Construction of Odin View Apartments in Hempfield expected to begin this spring

Westmoreland County Housing Authority officials have the additional $1 million needed to build a low-income senior citizen housing complex in Hempfield.

Construction of the proposed Odin View Apartments is expected to begin this spring now that the last portion of funding needed for the $13.1 million project has been secured.

Board members Tuesday approved the final financing package, which includes sale of tax credits that will serve as the project’s primary funding source.

“We’re at mach speed now,” authority Executive Director Michael Washowich said.

The sale of tax credits was originally expected to provide up to $10 million, but housing authority officials scrambled the past several months after the award from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency fell $1 million short.

Washowich said the authority was able to negotiate additional tax credits valued at about $550,000 to offset a portion of the funding gap. The remaining shortfall will be covered through increased allocations from state grants, a higher value paid by investors for the tax credits and by diverting a portion of fees paid to the nonprofit offshoot of the authority that will serve as developer for the new apartment complex.

Odin View Apartments, a four-story, 45-unit building that will be erected on the authority’s 55-acre property along South Greengate Road in Hempfield, is expected to be completed in 2020. It will be built on a site that formerly housed a district judge’s office.

The project will serve as a companion to South Greengate Commons, the low-income senior complex that opened in 2013 and has about 150 people on a waiting list.

The authority operates in 38 communities with about 1,800 public housing units available to rent.