MANKATO — Despite strong opposition from neighboring residents, a planned three-building apartment complex received approval from the Mankato City Council Monday night.
With the city facing a severe housing shortage, council members showed little inclination to put roadblocks in front of the Campus Cottages development promising 84 apartment units designed for young professionals along Pohl Road, east of Minnesota State University.
Council member Michael McLaughlin spoke about the extra decade it’s taking many adults to reach the point where they can afford to buy a home, making it even more important to increase the amount of quality rental housing in Mankato.
“It is a need,” McLaughlin said of the planned complex. “And it seems to fit all of the regulations.”
Owners of nearby single-family homes acknowledged the community’s housing shortage but said the proposed 12-acre parcel, which much of it covered by a wetland, is better suited for lower-density designs.
The residents — mainly retirees — speaking Monday night also were well represented at a Planning Commission meeting last month. Their concerns included potential conflicts between apartment dwellers and adjacent neighborhoods over parties, parking and careless driving — something the homeowners said they’ve experienced with other high-density housing in the area.
“Enough is enough of jamming all of these apartments around our neighborhood,” said Rich Shermock, who lives on Tanager Road.
Approving this project will make it harder for the city to block the next large apartment complex that’s proposed next to single-family homes, said Silas Born, who lives on Priscilla Court.
“What is to keep another project from following it? And another?” Born asked. “… And us private owners are pretty much obliterated with apartment buildings.”
The investors behind Campus Cottages are promising a different type of tenant than the college-age residents of many of the apartment buildings closer to MSU, particularly College Town — a student-focused gated community immediately across Pohl Road that has a reputation as a hotspot for parties.
The two- and three-level units of Campus Cottages will have no more than two bedrooms, and no more than two unrelated tenants are to be permitted in each unit. Speaking to the Planning Commission last month, Ryan Evenson of APX Construction described how the building designs intentionally aim to avoid impromptu gatherings. For instance, doors from each unit lead directly outside to that unit’s reserved parking spaces, eliminating the common stairwells and hallways that can lead to tenants congregating.
Evenson made an attempt to avoid a repeat of the opposition seen at the Planning Commission meeting, sending a letter to neighbors inviting them to a meeting at Jake’s Stadium Pizza last Thursday.
“Our goal is to create an open and respectful setting where these items can be discussed prior to the upcoming City Council meeting,” Evenson wrote.
There were still numerous opponents on hand, but council members appeared more persuaded by a different number: the 2025 Mankato Housing Needs Analysis that stated that 1,224 market-rate rental units need to be constructed between now and 2035 to meet anticipated demand.
The council voted 6-0 to approve the project with Council member Jessica Hatanpa absent.