2 senior apartment communities compete for grant

CLAYTON -- The Riverwood community is likely to see a new senior apartment community going up soon.

Two developers are competing for a grant to build 55-plus senior apartment rental communities in the Riverwood Athletic Club area, but only one is likely to receive the federal grant.

Riverwood Place is being proposed by TBLF, LLC to be a part of the existing Riverwood community off of Pritchard Road on the side of the existing neighborhoods, schools and athletic club.

Riverwood Haven is being proposed by developer Fred Smith, who developed Riverwood Athletic Club in the early 2000s. The senior apartment community would be the first phase in a larger planned subdivision next to the The Market at Riverwood, a strip mall across the street from Riverwood Athletic.

The North Carolina Housing Finance Agency invites developers seeking to build affordable mixed-income rental apartments to apply for federal housing tax credits. If the developer receives the federal credits, they might be eligible for even more housing credits through the state.

“Based on the criteria of the application (for funding) only one will be funded,” DeYoung said.

Both facilities have a median-income requirement for residents to lease the apartments. But DeYoung emphasizes that if someone meets the criteria upon moving in and then wins the lottery, they won’t be asked to move out.

“When people hear that developers are, ‘getting funding,’ they think low-income,” said Clayton’s planning director David DeYoung. “This is not Section 8 housing. It’s affordable.”

Other than the communities’ proposed locations, both apartments would be fairly similar according to building plans submitted to the town planning department.

He added that it’s highly unlikely that two senior apartments that close together would both get the grant in one year, because funds are limited.

However, it is possible that one could get approved for funding this year while another would be approved for funding in next year’s application cycle.

“They’re venture capital. They could be submitting (the same plan) to other towns,” said town manager Steve Biggs. “And the state will evaluate between the two.”

Riverwood Place is a 60-unit facility and Riverwood Haven is proposing 48 apartment units.

With the demand for housing in the Riverwood area and young families moving in with grandparents coming down to be near them, DeYoung said the demand for 108 senior apartments if not more is definitely there.

Biggs said he also sees trends in Clayton moving toward more and more senior communities.

“It’s the inevitable result of people moving here for the good schools,” said Biggs, explaining that young families who moved here bring the grandparents along with them or retire here themselves.

“It’s definitely a major phenomenon for us, but it’s a positive one,” he said.

The N.C. Housing Finance Agency will ask the town for letters of recommendation or expressed need for these kinds of developments when they’re evaluating funding awards. Biggs said the town nearly always endorses new mixed-income development opportunities.

“The numbers are shifting. We’re continuing to see more people move in,” hes aid.

Riverwood Place was originally proposed and approved by the planning board in the winter of 2011, but they were denied the same funding from the N.C. Housing Finance Agency.

The modified plan, which DeYoung admits to liking better than last year’s, is being developed by DHN, LLC, but they’re still working with the same management groups.

The Riverwood Place site plan will go before the planning board for approval at their Feb. 27 meeting. Riverwood Haven will go before the town council as a planned subdivision.