LAKE OZARK, Mo. - The Board of Aldermen's letter of support for construction of an affordable senior housing community advances development at Fish Haven Road one step further.
Fish Haven Estates, proposed to be built on Fish Haven Road in Lake Ozark and potentially ready for use by October 2016, would offer an apartment housing option for low-income adults ages 62 and older.
"The City of Lake Ozark recognizes that there is a strong need for affordable housing in and around the city of Lake Ozark and that the project will assist area seniors and the growing number of seniors wanting to move to the lake area in finding and securing affordable rental housing," the board's resolution states. The letter was approved at it a July 22 meeting and sent to the Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC).
Fish Haven Estates would offer 44 senior apartment units - two one-bedroom and 42 two-bedroom - in a three-story building surrounded on its south and west sides by a high bluff shielding it from view of adjoining properties.
"Our experience has been that the three-story, elevator building appeals to the 70-and-older crowd who are concerned about security and convenience as it relates to ease of access to everything they need," said Pete Ramsel, representing the limited-partnership project developers, in a letter presented to the Board of Aldermen. "This design concept helps with accessibility issues, warmth (temperature of interior corridors), interior community rooms, mailboxes, trash chutes, etc., and maybe most importantly allows for aging in place."
Rent would cost approximately $430 per month for a one-bedroom unit and $490 per month for a two-bedroom unit.
The housing developer must demonstrate local support for the project as part of an application for the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program through the MHDC, which provides a federal tax credit to investors who take an ownership interest in an affordable housing development in order to generate funding for the development.
"The key to making these projects affordable is we're bringing most of the cost of the project in the form of private equity. That money is used to develop the project," Ramsel said. "Because it's equity and not debt, that allows us to have affordable rents."
Fish Haven Estates would be the second affordable housing project at the site, as the MHDC granted developers tax-credit financing on the Fish Haven project's first phase, an adjacent affordable workforce housing development located at the intersection of South Fish Haven and Palm Ridge roads, last year. That project is set to close on its construction loan in mid-September, with construction beginning immediately afterward, Ramsel said.
The Fish Haven Estates project is estimated to cost approximately $5.5 million.
Developer applications for the MHDC-administered tax credit program are due in September, with tax-credit funding to be granted or denied this December.
With roughly a 12- to 16-month construction schedule for both projects, the affordable workplace housing complex could be completed by October 2015, and the affordable senior housing could begin construction next September and ready for occupancy in October 2016.