the city’s effort to increase workforce housing worked.

To call attention to the continued need for workforce housing, a workforce housing summit will be Feb. 6 in Albert Lea.

Noelle Hagen, Albert Lea Economic Development Authority small business and marketing manager, said a lack of workforce housing is a part of the problem the community faces in bringing prospective employees to the community.

Hagen acknowledged quality of life and amenities are also what attracts workers to the community and credited Albert Lea for installing the splash pad and revitalizing its downtown district to make itself more attractive for prospective employees.