News & Current Projects

Mobile Home Park Getting Getting Facelift
Forest Knolls has new owners and a new name

Crookston Daily Times
By Mike Christopherson, Managing Editor

February 1, 2006 - Forest Knolls mobile home park is history. In its place is North Acres Estates, with new owners who are determined to clean the place up, boost its image and make it a community asset.

Willie Nephew and Chad Lien bought the mobile home park tucked in Crookston's northeast corner last year. They immediately began cleaning up the park and had its residents sign new contracts that include maintenance standards for dwellings and surrounding property. Once spring comes, Nephew and Lien have plans to continue with the ambitious clean-up, and they'd like to boost the residency rate in the park by bringing in some newer "model" mobile homes.

But the improvements won't really be apparent until the road that winds through the park is reconstructed. The road in its current form is a mess, but the cheapest bid submitted to do the work was $100,000, Nephew said. And that was a 2005 bid; indications are that another round of bids in the spring would reflect a 20 to 25 percent increase.

Despite the dire need to fix the road, that's just too expensive for Nephew and Lien to hand on their own. So Tuesday evening, at the annual meeting of the Crookston Development Authority at the Northland Inn, the partners asked for financing in the form a CDA loan. While no one is yet mentioning specific dollar amounts, CDA officials appear to be big fans of the project.

"We are all very interested in seeing this project be successful, without a doubt," CDA board chair Doug Oman said."

Specific financial figures could be discussed as soon as the next CDA meeting, City Administrator Aaron Parrish said.

Major Undertaking
Nephew said sprucing up the mobile home park that has suffered from so much neglect is not an inexpensive proposition. Significant money has already been spent, he said, and more will be spent as he ad Lien try to improve the park's appearance and image. Removing abandoned trailers won't be cheap, either.

"We need mobile home parks," Nephew said. "There's always going to be a need for this type of housing in a community."

Of Crookston's three mobile home parks, North Acres Estates is the largest, with 87 parcels. With only 37 currently occupied and paying rent, Nephew said the clear goal is to boost the occupancy rate. Cleaning up the place, bringing in some model homes and repairing the road will result in a positive chain reaction, Lien said.

"You bring in better clients and then they'll lean on the other clients to clean up their act," he said.

Letters have already been sent to current occupants, telling them to fix their decks, maintain their yards and spruce other things up. Some people seem to have taken notice, Nephew said, adding that if one person cleans up his place, his neighbor is more likely to follow suit.

"It's about people taking more pride in their spot," he said.

If occupancy increases, the partners would likely bring an on-site manager to live in the park. That would likely score points with the city, especially if a CDA loan is involved.

"Management is so important," Parrish said. "You get good management, you'll have a good park."

The road is likely to get worse before it gets better, Lien said. Despite some basic repairs made in 2005, when the frost goes out in the spring it will be bad again. The project to fix it would include a new layer of gravel and fabric, drain tiling and tar on the surface.

A realistic timeline for North Acres Estates to be completely transformed is three to four years, Lien said.

"We could say it will take less time than that, but I think this is something that's going to take some time," he said.