Native Ho-Chunk Village alive, well

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WINNEBAGO - The Winnebago Tribe's $20 million commercial and housing development is beginning to take shape.

Since being announced early last year, a discount department store has located on 40 acres northeast of town and two homes have been built.

A distribution center also has been built for HCI Distribution, an arm of Ho-Chunk Inc., the diversified company owned by the tribe.

A retail store featuring Native crafts and decorative products and a local office supply store are planned, as well as a complex to house six small businesses and six one-bedroom apartments, said Judi Meyer, executive director of Ho-Chunk Inc. Community Development Corp.

At least two or three more homes will be built this summer and four more houses are expected next year, Meyer said.

"We're very pleased," Meyer said Monday.

The development is incorporating tribal village design with houses and townhouses. Groundbreaking took place last June, with Gov. Mike Johanns and other state and tribal leaders on hand.

Winnebago, along the Missouri River 75 miles north of Omaha, has a population of about 770. The tribe also plans to have Winnebago annex the new development, said Don French, housing manager for Meyer's nonprofit organization, which helps develop the reservation's economy.