ALDI opens grocery store in Park Rapids
Robin Fish / Park Rapids Enterprise
An ALDI grocery store opened the week of Dec. 4, 2023 at 1310 1st St. E. in Park Rapids. Abbreviated from Albrecht Diskont, the store is part of a German-owned discount supermarket chain.
Knute Nelson Crystal Brook adding memory care units BY ROBIN FISH Park Rapids Enterprise
Shannon Geisen/Enterprise
HLDC is constructing a 58-unit complex on a parcel it owns in Park Rapids, just east of Walmart.
Pine Crest Apartments built for workforce housing BY SHANNON GEISEN Park Rapids Enterprise
agency in this community has experienced firsthand the impact the lack of affordable housing The Heartland Lakes has on our ability to Development Commisattract and retain worksion (HLDC) broke ers. Creating affordable ground in Aug. 2023 on housing is a messy, comPine Crest Apartments. plicated process. If the HLDC is constructing entire community didn’t a 58-unit complex on a work together to figure parcel it owns in Park out a solution, we Rapids, just east of wouldn’t be standing Walmart. The three here today.” buildings will encompass Thompson thanked studios and 1-, 2- or Northwoods Bank for its 3-bedroom units, plus a financial package, with community-use center the participation of Citifor its residents. They zens National Bank. are also trying to include She thanked the counonsite childcare. ty, city and school for By keeping developapproving a tax abatement costs down, the ment “that will allow the goal was to make rent rents to be affordable to affordable for young pro- our workforce.” fessionals who earn Thanks to a warmerroughly $40,000, like than-average winter, conteachers, bank tellers struction was nearing and assistant auditors. completion in Feb. 2024, At the groundbreaking and HLDC began acceptceremony, HLDC Execuing names for a waiting tive Director Mary list. Thompson said, “Nearly Thompson anticipates every business, organiza- occupancy to start in July 2024. tion and governmental
HLDC also owns 20 acres to the north of the Pine Crest development, where they are working to prepare a subdivision so private developers can build affordable, singlefamily homes and two- or three-unit townhomes. In March 2024, HLDC secured a $3,111,000 federal appropriation to build a permanent road for the proposed housing subdivision off Finley Street. A portion of profits from Pine Crest Apartments will go toward a Hubbard County Local Housing Trust Fund to support owner-occupied rehabilitation and other housing projects. Thompson praised the county for establishing the fund, “which provides an ongoing resource for future housing projects.” Contact Thompson for more information at mthompson@heartlandlakesdc.org.
A new memory care wing at Knute Nelson Crystal Brook Senior Living is rapidly taking shape. The addition adds 20 new units, bringing the campus’ total to 38 memory care apartments. “We’ve been having construction meetings all along,” said Ashley Ylitalo, executive director of Crystal Brook. “They’re saying it’s on track to potentially be open in May. We just walked through there. There’s some flooring going down, some paint in the apartments. There’s still plenty of work to do, but it’s coming along well.” “It’s exciting to know that we have the community’s support behind it,” said Samantha Beckman, Knute Nelson’s vice president of marketing and digital transformation. “Our design is a little different,” said Ylitalo. “The common spaces are together – the dining and living areas are in close proximity.” “It’s nice to have those community spaces, so that there’s an opportunity for residents and family members to be in an open community space,” said Beckman, “or to be in their rooms, independently, as an option as well.” Otherwise, Ylitalo said, the new wing will feature “the same type of care, the same quality of care and programming that we currently offer.” As a memory care facility, he said, it will have a higher level of supervision than the neighboring independent living senior apartments, with an RN case manager, activities, intentional programming to meet
Robin Fish / Park Rapids Enterprise
The exterior of Knute Nelson Crystal Brook Senior Living’s new memory care wing was substantially complete as of Monday, March 11, with work continuing inside on 20 new memory care units. residents’ needs, intimate dining spaces and three meals a day designed to encourage healthy appetites. “Our mission statement is to enrich the lives of everyone we serve,” said Ylitalo. “We really focus on personcentered care, meeting the individual’s daily needs.” Beckman said the particular value of the memory care apartments is ensuring the safety of the residents. Due to the risk of people with memory loss wandering, the unit will be locked for their safety. “Caregiver burnout is a real thing,” she acknowledged. “That can be challenging sometimes, when we experience these types of diagnoses in the home, and that risk factor if we’re not into those safety precautions.” Beckman added that social wellbeing is also extremely important. “We want to avoid any isolation,” she said. “That can become a concern with an aging adult or anyone who is vulnerable. So having a social environment, whether with staff or with other
residents, is really important to the quality of life overall.” Ylitalo said the number of additional employees staffing the new wing will change from Day 1 until the facility is fully occupied. At that point, he said, he would expect a couple dozen more staff on the roster – including care attendants, homemakers, maintenance staff and life enhancement, i.e. the activity program. Reservations are already underway for the single-occupant apartments, Ylitalo said. As of March 6, five units were already reserved. Knute Nelson’s home health therapy department also serves the community out of an office at Crystal Brook, Ylitalo noted. Beckman said that with home care, senior living and memory care, Knute Nelson offers a continuum of care that meets the needs of the aging population wherever they are – whether at home or at a higher care level. “Our goal in the community is to continue to understand the needs and try to meet those needs as best we can,” she said.