New Stonewood Townhomes planned | Local News

The popularity of the Windridge Townhomes west of Highway 281 and north of Faidley Avenue has resulted in a new set of townhomes being constructed in the very same LaRue Subdivision.

"We actually have a Windridge I and Windridge II, and there are 58 apartments for those two projects, and they are completely occupied with a waiting list," said co-owner Cathy Mesner of Central City. "That's why we decided to build another project over there."

Windridge caters to the 55-and-older population earning 60 percent or less of median income. The next project, called Stonewood Townhomes, will be open to the same clientele. It will be on the opposite side of the LaRue Subdivision, located west of Highway 281 and south of 13th Street.

"We hadn't planned to do it, but there is such a strong need in the community for rentals and particularly for affordable rentals," Mesner said, noting that Windridge has never had even a full month's vacancy in any unit. "It was a good opportunity to go forward with it."

Stonewood comprises 11 duplexes offering a total of 22 apartments built along Stonewood Avenue and Ironwood Avenue, she said. Eighteen of the apartments are two bedroom units. The remaining four are three-bedroom units.

The apartments are about 1,100-square-feet with an attached single garage. All lawn care, snow removal and trash pickup is included. Each apartment also includes a full set of kitchen appliances, plus washer and dryer and wireless internet.

Mesner said an 80-person community center/clubhouse will also be part of the development to be constructed this summer. That center will be available for meetings and family gatherings of Stonewood residents.

"We plan to start construction by the end of July," she said. "It will take, I'm guessing about six months, to have them ready to go."

But the units are already going fast.

"We've already had enough calls, that once we start certifying tenants, we may not have any more room for tenants in this new project," Mesner said.

Annual income limits are $23,700 for a single-person household, $27,120 for a two-person household and $30,480 for a three-person household.

Rents are $430 for two of the two-bedroom units and $485 a month for 16 of the two-bedroom units. All of the three-bedroom units carry a monthly rent of $545.

The townhomes are all electric with utilities expected to run less than $100 per month per apartment, Mesner said. Several "green" construction features were used including added insulation in ceilings, high performance windows and heat pumps in place of traditional furnaces and air conditioners.

The heating and air conditioning ductwork was also built into a cavity below the ceiling space to prevent the loss of heated or cooled air into the attic, she said.

"They rate very, very well on the energy raters scale," Mesner said.

Two duplexes will be located on the north side of Ironwood, the clubhouse will sit on the corner and the remaining nine duplexes will be located on the west side of Stonewood.

Mesner, her husband Cliff, and their business partner Ray O'Connor of Grand Island, planned the LaRue Subdivision about four years ago. They received various funds for assistance on the initial Windridge and found the same support for the upcoming Stonewood Townhomes.

The $3.7 million Stonewood project has several financing mechanisms. The largest is $2.9 million of tax credit financing from the Nebraska Investment Finance Authority (NIFA) and $277,480 of HOME funds from the Nebraska Department of Economic Development.

The Mesners and O'Connor are putting in $137,185 of their own funds and getting the remaining $357,000 from a conventional bank loan.

Besides the Stonewood Townhome, the LaRue Subdivision also has about 30 single-family home lots remaining. It's expected to be completely built out by the end of 2012, Mesner said.

"We're very pleased to be bringing another one of these affordable rental housing units to Grand Island," Mesner said. "The city has been very cooperative and encouraged the new development there."

Regional Planning Director Chad Nabity said there is a tremendous demand for quality, affordable two- and three-bedroom apartments in Grand Island. He is excited to see the project offered.

"We're happy to have this opportunity to bring these funds to Grand Island and build this new housing," Mesner said.