Mixed-income housing complex, including for homeless, holds groundbreaking in La Crosse

A groundbreaking for several dozen new apartments was held at 4th and Jackson streets in La Crosse on Wednesday.

The housing complex is called The Collective on 4th. It will include 62 units for tenants in a mixed-income range.

Some of those apartments will be reserved for tenants who have been homeless recently.

“Affordable housing was a top priority,” Nicole Solheim, vice president with Cinnaire Solutions, which is developing the housing units, said. “It’s something new to add to the neighborhood, and also having some units that are set aside to individuals that may be at risk of homelessness, so we’re looking to really address that and combine that with community amenities, programmings and services on site.”

The project is about five blocks west of Viterbo University. Viterbo’s director of the D. B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership, Dr. Rick Kyte, spoke at Wednesday’s ceremony about the value of knowing your neighbors.

“We can talk about housing, we can talk about solutions,” Kyte told an audience at the ceremony. “What we have to remember is, every one of these units is a home, and every inhabitant of those homes is our neighbor. And I’m just so proud of living in a place where neighbors get to know one another, and we can take pride in that.”

The four-story Collective building should be completed by the spring of 2025, with the first units available in June.