Local Church Seeks $75,000 To Replace Road For Affordable Housing Campus

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - One local church is set to invest $120,000 to help replace a road but is seeking the public’s help to get the rest of the way.

According to a press release from Bear Creek Christan Church, the church is looking for the public’s help to replace the main campus road. The goal is to spend $120,000, then fundraise the final $75,000 in order to help subsidize the expense. The road replacement was scheduled for the summer fo 2020, but the church states that it just couldn’t wait.

“The problem was that this past winter wreaked havoc on our already deteriorated road,” states Jeff Urban, Outreach Pastor at Bear Creek Church. He continues, “If we can fundraise $75,000, it will help us avoid borrowing money for this repair and keep us on solid financial footing. We purposely keep our housing rents at about 70% of market rate, in order to serve our residents and have chosen to fundraise these extra dollars.”

Bear Creek is on track to invest $450,000 over the last two years, in rehabbing the campus buildings and roadways to help create safe, affordable housing in the community. Above the church’s investment, the Coalition for Rochester Area Housing pledged $350,000 to help with critical repairs to the apartments.

Beyond the road work needed, the church is planning a much larger capital campaign that will help sustain the property into the future, as well as add 17 studio apartments.

“We know there is no end in sight to the affordable housing crisis in the Rochester area,” Aaron Wager, Lead Pastor at Bear Creek said. “If new units were available today, we would have them filled right away.”

For the past two years, the major focus of the church was to re-use the 36-acre former college site and flip it into affordable housing and a non-profit center. Anyone interested in helping rebuild the road can direct their tax-deductible donation to:

Bear Creek Christian Church
1765 Restoration Rd SW
Rochester, MN 55902