Volunteers of America National Services will be constructing a new 75-unit senior housing apartment building that will replace a former nursing home in southeast-side Colorado Springs. The nursing home closed down after more than 12 residents passed away due to COVID-19. The nonprofit organization will also renovate its nearby 50-unit apartment complex, Laurel Gardens, at 3140 Mallard Drive, and the two projects will be combined to form Paloma Garden, a 125-unit complex that will help address a critical shortage of affordable housing for low-income seniors in Colorado Springs, according to organization officials. The project’s construction would commence in the third quarter of 2022 and would be completed in the first quarter of 2024, as anticipated.
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“We have long been a source of affordable housing in Colorado Springs. According to our market research, there isn’t a lot of affordable senior living in southeast Colorado Springs, and the housing market is quite tight. This project will address a vacuum in the area for high-quality senior housing, for which there is a great demand “said Doug Snyder, Volunteers of America’s regional vice president of development in Denver. The focus of the proposal would be the demolition of Laurel Manor in favor of a new 75-unit structure.
More on the Colorado Volunteers of America senior housing
Paloma Garden will have one- and two-bedroom apartments for persons 62 and older who make 30 percent to 60 percent of the Colorado Springs area’s typical family income, or US$17,000 to US$39,000 per year, according to a press statement from the organization. According to the statement, the complexes will have communal and fitness facilities, a resident lounge/library, a dining room and kitchen, a business center, storage lockers, raised vegetable beds, bike storage, and a walking route for residents. The US$34 million project will be paid for with US$6.36 million in tax-exempt bonds issued by the city of Colorado Springs, loans from the city, El Paso County, and the Colorado Division of Housing, and US$2.5 million in federal and state tax credits awarded by the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority in November.
