The push to create more affordable senior housing comes amid a high demand for those type of apartment units. The second phase of the Community Gardens project aims to create more one-bedroom options and will fill out the remaining space at the old hospital site as well as at the former Schaefer Middle School site also on Burnett.
Construction for the second phase is expected to last 14 months and with some units coming available as early as spring 2023. The project is slated to be fully completed by the end of that year.
The Neighborhood Housing Partnership of Greater Springfield and the Buckeye Community Hope Foundation are leading the project. It seeks to provide rental units to seniors that fit into three tiers of income — those making 60%, 50% or 30% of Springfield’s median household income.
The medium household income in Clark County is $27,900 for a one-person household and $31,860 for a two-person household, as of late last year.
“There is an extreme shortage of quality affordable housing, not just in Springfield but all over the state. This will provide a good option for seniors in the area. When we built phase one, a lot of the feedback that we got from folks in the area as well as other housing providers was that there were a lot of people interested in one-bedroom units,” said Ian Maute, Vice President of Development for the Buckeye Community Hope Foundation.
“We have an extensive waitlist from when we lease out the first phase. We will be able to fill these units quickly from that waitlist here in phase 2,” Maute added.
The project to build those additional 60 units of affordable senior housing is expected to cost a total of about $14.8 million. The first phase cost around $10 million.
Money from the second phase will come from $10.1 million in state tax credits that will be sold to generate equity, a conventional bank loan of a little over $2 million, $600,000 in home funds from the state of Ohio, $750,000 in federal home funds from the city of Springfield and a little over $1 million in development fees.
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