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Pineview Apartments expands, filling quickly

BY NOAH HAUSMANN

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Pineview Apartments in Ludington recently opened its newest building to tenants, and the units are already filling up fast.

In just three days after the new building received its certificate of occupancy, nine renters signed leases, according to Tom Bogner, property manager for the family-owned business. After only a week, 14 of the 16 apartment units were filled, he said.

The latest building marks the completion of phase one of Pineview’s plans for expansion at its 906 N. Washington Ave. property, which also included opening another apartment building in October, Bogner said. That building was also quickly occupied, he said.

“We get three to four calls a day of people looking for apartments,” Bogner added.

Both of the new buildings each hold 16 apartment units, and Pineview already owned 48 units before, so the total is now 80 units, Bogner said.

The property is large enough to construct seven more apartment buildings in the coming years, which would be 104 more units, he said.

“Whether we do that or not is still undecided,” Bogner said.

There’s a housing shortage in the Ludington area, he said, so building more apartments would help fill the gap in the market.

“They keep calling, so there’s a need for it,” Bogner said, adding that construction would take time. “We could be building here for the next five years.”

Bogner’s family, which also owns Carr Communications, decided to diversify its business holdings in 2014 by purchasing three existing apartment buildings built in 1984. Phase one of the expansion started in mid-2017, when the family bought an adjacent property and got the necessary zoning and building permits.

The new buildings were made using the technique of modular construction, said Bogner, who’s also the general contractor for the project. While the foundations were worked on, the apartment units were built off-site and then trucked in and set into place. That helped expedite the construction, he explained.

NEW FEATURES

The new apartment units are 565 to 1,000 square feet, with one to three bedrooms and one to two bathrooms. They also each feature decks and patios.

Each new unit has kitchen appliances — a microwave, range, refrigerator and dishwasher — as well as a washer and dryer. The units, however, are otherwise unfurnished.

“They have all the appliances you can get, but no furniture,” Bogner said.

Having washers and dryers inside the units is a sought-after feature nowadays among people searching for apartments, Bogner said.

“We wanted to get them in the units here. It’s more convenient, and it feels like more of a home that way,” he said, adding later about the new units, “We built them like we were going to be living in them.”

Pineview’s three original apartment buildings all have common laundry rooms that are shared by tenants.Unfortunately, it’s not feasible to add washers and dryers in those units,

Bogner said.

Rent for the new units costs between $450 to 900 per month depending on the size of the apartment. Utilities included are water, sewer, trash removal and internet.

The older apartments are $585 a month for a one-bedroom unit and $635 a month for a two-bedroom unit. Utilities for those buildings include water, heat, trash removal, cable and internet, according to Bogner.

Pets are permitted in all the buildings.

For more information, visit www.pineviewofludington. com or call (231) 843-2480.

noah@ludingtondailynews.com 843-1122 x341

NOAH HAUSMANN | DAILY NEWS PHOTOS