Ground has officially been broken on Wilderness Escape, a 37-unit workforce housing development that will help address one of Ely’s most pressing needs: a place for working families to live.
Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation (IRRR) Commissioner Ida Rukavina joined State Sen. Grant Hauschild, State Rep. Roger Skraba, and local leaders on site to mark the milestone. The project sits on a former gravel pit donated by the City of Ely to the Ely Housing and Redevelopment Authority, with site preparation already underway since last fall.
Commissioner Rukavina pointed to Gov. Tim Walz’s One Minnesota housing priority as the backdrop for the investment, calling it part of a statewide push to get more workforce housing built where it’s needed most. The IRRR contributed a $4.58 million housing grant toward the project — support that came after an earlier funding request to the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency for the same amount was denied in 2024. The Minnesota Housing Finance Agency later stepped in with a $1.5 million forgivable loan through its Workforce Housing Development program.
“All of us got together and said housing is number one,” Rep. Skraba said, underscoring the bipartisan effort behind getting the project funded.
Sen. Hauschild credited local commitment to projects like Wilderness Escape as part of what’s helping the region hold and grow its population.
Once complete, Wilderness Escape will bring 37 rental units — ranging from studio to three-bedroom layouts — and 22 attached garage stalls to Ely, along with private decks, in-unit laundry, and shared community space. The project represents a roughly $9.68 million investment in Ely’s housing stock and is expected to generate construction jobs through completion, targeted for spring or early summer 2027.
The need is real: a 2023 housing study found just one vacant affordable rental unit in Ely at the time, with long waitlists for both market-rate and affordable housing. That same study projected 13% population growth among residents aged 35–44 through 2028 — exactly the workforce this development is built to house.
Wilderness Escape marks Ely’s first new multifamily housing development in nearly two decades.
Read the full story from the Ely Echo: Wilderness Escape breaks ground