The first phase of the project was completed in 2018 and brought a pocket neighborhood of 50 two-bedroom apartments to the former Community Hospital site on Burnett Road and East High Street.
Apartments that will be constructed next year will fill out the remaining space at the old hospital site as well as at the former Schaefer Middle School site also on Burnett.
“We are following the same design concept as phase one. We are doing a pocket neighborhood look where the unit front doors will face each other. There will be walking paths throughout,” said Ian Maute, vice president of development for the Buckeye Community Hope Foundation.
The Neighborhood Housing Partnership of Greater Springfield and the Buckeye Community Hope Foundation are leading the project. It seeks to provide rental units to seniors that fit into three tiers of income - those making 60%, 50% or 30% of Springfield’s median household income.
The medium household income in Clark County is $27,900 for a one-person household and $31,860 for a two-person household, said Maute.
The project to build those 60 units is expected to cost $11.7 million. Planning for those one-bedroom apartments has been in the works since the first phase of Community Gardens was completed.
However, the second phase is now moving forward as the NHP was able to secure enough state tax credits to allow for construction to began in 2022.
The NHP along with its partner were able to secure up to $1 million in tax credits per year over a 10-year period after submitting an application this year to the Ohio Housing Finance Agency.
It was their third attempt in trying to secure those tax credits. The attempt before that was made last year, but those tax credits were awarded to another project unrelated to the NHP.
The plan now is to build 28 units on the former Community Hospital site as well as 32 units at the former school site that was purchased for $140,000, said Maute.
The planned construction date is set at May 1 and the plan is for units to gradually come online amid the construction period. The first few apartments that will be built as a result of the second phase of Community Gardens are expected to be ready for tenants by summer.
The entire project is expected to be done by the spring of 2023.
By the numbers:
$11.7M: Cost to build second phase of Community Gardens apartments
60 -Number of one-bedroom affordable rental units that will be constructed
$10M: Amount of state tax credits to be awarded over 10 years for the project
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