Lawrence County, Ohio’s southernmost tip, has been plagued with myriad problems. Cleveland-based developer PIRHL wanted to make a difference in this Appalachian county on the Ohio River.
“We started investigating Lawrence County in 2012, and we noticed that it had the highest foreclosure rate in the state. On top of that, the opioid crisis was detrimental there,” says Misty Elek, originations manager at PIRHL. “We wanted to serve an underserved county, which was a priority for the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA), and address the serious need for senior affordable housing.”
PIRHL partnered with the Ironton-Lawrence County Community Action Organization (CAO) to create a 56-unit independent senior living development in Rome Township in the eastern part of the county.
“When we started taking applications, we had 200 people applying for 56 units,” says Ralph Kline, assistant executive director of planning at the Ironton-Lawrence County CAO. “The need is huge. Unfortunately there’s never enough housing.”
Proctor’s Landing, which was completed in May 2017, serves seniors 55 and older with incomes between 30% and 60% of the area median income (AMI). The Ironton-Lawrence County CAO assists residents with access to supportive services, including health and wellness plans for aging in place.
The development also features an innovative graywater recycling system that captures water used during showers and baths and then is filtered and reused for flushing toilets. The development is set to divert approximately 232,800 gallons of graywater from the system, resulting in operational cost savings and increased NOI, which has allowed the development team to provide deeper income-targeting for six units at 40% of the AMI.
“Water and sewer costs, especially in rural areas, tend to be really high,” says Elek. “It is a great savings on operating costs, and it’s paid for itself too on the installation. There’s been enough water to continue to be recycled through the entire building.”
