The Washington state Department of Commerce says several affordable housing agencies in Spokane will receive a total of $9.9 million to aid in construction or rehabilitation of 322 low-income rental units, and down-payment assistance for nine homes for developmentally disabled buyers.

Cindy Algeo, executive director of the Spokane Low Income Housing Consortium, a nonprofit that promotes interagency collaboration on low-income housing development and advocacy issues, says about $9.7 million of the funds will go toward construction projects valued at a total of $34.8 million. The remaining amount will go toward down-payment assistance.

The construction projects will add 182 units to the low-income housing rental market and update 140 existing units, all within the next six months to two years, she says.

The Department of Commerce awarded the money via the Washington state Housing Trust Fund, which is funded through bonds as approved in the Legislature in the state's capital budget.

The department awarded $2.9 million—the largest single Housing Trust Fund allocation statewide—to Spokane nonprofit Inland Empire Residential Resources as the final funding needed to start construction of a four-story workforce housing project planned at 1420 E. Sprague. The project also has received commitments for more than $1 million in federal stimulus funds to be distributed through the city of Spokane and Spokane County, says Darryl Reber, executive director of Inland Empire Residential Resources.

The development will have 37 apartment units on the top three floors and about 5,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor, Reber says.

The project tentatively is called The Union to signify the unification of the International and University districts, where they overlap along the east Sprague Avenue corridor, Reber says. Located on the former site of the Famers Market & Garden Center and the neighboring Rocky Cafe, the project is intended to serve households that earn 30 percent to 65 percent of the area median income, specifically neighborhood workers and people displaced by the North Spokane Corridor freeway project, he says.

The floor plans include studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments, Reber says. Wolfe Architectural Group PS, of Spokane, designed the project.

Inland Empire Residential Resources has issued a request for qualifications and expects to choose a contractor soon, Reber says.

The estimated project cost is $5 million. "It's funded and ready to go," he says. "We hope to get the permits and put the foundation in the ground in December. That way we can work through the winter."

Reber says he expects the project will be completed in late 2012 or early 2013, depending on whether construction starts this winter.

For another project, Spokane Housing Ventures will receive a $1.5 million Housing Trust Fund allocation to go toward a dual project that will include constructing a 61-unit senior apartment building and rehabilitating a 124-unit senior apartment complex on Spokane's South Hill.

The total project cost is estimated at $15 million, says Dave Roberts, senior developer at Spokane Housing Ventures, a nonprofit that provides affordable housing to families with low incomes or special needs.

The new structure, to be called Clare View, will be located at 3146 E. 44th, just north of the Clare House Apartments complex, at 4827 S. Palouse Highway, which will be updated, Roberts says.

Spokane Housing Ventures has secured more than $3 million in funding from other sources, including the federal funds routed through Spokane County and the city, as well as a grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, he says.

Spokane Housing Ventures also will apply for HUD low-income housing tax credits, Roberts says. The application is due in mid-December. Investors that buy low-income housing tax credits through a competitive bidding process can deduct the value of those credits from the amount of federal income tax they owe.

"If we're successful in getting an allocation of credits, we hope to break ground in March," Roberts says. "We would love to have a certificate of occupancy (for Clare View) by the end of 2012."

Whitewater Creek Inc., of Hayden, is the contractor on the dual project, and ZBA Architecture PS, of Spokane, designed it.

The Clare House rehabilitation project will include architectural and structural improvements for health, safety, and energy efficiency, Roberts says. It will include replacing all windows and common-area carpeting, installing energy-efficiency upgrades, and resurfacing the parking area.

Community Frameworks projects

Spokane-based Community Frameworks, a nonprofit that develops and manages low-income housing throughout the Pacific Northwest, is involved in three Spokane-area projects that landed total allocations of $4.7 million in housing trust funds.

The largest of those is an award of $2.1 million that will go toward the planned 40-unit second phase of Appleway Court, a low-income senior housing project at the southeast corner of Appleway Boulevard and Farr Road, in Spokane Valley.

Community Frameworks will develop the project and Spokane United Methodist Homes, which does business as Rockwood Retirement Communities, will own and operate the facility, says Chris Venne, Community Frameworks' finance director.

"Our role as the developer is to put the financing package together, help in contractor selection, and serve as the owner's representative during construction," Venne says.

He estimates the cost of the second phase at $6.1 million. The project has received some earlier commitments for additional local and state low-income housing funding, Venne says.

Rockwood Retirement Communities also operates two longtime retirement facilities here, including Spokane's largest, Rockwood South.

"Appleway Court II needs one last piece of funding; low-income housing tax credits," Venne says.

No contractor has been selected yet, he says. ZBA Architecture designed it.

The project will consist of one- and two-bedroom-unit apartments with 540 to 690 square feet of living space, he says, adding that the first phase was all one-bedroom units.

Community Frameworks and Rockwood developed the 38-unit first phase, at 221 S. Farr Road, under a similar arrangement.

The Department of Commerce allocated $1.8 million in housing trust funds to Community Frameworks' Pioneer Park Place project, at 424 W. Seventh.

Community Frameworks, in partnership with Frontier Behavioral Health, plans to convert the four-story former nursing home there into a 29-unit apartment building, Venne says.

The total project will cost around $5 million, he says.

Community Frameworks has received other state and local funding and is applying for low-income housing tax credits through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, he says.

"We expect it to be fully funded by the end of the year," Venne says, of the Pioneer Park Place project.

Venne says the structure, which was designed by Spokane architect Donald Neraas and constructed in 1958, was listed earlier this month on the Washington state Heritage Register.

"It will be a historic rehab," Venne says of the project. "It actually helps us get funding."

The project will include one- and two-bedroom apartments in several configurations that will range in size from 600 to 900 square feet of living space, he says.

The structure, with its concrete columns and beams, is an example of sturdily built midcentury modern architecture, Venne says.

"Another century down the road, that structure is still going to be standing," he says.

Community Frameworks hopes to complete the project in early 2013. No contractor has been selected yet. Cortner Architectural Co., of Spokane, is designing the project.

Community Frameworks also is acquiring a 16-unit low-income multitenant structure known as Hoffman Apartments, in the Hillyard neighborhood, for which the Department of Commerce has awarded $700,000 in housing trust funds, Venne says.

He says the city of Spokane and a national nonprofit called NeighborWorks America also have provided additional funding for the project, which he estimates will cost a total of $1.1 million, including acquisition and renovation.

Community Frameworks plans to rehabilitate the structure to ensure it will have 20 to 30 years of useful life, Venne says.

Four units will be set aside for people with developmental disabilities, Venne says.

"Arc of Spokane will help us identify who those people will be and help provide services once they live there," he says.

In an allocation aimed at promoting homeownership, the Department of Commerce awarded $180,212 in housing trust funds to Arc of Spokane, a nonprofit that helps developmentally disabled people through family support, skills training, and residential services.

Cathie Griffith, homeownership opportunities program coordinator for Arc of Spokane, says the funds will provide down-payment assistance to nine adults with developmental disabilities or families with children with developmental disabilities.

The Department of Commerce has awarded $623,000 to Spokane nonprofit Frontier Behavioral Health toward constructing a 15-unit apartment building in the Hillyard neighborhood, at 2207 E. Francis, that will house people with mental disabilities.

Frontier Behavioral Health is a Spokane nonprofit that was formed in June when longtime mental health agencies Spokane Mental Health and Family Service Spokane merged.

The roughly $2.6 million project had earlier received a $1.7 million HUD grant toward construction of the complex which is to be called Sylvan Place. It has also received additional federal funding distributed through the city of Spokane.

Clark General Contractors LLC, a subsidiary of T.W. Clark Construction LLC, of Spokane, will be the contractor on the project, and Michael Fancher & Associates, of Seattle, designed it.

Construction will start next spring to be completed in the fall, says Sheryldene Rogers, director of residential development at Spokane real estate firm Goodale & Barbieri Co., which is overseeing the project.