Senior housing to be built on Belleville street that’s been vacant for more than 20 years

A new federally-subsidized complex with “affordable” apartments for senior citizens is still planned off Illinois 15 in Belleville.

The City Council has extended a special-use permit for construction of the $19.1 million development, called Trolley Circle, at 1110 Comwest Parkway for an additional year, through April 18, 2024.

“It was already approved last year,” said Cliff Cross, director of economic development, planning and zoning. “This is just an extension because they needed a little more time to get everything in place.”

Cross recently told members of the council’s Economic Development and Annexation Committee that Trolley Circle Limited Partnership, the Pennsylvania-based owner, had discovered it would need to spend an extra $300,000 to fix mine-subsidence problems.

Aldermen extended the special-use permit at the City Council meeting on June 20. They also voted to give Trolley Circle an estimated $300,000 in property-tax rebates over a five-year period after the complex is completed to reimburse it for the unexpected costs.

The estimate is based on the fact that similar developments have generated about $120,000 in annual property taxes for the city, according to Cross. Under that scenario, the 50% rebate could cut Trolley Circle’s bill by $60,000 for each of the five years for a total of $300,000.

“(The assistance is) pretty worthwhile because we’re making that kind of money, too,” Cross said, noting that the now-vacant land isn’t yielding much in the way of property taxes.

Federal tax credits

Last year, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) announced that they were awarding $34 million in federal low-income-housing tax credits for 25 complexes that would serve low- to moderate-income families, seniors, veterans and people with special needs.

Trolley Circle’s $1.4 million in tax credits would be sold to private investors, according to Andrew Field, agency spokesman.

“That would generate an expected $12.4 million in equity to go back into the development costs and then help keep rents affordable for a minimum of 30 years,” he said. “... It’s like permanent underwriting.”

The original development cost of $17.4 million has risen to $19.1 million, said Barry Accountius, vice president for development with Ohio-based Woda Cooper Companies.

Woda is co-developing Trolley Circle with the Housing Services Alliance, a Pennsylvania nonprofit that joined with private investors to form Trolley Circle Limited Partnership.

The partnership hopes to begin construction this September and complete it by December 2024. Rent amounts will be finalized closer to the completion date, Accountius said.

70 rental units

Trolley Circle will consist of two three-story accessible buildings containing 70 rental units (53 one-bedroom and 17 two-bedroom) for seniors age 55 and older who live independently, according to the IHDA project overview.

“The development will feature community gathering spaces, a fitness center, a sustainable green design, smartly outfitted units with new appliances, individual HVAC systems and controlled building access,” it stated.

“Trolley Circle is centrally located to walkable amenities and within walking distance to several public bus stops connecting to many points of local interest.”

Comwest Parkway is now surrounded by vacant land. It’s northeast of the intersection of Illinois 15 and South 74th Street and south of Westfield Plaza shopping center, which is largely empty.

Comwest Parkway was built more than 20 years ago with a boost from an Illinois Capital Development Board grant of $535,000. It was meant to provide access to a business park proposed by two men and the Catholic Diocese of Belleville that never got built.

“Walkable amenties” for Trolley Circle tenants would include the McDonald’s restaurant in Westview Plaza, but the reference also reflects the hope that the shopping center can be redeveloped, according to Accountius.

“We’ve been talking to the city on and off, and I know they’re excited to see something happen with what I call the old Kmart building,” he said. “We believe this area has a chance at regrowth, and I know that affordable housing can be a catalyst for that.

“We’re hoping for more walkable amenities. That’s always our hope, and often it does come true.”

Perhaps more important, Accountius said, is that a Metro Bus (No. 14 Memorial Hospital-Westfield Plaza) goes by the Comwest Parkway intersection on South 74th Street.

The Westfield Plaza Kmart store closed in 2017, along with 28 of the company’s other stores. Cross said the city is looking at “various opportunities” for the building but has no specific plans at this time.

Mixture of incomes

Trolley Circle tenants will represent a mixture of income levels, with roughly a third of apartments priced for and available to people with incomes at 80% of the region’s median or lower, a third at 60% or lower and a third at 30% or lower, according to the IHDA project overview.

“It’s all affordable,” Field said. “It’s not market rent.”

Trolley Circle is similar to Lofts on the Square, an apartment building that opened in downtown Belleville last year, in that it’s designed to provide affordable housing for senior citizens. But all Lofts tenants must have incomes at 60% of the region’s median or lower.

Trolley Circle also is different because it’s new construction, while Lofts on the Square resulted from redevelopment of a historic art-deco building that originated as Hotel Belleville in 1931 and later became known as the Meredith Home. The Lofts received low-income-housing tax credits but also historic tax credits.

Lofts on the Square was a project of the Southwestern Illinois Development Authority. The complex filled up quickly and still has a waiting list, according to Executive Director Mike Lundy.

Lundy noted that efforts are being made nationwide to help senior citizens stay out of nursing homes and live independently, particularly in places where they can interact with others.

“There’s a lot of benefits,” he said. “And I just think people live longer if they’re not isolated by themselves.”