TOWN OF BELOIT - Beloit-based Next Generation Construction, which has been one of Beloit's top home builders over the past 10 years, is diving deep into the apartment building business.
In August, Next Gen began construction on a four-building, 84-unit apartment complex to be called Legacy at Prairie Corners. Work is progressing fast at the complex which is being built east of Beloit Turner High School. Zach Knutson, Next Generation's managing partner, said several units already are leased and families could begin occupying the apartments in October.
This is the first apartment complex to be built in the Town of Beloit since 2012 and it makes an already busy building year perhaps the busiest ever. Builders have now taken out permits on 112 new units, including 25 single-family homes, two duplexes and one manufactured home.
For Next Gen, it is part of a major new initiative of the company launched in 2016. Next Gen already has completed a 58-unit complex in South Beloit and another in Milton and has one under construction in Elkhorn and two in Machesney Park, Illinois.
"The more I talked with my partners, the more we kept hearing that we need more apartment options," Knutson said. "Not everyone can afford the down payment or the extra costs that come with home ownership. We're just trying our best to fill a niche in the communities we're serving."
Next Gen hasn't gotten out of the home building business. The company has 15 active subdivisions. Of the 25 single-family homes started in the Town of Beloit this year, Next Gen built or is building 17.
It's been an encouraging few weeks for Beloit when it comes to housing. In 2022, a study commissioned by the city showed that Beloit needed to add 200 to 300 new housing units per year to keep up with demand. From 2022, when the study was published, through 2026, there were just 408 new units built in the City and Town of Beloit.
But in August, Next Gen broke ground on its project in the town and Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan and the Alternative Continuum of Care of Madison started construction of the 55-unit Riverside Apartments on the site of the former Stateline Family YMCA in the City of Beloit.
