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Support sought for Struthers senior complex
By Jeanne Starmack
struthers
Developers are asking the city to support a senior-citizen complex on land behind Youngstown-Poland Road.
Called Saxony Place, the development would feature 40 one- and two-bedroom ranch-style units on 4 acres that previously were going to be developed into a condominium complex by area businessman Henry Nemenz, said developers and city officials.
Now, two nonprofit developers are teaming up to develop the land.
Buckeye Community Hope Foundation of Columbus and the Mahoning Valley Housing and Finance Agency, based in Struthers, say they have an option to buy the land from Nemenz if their project gets funding.
The developers presented their plan to city council’s General Improvements Committee on Wednesday. They asked for council members’ support as they apply Oct. 14 to the Ohio Housing Finance Agency for tax credits that will generate $4.5 million of the $6 million needed to finance the development. The rest of the funding will come from a $600,000 loan from the agency and from half of Buckeye’s development fee, which it will put back into the project, said Buckeye Community Hope Vice President Roy Lowenstein.
Lowenstein explained that nonprofit developers focus on affordable housing, or low- to moderate-income developments, and they rely on public programs to fund the developments.
The tax credits, explained Lowenstein, are from a program that dates to 1986.
“It was an attempt to do affordable housing without going through HUD,” he said.
Rather than grants or loans, he said, the federal government awarded the tax credits to developers through state housing finance agencies.
The developers sell the credits to banks and mortgage companies, and they use them against their taxes, Lowenstein said.
Ohio has $230 million in tax credits to award, and those credits will fund about 35 projects, he said. He said the Struthers project is one of 90 competing for the funding. Applicants will know in March if they are accepted.
Lowenstein said the Mahoning Valley Housing and Finance Agency is relatively new, and it approached Buckeye Community so it would have a better chance in the application process.
“Buckeye has done more than 40 of these projects, so we’re an experienced group,” he said.
Lowenstein told the council committee that Struthers is a good location for senior-citizen housing because the need is there.
The units would be rentals and would be managed by a professional company. Rents would be from $500 to $550 a month for the one-bedroom units, and from $600 to $625 a month for the two-bedroom units, including utilities. Lowenstein said the apartments will be affordable to seniors at or below 60 percent of the area’s median income. He said that’s most seniors, who typically live on Social Security and pensions.
Mayor Terry Stocker said council members have agreed to pass a resolution supporting the project. Stocker also said he will work with the Ohio Department of Transportation to keep an option open for a road into the development. That option was open for Nemenz’s plan.