Rolling Hills Apartments

Rolling Hills Apartments additions were completed through a for-profit and nonprofit partnership between Rich Pakonen and Clint Blaiser of RC Enterprises and Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota. Rolling Hills has historically served low income households including recently arrived immigrants and refugees. More recently, many Burmese, Bhutanese and Karin refugee families have found their home at Rolling Hills.

An on-site community building was added to the Rolling Hills complex to provide community gathering space and offices for property management staff, case workers and other social service providers. It also includes an apartment unit which can be used as a “first stop” for refugees new to Minnesota – keeping them close to the services that are crucial to their success for integration into American life.

Other improvements of the Rolling Hills complex include the upgraded tot lot with a strategically designed circular sidewalk for children to race their tricycles. The existing gardening areas on site were also expanded, particularly so that the refugee families whose cultural backgrounds find special significance in cultivating land have the opportunity to do so.