MERCER COUNTY Housing authority OKs purchase of land for senior apartments

Plan approval is expected next week.
SHARON, Pa. -- The Mercer County Housing Authority will spend $230,000 to buy 20 acres at the intersection of Lamor and North Keel Ridge roads in Hermitage for a new apartment complex for senior citizens.
The authority had an option on the land and approved the purchase Wednesday.
L. DeWitt Boosel, the authority's executive director, said the city of Hermitage will help finance some of the infrastructure improvements to the site.
Hermitage city officials, recognizing the need for senior citizen housing, selected the housing authority to develop a complex in Hermitage.
This project will feature 30 one-bedroom and 30 two-bedroom apartments in 12 buildings with five apartments in each building.
The development is designed in an oval pattern with the apartments surrounding a community building, a village green and a gazebo.
Hermitage commissioners are expected to give final approval to the project's land development plan at its meeting next week.
Selling land
In other business, the authority agreed to sell one-half acre of vacant land it owns at Maple and West Butler streets in Mercer Borough. A sale price will be determined after the property is appraised.
Community Homebuyers Inc., an independent corporation created several years ago by the authority as a mechanism to build single-family homes, will buy the property, Boosel said.
The site is adjacent to a 10-unit apartment complex recently built by the authority and Community Homebuyers. In partnership with Trek Development of Pittsburgh and the Housing Alliance of Indiana County, it intends to build 10 more, he said.
gwin@vindy.com