Parkman Landing senior housing 'gateway'' to Warren,TMHA director says
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
The new Parkman Landing apartments on Parkman Road Northwest next to the Trumbull Plaza are “a gateway to our community,” said Don Emerson, executive director of Trumbull Metropolitan Housing Authority.
The 60-unit, $10.8 million complex opened Tuesday during a ceremony in the front parking lot. Visitors were able to tour the facility afterward, including the three-story entrance area.
Mayor Doug Franklin agreed with Emerson that the multicolored building easily visible from Parkman Road is a prominent new West Side landmark.
It’s also part of the “the largest improvement on this side of town in probably 40 years,” Franklin said.
In addition to the apartments, Parkman Road has undergone $13.5 million of improvements to the road and a bridge in the past five years.
An additional $3.5 million is being invested in a new dialysis center being built by Fresenius Medical Care on Enterprise Drive Northwest. It all ads up to about $30 million.
When the public learned that TMHA was building senior apartments on Parkman Road for people 55 and over, some feared it would be a detriment to the West Side, Emerson said.
“I am not about to be a part of anything that is going to be a detriment to the community,” he told the crowd, adding that the structure is only a minute from his house and two minutes from the mayor’s house.
Emerson promised that when people were able to see the inside they would “see the hard work.”
“I love it. The rooms are beautiful, the decorations. You get everything you would want, a big bathroom,” said resident Carol McCauley. Some people starting to move in during January.
Jim Foertch, 67, who has lived in Warren since age 5, provided a tour of his apartment, which had a large bathroom and a combined living/dining room with adjoining kitchen and separate bedroom. He said he pays “low” rent.
Emerson explained that Parkman Landing is not public housing; it is “mixed-income housing,” where the residents pay a different amount depending on their income.
Thirty-three percent of the units are for people who are at or below 30 percent of the area median gross income of $12,120 for one person, 27 percent are for people at or below 50 percent of the area median gross income of $20,200 for one person; and 40 percent are for people at or below 60 percent of the median gross income of $24,240 for one person.
Emerson said his staff secured a state tax credit through the Ohio Housing Finance Agency that provided $7 million to $9 million of the funds, plus other money.
In exchange, TMHA made a 15-year promise to provide low-income housing at the facility, Emerson said.