The developer for Teal Lake Village II is confident the project will get approval this year and construction will move forward.

Pete Ramsel, developer for Teal Lake Village met with the Mexico City Council on Monday, July 24, at a regularly scheduled meeting to give an update on where the project is at. The hope was to get the project rolling last year but was stalled when it didn’t receive approval from the Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC) for tax credits.

The MHDC program is funded through the federal and state government and provides tax credits to developers who construct or rehab low-income housing. Ramsel said not receiving the tax credits isn’t a final answer but rather it just wasn’t the project's turn in line.

We were actually encouraged by MHDC to resubmit the application,” Ramsel said. “They thought it was a great application, they just didn’t get it.”

Ramsel said he and the financial backers of the project have made moves that will make it even more likely the project will be funded. For instance, Ramsel said the strip of land that will become Teal Lake Village II has been purchased and they won’t wait until approval to begin construction on the sewer line that will serve the development.

“We own the dirt,” Ramsel said. “We are actively engaged.”

Ramsel said with the sewer line extending to South Clark Street the landowner had to be convinced to grant the easement for the project. The idea is to have the sewer line in place for future developments. The council cleared one hurdle for the project by accepting an easement for a new sewer line earlier this month.

“I think we finally convinced (the land owner) that it was huge for him as well,” Ramsel said about the sewer line construction.

Ramsel said it should be a smooth process getting the project approved because most of the legwork has already been completed for the application. Phase II will be identical to Phase I with 28 two-bedroom units and 12 three-bedroom units for a total of 40 homes.

“They’ve looked at it before, they’ve blessed it before and they encouraged us to resubmit it so we think that’s all positive,” Ramsel said.

If for some reason the project does not get funded Ramsel said they will just reapply next year.

“We have resubmitted three or four times to get specific projects funded,” Ramsel said. “We just hang in there and stay with it, pay the price, buy the ground, do anything and everything we have to do. I guess that’s why we’re successful.”

Ramsel said the MHDC also realizes the importance of the project because of the need for low-income housing in Mexico.

“They’ve been rented out from the day that we opened,” Ramsel said about Phase I. “They’re full and we’ve got a waiting list. The need is here, no doubt.”

Ramsel said construction on the new sewer line will begin as soon as engineers have completed their work.

“I push him weekly if not daily,’ Ramsel said. “The goal is to put the sewer in even before they get approval for the project.”