BROWNSTOWN
Developers of a Brownstown apartment complex are taking another shot at state funding in hopes of completely rehabilitating the units.
Country Apartments has been along High Street for more than 30 years, and officials with Buckeye Community Hope Foundation said the seven buildings with 56 apartments need to be renovated.
Two years ago, the company applied for state funding but did not receive it.
Ian Maute, vice president of development for Buckeye Community Hope Foundation, and Dylan Collner, development analyst, recently visited with the Brownstown Town Council to receive a letter of support for their funding application, which is due Nov. 3.
The town, which gave its support, will not have to make any monetary contributions.
“Last year, there were 40 applications submitted statewide, and they had money to fund 16 of them, so it’s very competitive,” Maute said.
“We’re doing all we can to give ourselves a leg up, and support from the town is always greatly appreciated. It does go a long way when the state is reviewing these applications.”
Maute said the funding recipients will be announced in February. If his company is one of them, he said he expects work to begin at Country Apartments the second half of 2016.
Buckeye Community Hope Foundation is a Columbus, Ohio-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation with a mission of developing and facilitating affordable housing for low-income families. It does business in Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, South Carolina, Virginia, Illinois and Pennsylvania.
The company has been involved with the Brownstown property since 2003. It’s a Housing and Urban Development-financed property, so all of the residents receive rental assistance.
Maute said it would take about $65,000 per unit in construction costs. Exterior work to make parking and walkways handicap accessible also would be performed.
“It’s just dated. The property is over 30 years old, and it desperately needs some upkeep,” he said. “It will look like a brand-new apartment complex.”
Maute said residents would be provided with temporary relocation onsite during construction of their apartments. The company would be responsible for all of the relocation costs.
“If we’re successful (with receiving funding), we’ll nail down a date of when we’re going to start construction, and we’ll know several months ahead of time,” he said.
Those involved in the first phase of construction may be out of their apartments the longest, about six to eight weeks.
“Once you dig into those first couple of units, it’s always a little bit of a surprise,” Maute said. “But once you do the first couple, you kind of know what to expect, and everything moves along a little quicker.”