Developers were hard at work during 2018 to reverse that trend.

Construction of two major new housing areas — Williams Bend and Gypsum Creek Crossing — began in Fort Dodge last year.

Also, the renovation of the former Phillips Middle School into apartments concluded.

Other communities in Webster County, notably Badger and Gowrie, also moved to meet the need for new housing by making land and incentives available.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Rick Wiseman, owner of Wiseman Construction, looks over some of the finished work in one of the units in the Windstone II section of the Williams Bend project. Wiseman is using local sub-contractors for all of his work.

More housing starts are expected in 2019. One of the most significant upcoming projects is expected to be the second phase of the Williams Bend addition, to be called Williams Ridge.

“Certainly, our housing situation is better,” said Dennis Plautz, the chief executive officer of the Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance. “I wish we were further along.”

Plautz said single family houses priced between $125,000 and $200,000 are the most in demand and sell the fastest.

He said there’s still a need for modern apartments in Fort Dodge. He said there are about 4,000 rental units in the city, but many of them are in large, older single family homes that were divided into apartments.

Williams Bend

-Messenger file photos by Hans Madsen
A worker applies siding to one of the many units being built in the Williams Bend neighborhood project in Fort Dodge.

People who have lived in Fort Dodge a long time may know the new neighborhood of Williams Bend by its old name, the Theiss farm.

The site is bordered by Williams Drive on the west, North 15th Street on the east, 20th Avenue North to the south and 25th Avenue North to the north. It’s about 22 acres.

In 2016, the city government and the Fort Dodge Betterment Foundation joined forces to buy the property, specifically so that it could be used for housing.

Plautz said the cooperation between the two entities made that housing project possible.

“Without the packages that were put together, we wouldn’t have any of this going on,” he said.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Work on the Gypsum Creek Crossing housing development continues as the weather allows.

To help open the area to development, the city had a new section of 24th Avenue North built between Williams Drive and North 15th Street at a cost of about $1.1 million.

There are three developers at work in Williams Bend, building single family homes, duplexes and an apartment building.

Northwest Iowa Building Co. LLC, of Ankeny, is building 48 single family houses, 15 duplexes and a 55-unit apartment building.

Tice Farm Housing, of Fort Dodge, is building five duplexes near 20th Avenue North and Williams Drive.

Windstone Circle LLC, of Fort Dodge, is building 12 duplexes.

There are another 39 acres awaiting development on the west side of Williams Drive, across from the current construction site. That’s the area that will become Williams Ridge.

Northwest Iowa Building Co. LLC plans to construct 74 single family homes, 20 duplexes and 60 row homes in 10 buildings of six units each in Williams Ridge.

“Over time, we’ve gotten to see the need and demand for housing in that community,” Seth Moulton, the company’s vice president, said. “It made sense to get up there and build.”

Gypsum Creek Crossing

About 33 acres south of 10th Avenue North and east of North 32nd Street are being turned into the Gypsum Creek Crossing neighborhood.

Construction began last fall on the first of 70 duplexes to be built there.

Seventh Avenue North and Ninth Avenue North will be extended east to serve the neighborhood. Two new north-south streets to be called 35th and 36th streets will be built.

A four acre park will be located in the middle of the development.

“It’s a fantastic location next to the aquatic park, near the schools and near all the retail,” said Russ Bertrand, the president of RJ Tide Development, of Sioux City. His company is developing the housing area.

Construction is expected to continue for the next eight years.

In the 1970s, the former owners of the property, Bill and Eva Scheideman, proposed building houses there. The proposal went nowhere, but Bertrand said the current plan is pretty close to what the Scheidemans put forward.

In 2017, the concept of housing there was rejuvenated by a conversation on the floor of the Iowa Senate.

State Sen. Rick Bertrand, R-Sioux City, was sitting at his desk and talking on the phone with his brother, Russ Bertrand.

During that conversation, Fort Dodge was mentioned. That caught the attention of state Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink, R-Fort Dodge, who sits right in front of Rick Bertrand in the Senate chamber.

After the phone call, the two senators talked. Kraayenbrink recalled that Rick Bertrand asked if Fort Dodge needed any new houses.

“I said, ‘Oh yeah, they need a lot of housing there,'” Kraayenbrink recalled.

He later set up a meeting between the Bertrands, representatives of the Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance and city officials.

“It just kind of blossomed from there,” he said.

Phillips Middle School

In 2014, Foutch Brothers LLC, of Kansas City, Missouri, bought the former Phillips Middle School, 1015 Fifth Ave. N., and the former Fair Oaks Middle School, 416 S. 10th St., from the Fort Dodge Community School District with plans to convert both into apartments.

The work at Phillips Middle School is now complete. The building houses 72 apartments, including studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom units. It also has a community meeting room, a theater and a fitness room.

“From the outside, the building will continue to look exactly like the school it has always been,” said Shawn Foutch, the co-owner of Foutch Brothers LLC. “From the inside, it will also look much like it historically did, until you get into individual apartments. There you will see a unique combination of modern conveniences and historic materials, trim, space and dimensions.”

Townhomes

A company related to Foutch Brothers is building some townhomes on the southern edge of downtown Fort Dodge.

JMAE LLC, of Kansas City, Missouri, plans to build four two-story buildings, with three townhomes in each one, on Second Avenue South between Ninth and 10th streets. They will be built on a former city parking lot.

The townhomes will each have two or three bedrooms and an attached garage in the back.

Construction is expected to begin in the spring, with the first ones to be done in the fall.

Other housing efforts

In Badger, there is a 24.5 acre site on the city’s southeast side with 35 lots in it.

In Gowrie, the city government, in conjunction with the Gowrie Development Commission and the Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance, is offering grants of up to $40,000 to help finance the construction of new homes there.

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