City Council approves $3.3 million for affordable housing complex for seniors
Construction of an affordable housing apartment complex for seniors could begin as soon as January.
Las Cruces City Council unanimously authorized $3.3 million in loan agreements between the City and Idaho-based developer Thomas Development Company for the construction of the Pedrena Apartments - an 80-unit senior rent restricted apartment complex located at 801 Farney Lane and 1955 El Paseo Road.
Construction is expected to begin in January 2024 and when completed, would be available to residents who are 55 or older.
"I know there are a lot of people who are really excited to see this kind of housing go up in the area," said Councilor Tessa Abeyta, who represents District 5 where the apartments will be located.
The City has estimated that Las Cruces needs an additional 5,600 rental units to meet the demand for affordable housing.
The Pedrena Apartments were one of two affordable housing projects that City Council committed to applying funds to in December 2022. The second, Peachtree Canyon Apartments, would be two phases of 144 apartments and would be located at 7081 North Jornada Road and Peachtree Hills Road.
The Pedrena apartment complex would consist of 44 one-bedroom units and 36 two-bedroom apartments to be rented depending upon income level. The one bedroom apartments could be rented for as low as $363 and two bedrooms for as low as $436 for residents at 30 percent of area median income. The one bedroom apartments would be available for as low as $727 and $873 for two-bedroom apartments for residents at 60 percent of area median income.
The City's approval on Tuesday of $3.3 million is part of the $26 million Pedrena Apartments project that also includes state and federal funding sources.
"It's a start," said Las Cruces Housing and Neighborhood Services manager Natalie Green. "We are really excited to see new projects come onboard. It's been two or three years in our pipeline so to finally see them come to fruition is really exciting for staff because the public may not always see, but we have been pounding the pavement working hard to make these deals. I'm excited to finally close on the packaging, but it really is just the start."
The City has committed $3 million from the Telshore Fund toward the project that will be paid back in 20 years. The Telshore Fund is meant to support the city’s sick and indigent populations, often through disbursements to local community nonprofits. It had a July market value of about $40 million.
The Pedrena Apartments have since been awarded Low Income Housing Tax Credits from the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority.
Green said its possible that the funds could instead be taken from the affordable housing trust fund when the City sells the $6 million in GO bonds that will be added to the trust fund.
The remaining $300,000 the City approved on Monday consists of federal funds received by the city that Council originally committed in May in the form of two loan agreements. The City approved $200,000 from funds the City received from Department of Housing and Urban Development and $100,000 from the Community Development Block Grant.
Thomas Development new to Las Cruces, but not New Mexico
"Today is the start of hopefully the last lap around the track for this development, which has been if I could sing, I would sing the old Beatles song, '(The long) and winding road,' because that is the way these affordable developments have been and its not just in Las Cruces," said Tom Mannschreck, president and CEO of Thomas Development. "We have one in Idaho that took almost three years to get started and one in Albuquerque that is about the same time period. It's just really complicated."
Mannschreck said that applications from residents whose age qualifies them to live at the property and are also receiving HUD rental assistance Section 8 vouchers would be considered.
"It's far too often that our residents profile as a single person and generally a woman, who is living on survivor Social Security benefits and that ain't very much," He said. "We have lots of seniors who are getting rental assistance from HUD."
Mannschrek said the first set of architecture and engineering plans were submitted to the City in August. He expects the rest of the funding sources will be approved by the end of the week and closed in November, building permits secured in the next three weeks and that they have hired general contractor HB Construction.
"We have been doing this a long time and you can pretty quickly tell when a city has competent staff and if they really want what you are bringing to town," Mannschrek said. "I would say A-plus on competent staff and the demand for afford housing, particularly senior affordable housing, is prodigious."
Jason Groves can be reached at 575-541-5459 or jgroves@lcsun-news.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @jpgroves.
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: City Council approves $3.3M affordable housing complex for seniors
