WHITEFISH — Two new housing developments have been approved in Whitefish, which advocates say brings much needed rental opportunities and affordable housing options to the growing community.
A total of 252 units will be added between both the Alpine 93/40 project and the 808 Edgewood Place development.
“Yeah, definitely a step in the right direction,” said Shelter Whitefish President Nathan Dugan.
The Whitefish City Council has approved both the Alpine 93/40 and Edgewood Place developments to move forward, as the city tries to meet a growing demand for housing.
“We got some affordable housing and we got some of that much needed you know market-rate rental homes as well that will house a lot of people, I think that will be working downtown in the service industry and elsewhere,” added Dugan.
Shelter Whitefish, a nonprofit housing solutions group is pleased both projects are moving forward. Dugan said having 10% of the combined units deed-restricted for affordable housing is a step in the right direction.
“If we don’t approve the developments that contain some of the affordable housing, we end up not getting any affordable housing and so we like to see that number kind of ticked away, little by little.”
The 808 Edgewood Place development is still in the beginning design phase but will consist of 42 units, while the Alpine 93/40 project will consist of 210 one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments sitting on 10 acres of land on the corner of Highways 93 and 40.
“You know the ability to have a significant amount of market-rate, what we call workforce attainable and affordable units coming into the market will really help this city,” said Alpine 93/40 developer Alberto Valner.
Valner added they will try to add incentives for additional workforce housing, along with the deed-restricted affordable housing already set aside under the Legacy Housing Program.
“You know 10% of affordable housing units, but we have committed to provide another 10% at a discount rate to local businesses in the city of Whitefish that have employees that would want to live here,” said Valner.
The Alpine 93/40 development will be built in two phases, with housing units becoming available in approximately 2½ years.
“Starting here and we need to hopefully keep getting some projects in, that we can continue to build that pipeline as we go forward,” Dugan concluded.
