Financing in place for work to begin on Lopau edition

Luverne City Council members at their May 9 meeting authorized sale of general obligation improvement bonds in the amount of $1,585,000 to finance the Lopau housing addition development.
During the bid letting that morning, four firms submitted proposals for the bond sale, and Robert W. Baird investment bank was awarded the sale at 3.37 percent (better than the estimated 3.56 percent).
The city retained Northland Securities Inc., Minneapolis, to advise the sale of the bonds, and George Eilertson of the firm reported to the council Tuesday night. 
“Housing is a need in Luverne, and this is a project in line with that,” he said.
“The bonds will be issued to finance the public improvements with that project to get it ready for single family and twin home development. That is certainly a positive for the city.”
The bonds are structured with a 12-year financing term with a call date Feb. 1, 2030, which is the date the city could start prepaying on the bonds
“Hopefully by that date and any date thereafter you’ve sold all the lots and you can pay off the bond,” Eilertson said.
He said the Luverne’s strong financial management, strong fiscal policies, and solid budget reserves contributed to the city’s strong AA-minus bond rating through Standard and Poor’s rating.
Bond funds will hit the city’s account on June 1.
Construction to start this spring, lots ready this fall
Henning Construction of Adrian was the low bidder for the project at $1,480,513.80 (nearly $270,000 lower than the engineer’s estimate of $1.75 million).
The utility and infrastructure construction project includes an 8-inch sanitary sewer main and 6- and 12-inch water mains to serve the 24 residential lots.
Nineteen lots will be designated for single-family homes and five will be multi-family lots for twin homes (10 units on the north end).
Construction of infrastructure and utilities will start this spring and should be substantially complete this fall.
The existing property will be graded to accommodate a variety of houses, which include slab on grade structures, walk-out basements, garden window basements and full basements.
Lots will be accessed by 36-foot-wide asphalt streets, and drainage will follow curb and gutters, drainage swales in backyards and a storm sewer system that outlets into a detention basin on the east side of the extended North Walnut Avenue.
The detention basin will retain a portion of storm water on site that will drain through a filter before out-letting upstream of Poplar Creek and will reduce the proposed runoff flow rate.
The Luverne Economic Development Authority owns the lots and will host a public hearing later this year to set lot prices and establish protective covenants.
The lots will be on the market in 2023 and will be available for new home construction in 2024.
LEDA will use a combination of cash reserves and the revenue from lot sales to make bond payments, in addition to special assessments on the new properties and property tax levies.