Allegations stall rental proposal

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Enclave Development’s proposed 146-unit apartment project in Brooklyn Park is in limbo for now over allegations that the developer previously hired subcontractors with a history of mistreating workers.

The allegations arose during a March 22 City Council meeting, when representatives of the local carpenters and laborers unions testified that the subcontractors in question committed wage theft, paid workers under the table, and subjected workers to unsafe conditions on previous jobs.

Developer Brian Bochman of North Dakota-based Enclave Development said he takes such allegations “very seriously.” Bochman said he was first made aware of the allegations during a neighborhood meeting a couple of months ago.

Bochman said that the subcontractors would be placed on a “no-bid” list for the Brooklyn Park project, but he also urged the council to avoid jumping to any conclusions until more information is available.

Though council members largely had good things to say about the project, which includes affordable housing units, the council voted 4-2 to table a project-related land use request pending further review.

City officials are expected to revisit the allegations at a meeting of Brooklyn Park’s Economic Development Authority in April. At the EDA meeting, city officials will consider a development agreement for the project, which is a candidate for $2.4 million in tax increment financing.

Finance & Commerce reported in January that Enclave hopes to start construction later this year on the mixed-income project on the 5500 block of 96th Avenue North along the Highway 610 corridor.

Woodrow Piner, representing the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters, said at least two subcontractors previously hired by Enclave have subjected workers to substandard housing and unsafe working conditions.

Piner told the council in a Zoom meeting that he has heard stories of workers “arriving to the job site crammed into cargo vans, sometimes 10 to 15 per vehicle. I bet nobody here on this call goes to work that way.”

Diego Morales, a business representative for the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters, told the City Council that subcontractors on previous Enclave projects have transported workers from Texas, California and other states to Minnesota.

“When I’ve spoken to these workers, they’re very scared. They’re very intimidated,” Morales said at the meeting.

City Council Member Susan Pha said the city needs more apartments, but she hastened to add that it is not critical for the city to make a decision on the Enclave development right away.

Rather, she said, the city should gather more information about the allegations of worker mistreatment. If the allegations are true, “these guys shouldn’t be working on any” projects in town, she said.

“I would definitely not support a developer who has knowledge of these types of worker mistreatment and continues to use these contractors on several projects … especially if we are going to give them $2.4 million” in TIF assistance, she said.

Bochman said both of the subcontractors in question are being looked at by Enclave’s contracting and compliance people. If any subcontractor is proven guilty of worker mistreatment, they “will never work on one of our sites again,” he added.

“The difficult part for us is, these accusations are coming up in this meeting setting where our subcontractor isn’t here to defend himself, call himself guilty, or anything in between,” Bochman said.

“We have no ownership, no control of their hiring practices,” he added. “When we hire them they sign agreements that say that they are doing fair housing, they’re paying their employees, they are doing all of those things.”

Kevin Pranis, marketing director for the Laborers International Union of North America, Minnesota and North Dakota chapter, is encouraged that the city appears to be taking the allegations of worker mistreatment seriously.

“We think it was a really important step forward to see local officials take responsibility for their role in trying to prevent crime from happening on job sites, because wage theft is a crime in Minnesota,” Pranis said.

“I think this time we saw council members really listening to the evidence and deciding that they needed to take a pause and hopefully that sends a signal to both developers and contractors that wage theft won’t be tolerated in Brooklyn Park.”

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