May 28, 2025
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Lincoln School housing project receives funding

By KYLE WILSON

Seldin Company of Omaha, Neb., plans to transform Lincoln School in Creston into rental housing with construction starting as early as July 1 and completion taking nine to 12 months.

The project will move forward.

City officials were recently notified that Seldin Company’s Lincoln School apartment project in Creston did receive funding through Iowa Finance Authority’s Housing Tax Credit. The project was awarded $412,731.

Lincoln School was sold by Creston City Council to Seldin Company of Omaha, Neb., for $10,000 in August 2014.

The development company plans to use the funding from Iowa Finance Authority to help transform the old school building into rental housing.

The building would include 16 units, adequate commons and fitness areas.

“We are pleased and excited to get this project started in Creston,” said Mike Fallesen, vice president of Affordable Housing Development with Seldin Company. “We knew there was a strong need for housing in Creston and a market analysis used in this application process concluded we were right.”

The 16 rental units would be a combination of one and two bedroom apartments. Seldin — who currently manages 13,000 units across the Midwest including Green Valley Manor in Creston — also plans to construct 11, three- and four-bedroom town homes on the green space between the school and Adams Street during this project. Those units would be two-story rentals with about 1,200 square feet.

To help get this funding, the city contributed $154,200 from its Low-to-Moderate Income (LMI) fund for Seldin’s Lincoln School project. Money in that LMI fund is primarily generated through the James Addition TIF and can only be used on LMI projects like Seldin’s.

Fallesen said the plan moving forward is to legally obtain the Lincoln School property by June 1 and begin construction July 1 inside the school building and rental units on the green space, simultaneously, by July 1.

He said construction on the site will take between nine months and one year with completion estimated July 1, 2016.

In all, 13 projects in nine counties across Iowa were awarded the Iowa Finance Authority Housing Tax Credit.

The financing this year will preserve or build 523 affordable housing units in Iowa.