A housing project to offer affordable assisted-living apartments will soon be under construction in southeast Columbus.
Construction of Vivera Senior Living of Columbus can now begin after a building permit was issued May 14 and financial bonds were issued, said Robin Hilber, Columbus community development programs coordinator.
The four-story building will be built on the 2.37-acre vacant lot near State and Mapleton streets, where the State Street School was originally constructed in 1928. Before the 87-year-old two-story brick building was demolished in late 2015, it served several decades as the Bartholomew County Annex building.
While the lot has been vacant for more than three years, there will be a mobilization of site surveyors and construction managers within a week or two arriving at the site, along with a number of construction trailers, said Jacob Brown, founder and principal of The Marian Group.
The Marian Group is the parent company for not only Vivera Senior Living of Columbus LLC, but also for the recently-created JLB Columbus GP LLC. Both subsidiaries will work together to develop the assisted living facility, Hilber said.
After preliminary site work is completed, a groundbreaking ceremony will be scheduled in early June, followed by an immediate start on construction, Brown said. Since the contractors have a 16- to 18-month construction schedule, the 114-unit building could open its doors as early as September 2020, he said.
Apartments in the 84,500-square-foot building, which will include 52 efficiency units and 62 one-bedroom units, will be unique in Bartholomew County, Hilber said. They will be the only affordable assisted-living facility that accepts government assistance immediately when a tenant moves in, Hilber said.
Immediate acceptance mean occupants won’t be forced to share rooms when their personal retirement savings are exhausted and tenants are forced to rely on government housing assistance, she said.
The units will be made available to eligible seniors whose income is at or below 60 percent of the average median income, Brown said. That would mean someone’s income would have to be at or below $34,200 to live there.
A market study presented to the city council last summer indicated a demand for 123 to 176 affordable assisted living units in Columbus.
The developer made his intentions for the project at 1971 State St. public last summer. On July 17, 2018, the Columbus City Council voted 6-1 to support Vivera’s request for the issuance of up to $15.5 million in revenue bonds to finance the proposed facility.
City-backed bonds only cover a certain portion of the investment, Brown said. For example, it doesn’t include soft costs such as architectural, engineering, financing and legal fees that often amount to about 28 percent of hard costs, he said.
When all expenses are considered, including furniture and equipment, the total investment will be between $23 and $24 million, Brown said. Beside the bonds, some financing will come through non-competitive tax credits from the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, he said.
Last August, Vivera completed the purchase of the property from Columbus Regional Hospital for $520,000. That was followed by a city council decision in September to designate the vacant lot as an economic revitalization area and provide Vivera with a 10-year tax abatement.
The development will create 45 full-time jobs and 14 part-time jobs, according to the company’s tax abatement application.
Several steps ranging from obtaining a zoning compliance certification to securing plumbing, mechanical, and electrical contractors had to be completed before the building permit was issued.
