West Des Moines moves forward on Phenix school redevelopment
KENT DARR Nov 2, 2016 | 10:35 pm
1 min read time
298 wordsAll Latest News, Real Estate and DevelopmentThe West Des Moines City Council voted Monday to use a $625,000 Iowa Finance Authority loan to further the redevelopment of the former Phenix Elementary School into affordable housing.
The city is partners in the project with the nonprofit Community Housing Initiatives Inc., which will repay the loan at 1 percent interest. However, the city would be responsible for repayment if Community Housing Initiatives defaults.
To date, the city has committed $535,000 for the purchase of the property at 415 Seventh St. and $320,000 for its redevelopment.
The West Des Moines Community School District closed the school, at the time called Phenix Elementary Early Childhood Center, at the end of the 2013-14 school year because of budget constraints. Phenix was built in 1939 as the city’s first elementary school.
Community Housing Initiatives plans a nearly $4.8 million project that includes 17 mixed-rate apartments. Four of the units will not have income restrictions.
Under the terms of the Iowa Finance Authority’s Workforce Housing loan program, the affordable units will not have age restrictions. They will be reserved for people with an adjusted gross income that is 140 percent of the statewide median income. That income level is $73,500 a year for a one-person household and $84,000 for two.
Phenix will have three one-bedroom units, 12 two-bedroom units and two three-bedroom units.
Community Housing Initiatives plans to contribute $300,000 in cash for the project and will forgo its standard 16 percent development fee, according to a city staff report to the City Council. Community Housing Initiatives will pay the city $1 for the site.
West Des Moines also owns five lots that front Sixth Street on the east side of Phenix and plans to hold those lots for future development.
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