Garfield Green Project nears completion

The Garfield Green Project will soon be housing 20 families.

Black Hills FOX Reporter Katrina Lim show us what this new development has to offer Rapid City.

Habitat for Humanity teamed up with GBA Construction and Pure Property Management for the Garfield Green Project.

This includes converting the 3-story Garfield school building into a 12-unit apartment complex and constructing eight new homes on the parking lot.

Habitat's Executive Director says the project's vision is to have a mixed income, mixed housing type of development.

Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Scott Engmann says, "There's all kinds of great positive modeling that happens when you get a diverse group of people living together, not to mention the fact that's who we are as a community, right? We're not all rich and we're not all struggling. We're a blend of people, blend of races and we really wanted this development to reflect that and be a comfortable place for anybody to live."

Although the apartments have been outfitted with new appliances and wiring, some of the elements of the school can still be seen, including the old gym floor as part of the walls and the stage in a loft apartment.

Pure Property Management Owner Collin Goodwin says, "This is definitely a pivotal project, especially for this neighborhood. It takes a pioneer like Bill and Kristi to really get into a neighborhood and better a community that's already awesome so the hope is that putting the money into this community will make a good neighborhood great."

Habitat says they've been successful with the Garfield project through private funding, but they also hope to see a line item in the city's budget for affordable housing in the future.

Scott Engmann says, "For any of us, having a place to call home is foundational. It's the place from which you embark upon life and so for the families that we serve, being able to have a place that they can depend on, that the cost won't increase in the future, that will become an asset that they can pass onto the next generation, actually can change the course of one's life."

The next apartment open house is on October 20th at 6.

And seven out of the eight homes are filled with families.