Emily Hentges, leasing coordinator with Plaid Hat Management, talked about the units at the new Block 100 apartment building in downtown Marshall with EDA director Lauren Deutz. On Tuesday, Hentges and Deutz were filming an informational video for the EDA’s “On the Horizon” series.

MARSHALL — A new apartment building in downtown Marshall is ready for tenants – although later than initially planned. Construction of the Block 100 apartments ran into challenges with materials and labor shortages, which pushed back the building’s completion, Emily Hentges said Tuesday.

“That’s played a part in the delay,” said Hentges, leasing coordinator with Plaid Hat Management, the company managing Block 100. She said almost all the new apartments are now 100% complete, and the building has been open for rentals since October.

Hentges was at the apartment building on Tuesday with Marshall Economic Development Coordinator Lauren Deutz, to film a segment for the EDA’s “On the Horizon” video series. Deutz said the video would be a way to introduce the company to the Marshall community.

Plaid Hat Management is based in Mankato, and manages properties including apartments in Minnesota cities like Mankato, St. Peter and Le Sueur, according to the company website.

Construction on the Block 100 apartments began in the summer of 2022. The 39-unit apartment building was planned to be the first of three commercial and residential buildings, all on the downtown block between East College Drive and North First Street. According to developers’ plans, the first building would be all apartments, while the other two would have commercial space on the main floor with apartments above.

In 2022, the city of Marshall approved a Tax Increment Financing district to help developers Coldwell Banker Commercial Fisher Group acquire the site, as well as pay for costs like ground and utilities work, and off-street parking. The city does not own the new apartments, Deutz said.

Ground was broken for the first of three buildings in June 2022, with a completion goal of July 2023. However, construction did run into challenges that slowed down the completion of the project, Hentges said. She said there were shortages of materials for cabinets, trim, and even door knobs.

“Labor was hard to find,” she said.

With the delays, the opening of Block 100 also missed a busy summer leasing window in Marshall, Deutz said.

Over the past month, there has been “more of a push” to get the word out about the availability of apartments in Block 100, Hentges said. Signs outside the apartment building include contact information for Plaid Hat Management, as well as a QR code that apartment applicants can scan with a cell phone. Hentges said Block 100 has also posted apartment listings online, at apartments.com.

The available units had been slow to fill up, but Hentges said she had been getting calls from prospective tenants interested in moving in in the spring.

The timing of future development on the block could be affected by how quickly tenants move in to the new apartments, Hentges said.

Redevelopment of what Marshall city staff initially called “Block 11” had been on the city’s radar for many years. The city’s 1996 comprehensive plan identified a need for anchor development downtown. Starting in 2002, the city gradually began buying up vacant properties on the block, for possible redevelopment.