City Buys Lopau land for future housing lots

Luverne city leaders continue to seek solutions for the community’s housing shortage, and recent land transactions will help address those needs.
At their Nov. 12 meeting, Luverne City Council members approved an amendment to the 2019 budget to allow for the purchase of 10 acres of land from Lynn Lopau on the west edge of Luverne.
The city intends to develop the property for future housing, but work won’t begin until 2021 because the purchase agreement allows for an Aug. 2020 closing in order to give Lopau time to find or build a new home in another location.
The property was appraised in two parts — one for the house, garage and two acres they sit on, and the other for the land and outbuildings.
The city paid $475,000 for the house, garage and two acres and $186,500 for the rest of the eight acres, including two outbuildings.
The total purchase price for the entire 10 acres is $661,500; however, the city intends to sell the house, garage and two acres for $475,000 — or more, because it’s a quality home on a hard surface road in city limits.
The outbuildings are valued at $45,000, but the city doesn’t need those nor does it intend to keep them.
So the total value of the land with no buildings that the city intends to develop for housing comes to $141,500 — or $17,687 per acre.
It’s too early to estimate the number of housing lots that new area could accommodate, but the latest housing study — updated after the Uithoven Addition was developed — continues to call for more single-family homes and twin homes.
At Monday’s meeting of the Luverne Economic Development Authority, the board reviewed the latest information from the Maxfield Research firm.
Essentially, the study shows that hundreds of residents are traveling out of town for work and would likely live in Luverne if the right housing were available.
The entire housing report is available on the city’s website, cityofluverne.org, under reports and studies.