Romeoville officials are working out plans for the village`s first senior citizens housing project-one in which the village would be able to select the tenants.
The village is on the verge of donating five acres to a developer who has proposed to build 16 apartment buildings containing 102 units for low- and moderate-income residents age 55 and up.
In exchange, the developer would allow the village to choose the tenants. Most will be from Romeoville, said Trustee Prudence Pukula.
”Many of our seniors don`t want to maintain a home, but they still want a place to call home,” said Pukula, the liaison between the Village Board and the Romeoville Housing Authority. ”Lots of people want to stay here.”
The seniors complex would be about half a mile west of the Village Hall, which is at Illinois Highway 53 and Montrose Drive.
The developer, Hinsdale-based U.S. Frontier Inc., built a similar 44-apartment complex in Roselle last year. That project has a waiting list of more than 200 people, prompting Frontier to propose not only the Romeoville project but also a 60-unit complex in Bellwood.
All of the projects will take advantage of federal tax credits designed to spur senior-citizen housing. In order to get the tax breaks, developers have to keep their rents 30 percent below comparable rents in the same market. In Romeoville, U.S. Frontier intends to charge tenants between $380 and $395 per month. The project would cost $4.2 million to build. Construction tentatively is scheduled to begin in late spring with the first tenants moving in about a year later.
Romeoville trustees will consider the plans next month. Pukula said she expects her colleagues to approve them.
