A great group celebrated the completion of the first phase of townhomes last month at Lady Luck Estates in Hinckley, MN. Mike Price and I joined the Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures (MLCV) team, along with elected officials of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe.
After an inspiring invocation in fluent Ojibwe from MLCV’s CEO Joe Nayquonabe, he talked about the importance of the new development to the band and to the Hinckley community. Read more details about the development here.
Among the many important aspects, Lady Luck Estates will help provide quality, affordable housing for the local workforce in a community with an extreme housing shortage. Because of this shortage, many people commute an hour or more to work.
“This development is the culmination of the hard work and commitment by many partners including the Mille Lacs Band, the city of Hinckley, Travois, Red Stone Equity and the dedicated staff of Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures,” said Joe Nayquonabe, chief executive officer of Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures. “We’re proud to meet the demand for affordable housing, which is a foundation to further economic development in the region.”
Mr. Nayquonabe spoke about the detrimental impacts to businesses, communities and families when affordable housing is not available in proximity to job opportunities, including employee retention and related costs. He stressed the fact that when housing is not available near key employment centers in the region, families suffer because they must spend their time driving long distances rather than spending quality time together or being involved in their community as coaches or mentors.
After speeches and applause, a Princeton Elm tree was planted to signify the growth of this neighborhood.
Without question, many tribes are working tirelessly every day to address these very same issues. At Travois, we do not take for granted the opportunity to play a small part in those efforts (check out more about our work here).
We applaud the MLCV team for recognizing the importance of housing as it relates to their overall economic development efforts, and for their work to bring the Lady Luck Estates development to fruition. (Check out my blog from earlier this year about the MLCV’s award of Project Team of the Year)
We can’t wait to see the remaining units completed later this year!