SAN ANGELO, TX - The first large-scale housing complex for low-income seniors in San Angelo could be ready for move-ins by Christmas 2009, the site's developer says. River Place Apartments, a 120-unit complex set for construction at Rio Concho Drive and Irene Street, won nearly $1 million in federal tax credits awarded by the state and is set to break ground early next year, said Justin MacDonald, executive vice president of MacDonald and Associates, the Kerrville-based development company that owns the eight-acre property.
"There are several age-restricted communities" in San Angelo, MacDonald said, "but they're a higher cost." The complex will be restricted to those age 55 and older and those earning no more than 60 percent of the median income level in the San Angelo Metropolitan Statistical Area, which in 2006 was estimated to be about $34,000.
By receiving the $994,000 tax credit, MacDonald and Associates can sell it to investors for cash that will help fund the $12.2 million project, groundbreaking for which should begin in January or February, MacDonald said.
The company has experience in San Angelo; it built the Encino Park and Bent Tree apartment complexes. It still owns Bent Tree, said MacDonald, an Angelo State University alumnus. "We all kind of look at San Angelo as a second home," he said. MacDonald and Associates has built more than 30 affordable housing projects in 25 cities across the state. The Rio Concho project may not be the only affordable housing proposal receiving tax credits.
The city is working with the Blackshear neighborhood to win credits for a 20-unit project that would help revitalize that area of the city, said Development Services Director Shawn Lewis. Several city officials have testified in Austin before the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, advocating for the Blackshear project. "Any of these tax credit projects that increase our affordable housing are good for San Angelo," Lewis said.
Source: GoSanAngelo.com