Old Brewery Transformed Into Affordable Housing

www.weau.com
September 6, 2007

More than one hundred years ago, a man named Henry Gund donated some of his land and money to help a small Lutheran hospital now known as Gundersen Lutheran. The hospital is now repaying the favor by saving the old Gund Brewery, and helping the community at the same time.

Emily Hiatt is just one of the people being helped by the newly remodeled Gund Brewery.

"I live in the Gund Brewery lofts with my son who also attends the Gundersen Daycare Center, so we have a short commute. Sometimes we ride our bikes to the daycare center."

Her son isn't the only one benefiting from the short walk. Emily also works for Gundersen Lutheran.

"For us, having a thirty second commute to work is unbelievable. We use to live in Winona, Minnesota actually and I was commuting from Winona to work each day."

The hospital says the lofts are affordable living for lower income families and Hiatt says the low rent and the short commute are saving her a lot of cash.

"I tallied up my gas totals and they were well over two hundred or three hundred dollars a month, so I've probably saved a lot of money."

But it's not just families who are excited about the new lofts. Mayor Mark Johnsrud says the project means good things for the city.

"When I ran for mayor, my campaign goal was growth and I think this project shows the growth within the city of La Crosse."

He says the south side is growing and changing for the better. Emily Hiatt hopes it's a trend that continues.

"I'd like to see that continue and see the South Avenue neighborhood really develop into a really booming historic neighborhood of La Crosse.

The new lofts are not only easy on the wallet they're easy on the environment. That's because the building is heated using solar panels.

The building houses eighty-six lofts with sixty-eight of them used for affordable housing.

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