Newport to add two apartment projects at the transit station
Jan. 27—Newport unveiled plans this week for twin 51-unit apartment buildings, part of a cluster of buildings around a $6.5 million bus terminal.
The buildings would bring 102 units of housing to Newport — housing that the metro area needs, said city administrator Deb Hill.
Developer MWF Properties showed its plans to the City Council at a meeting Jan. 20.
The two high-visibility buildings would be located southwest of Interstate 494 and U.S. Highway 61. MWF proposes development on a six-acre lot north of the Newport Transit Center on Maxwell Avenue.
On about half of that lot, MWF would erect buildings that are nearly identical — each one L-shaped, three stories tall with 51 units. The two buildings combined would have 117 underground parking spaces and 54 spaces in an outdoor parking lot.
Hill said MWF has secured funding from Washington County for one building, and hopes to get funding for the other one later.
For the other half of the six-acre lot, MWF is planning an unidentified commercial user.
Ultimately, the development would complete a cluster of workforce housing projects around the Newport Transit Station, a bus terminal built in 2015.
MWF built the first apartments near the station, the $10 million 42-unit Red Rock Square, which opened in 2017.
Administrator Hill said she likes the idea of putting more housing by the station.
"It will be a nice complement to the area," she said. "It would be a good neighbor to have."
Hill said the earliest that construction could start would be spring 2023.
