Cinnaire Solutions and Northernstar Companies Development to Provide 62 Units of Mixed-Income Housing
On May 8, 2024, Cinnaire Solutions and the Northernstar Companies broke ground on a $16 million new construction multi-family housing development in La Crosse, WI. The Collective on 4th will offer 62 mixed-income residences in partnership with the City of La Crosse, reactivating a half-block of properties with high-quality affordable residential apartments.
The four-story building, located near downtown La Crosse, is designed to help address the city’s goal of reducing homelessness by providing more accessible and affordable housing to residents. A portion of units will be set aside for individuals and families experiencing or at-risk of homelessness. The building will include a community room open to local organizations, including Workforce Connections, Inc., who will provide job training and employment counseling services on site. The City of La Crosse issued a Request for Proposals for the site in 2021, with the intent of increasing the supply of affordable housing in the community.
The Collective on Fourth was developed by Cinnaire Solutions and Northernstar Companies, LLC with financing provided by the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA), The City of La Crosse, FHLBank Chicago, Cinnaire, Merchants Bank and Citizens State Bank.
Speakers at the event included La Crosse Mayor, Mitch Reynolds; City Council member Chris Woodard; and representatives from WHEDA, Cinnaire and Merchants Bank.
“The city has been experiencing a shortage of not just housing, but in particular affordable housing for a long time,” said Nicole Solheim, Vice President of Development for Cinnaire. “We’re very excited to be one part of the solution to that.”
The Collective is a project more than three years in the making. It is located on a piece of land just south of downtown with a plan to combat affordability and homelessness. The city of La Crosse bought the land in 2021 and asked the community what they wanted to see for it.
“Affordable housing was a top priority,” Solheim said. “It’s something new to add to the neighborhood, and also having some units that are set aside to individuals that may be at risk of homelessness, so we’re looking to really address that and combine that with community amenities, programming and services on site.”
The four-story Collective building should be completed by the spring of 2025, with the first units available in June.
