Another significant Twin Cities building project will be financed by the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust (HIT).

The AFL-CIO HIT on Tuesday announced that it will provide $4.7 million to help fund construction of senior cooperative housing in Roseville-a development that is expected to create about 70 construction jobs, and the seventh local project financed by the trust in recent years.

The AFL-CIO HIT, which will use union pension capital to fund the project, said that the on-site construction work will be performed under collective bargaining agreements with local unions.

Funds from the Washington, D.C.-based trust will be used to help finance the initial phase of construction of the four-story, 48-unit Applewood Pointe of Roseville development, which carries a price tag of about $11.2 million.

The project will be developed by Bloomington-based United Properties, with which the AFL-CIO HIT has a history of working: In 2009, the trust provided $17.6 million for the recently completed Applewood Pointe of Bloomington at Southport. According to the AFL-CIO HIT, that project involved 101 senior housing units, and it created about 130 union construction jobs.

Both Applewood Pointe projects are part of a larger initiative by the AFL-CIO HIT to create 10,000 union construction jobs by 2011. The initiative was launched in early 2009, and the trust says that it is more than 90 percent of the way to its goal-due in large part to Minnesota projects.

The trust announced last month that it will supply $50 million to help rehabilitate the historic Riverside Plaza apartment complex in Minneapolis.

In addition to the Riverside Plaza and Applewood Pointe projects, the trust has financed four other Twin Cities projects as part of its effort to create union construction jobs. The local projects comprise 1,831 housing units, created about 1,350 jobs, and represent more than $140 million of the trust's funding.

The trust has invested more than $700 million in 71 Minnesota projects during the past 40 years, resulting in an estimated 6,220 union construction jobs.

The AFL-CIO HIT is a fixed-income investment company that manages nearly $3.9 billion in assets for approximately 350 investors-17 of which are in Minnesota.