Insulation is still visible on the sides of a Westminster apartment complex being built for low- and moderate-income elderly people. Packages of shingles are stacked on the roofs and the Carroll County clay has not been paved for an entrance road.
But the developers have been getting "a tremendous amount of interest," in the six weeks since the sign identifying Tremont Place went up, said Chickie Grayson, vice president of Enterprise Construction Corp., one of the project's developers. Groundbreaking for the project was Oct. 31.
The complex will be 40 one-bedroom cottage-style apartments for senior citizens whose annual incomes range from $10,480 to $21,160.
It is under construction on Cranberry Road next to the Carroll Meadows subdivision and is expected to be finished in August.
Ms. Grayson said tenants will pay from $193 to $460 in rent a month, depending on their incomes, plus utilities. She said the housing is not subsidized, so what the tenant pays will be the full rent for his or her apartment. She said the developers chose Carroll County on the basis of market studies.
Karen K. Blandford, supervisor of housing and community development for Westminster government, said city officials believe a demand exists for affordable housing for the elderly.
"The biggest need seems to be for people who can't pay the full rent," Ms. Blandford said. "The other real need is [housing for] people who need some assistance -- they can't live totally independently, but they don't need to be in a nursing home."
The 1990 census showed that 14 percent of the county's 123,372 residents were over age 60. County planners estimate the county's population is more than 130,000.
The Tremont Place apartments will be accessible to the elderly, Ms. Grayson said. But they are not designed for assisted living services such as communal dining halls.
For the Carroll project, Enterprise joined with Reisterstown-based Schuster Properties Inc.
Enterprise Construction is a subsidiary of Enterprise Social Investment Corp., which in turn is a subsidiary of Enterprise Foundation. Columbia developer James W. Rouse formed the foundation 12 years ago to provide affordable housing for poor people nationwide.
John J. Schuster Jr., owner of Schuster Properties, manages more than 200 affordable housing units in Maryland and Delaware. An affiliate corporation, Schuster Management Inc., will manage the Westminster apartments.
The project is financed with a $538,000 mortgage loan from Reisterstown Federal Savings Bank, $1.45 million in loans from the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development's Community Development Administration, and about $1.1 million in equity financing from NationsBank through the Nations Housing Fund. The fund provides capital for affordable rental housing through the federal low-income housing tax credit program.
The Community Development Administration (CDA) makes loans at below-market interest rates to developers of low-income rental units. The 1994-1995 appropriation from the General Assembly gives the agency $17.5 million to lend for projects across Maryland.
To meet state requirements for local participation, Carroll's commissioners waived $200 of the $2,150 per apartment impact fee on 38 of the 40 units. The $200 represents the schools' portion of the impact fee, Ralph Green, head of the county permits and inspections office, explained.
The county deserves credit for the impact fee waiver, said Jonette Hahn, CDA senior loan underwriter. "This was their first significant participation in affordable housing."