Building upgrades begin at Pioneer Villa

Work is beginning this spring at two low-income apartment buildings in Suring. Village Clerk Carol Heise, in an April 21 report to the Suring Village Board, said roofing will be done at Pioneer Villa, 415 N. Mill St., as soon as the weather permits. In addition, the windows will be replaced at Pioneer Villa and Manor Drive apartments, and new energy efficient appliances will replace the old ones. Kitchen cabinets were delivered to Pioneer Villa on April 21. “This has always been a negative, but now it has turned into a positive,” Heise said. Overall building deterioration has been a problem at Pioneer Villa for several years, but the Manor Drive apartment building is in better shape. In 2014, the Suring Non-Profit Housing Corporation transferred ownership of the apartments to Astar Capital Management, of Madison, with the understanding that improvements would be made at Pioneer Villa. In January, Chris Geiger, a representative of Astar Capital Management Inc., told the board the company was writing grant requests and seeking loans to cover the updates because no reserve funds came with the transfer of ownership of the apartments. La Crosse-based Horizon Management manages the properties.