Wednesday, June 6, 2001
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Wednesday, June 6, 2001 |
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PTC Council to consider creation of authority to help fund upscale senior apartment project By JOHN
MUNFORD
A developer's request for the Peachtree City Council to create a Seniors Facility Authority will be considered at Thursday night's council meeting. Prime Communities is asking for the authority so it can issue bonds and reduce the cost of a proposed 144-unit upscale senior apartment complex. At its last meeting, council established an advisory committee to look into the project. That committee has formally recommended that council create the authority. Council has discussed the possibility of appointing members of its Development Authority to the Seniors Facility Authority, since they have experience with issuing bonds to help finance economic development projects. Committee members Floy Farr and Jim Steinbach have also agreed to serve on the new authority if asked. The bond issue would allow the average rent to be reduced from $2,600 a month to $2,200. It would pose no risk to the city or the Development Authority and no city property would be used as collateral, City Attorney Rick Lindsey told the committee at a recent meeting. Instead, the property the apartments are built on would be used as collateral, Lindsey said. Lindsey also pointed out that this is the last parcel of land in the city that could be developed with such a project. However, there is a possibility that other existing facilities could seek the same type of funding from the Seniors Facility Authority. They would have to meet certain qualifications, including being a nonprofit agency, said Norm Hansen of Prime Communities. If Prime Communities' project doesn't lease out quickly, it would remain a senior apartment facility, Hansen said. He noted that the rooms were designed in such a way that they would not appeal to families with children. Development Authority Chairman Tom Farr, who served on the advisory committee, said the Seniors Facility Authority should use its own bond attorney in addition to the bond counsel Prime Communities plans to use. Prime Communities has proposed a facility that will include a cafeteria and a front desk that's manned 24 hours a day. It would also have round-the-clock coverage from an emergency medical team and security would be a priority, according to Hansen. The project would be at the intersection of Crosstown Road and South Peachtree Parkway next to the Village Park subdivision. Prime Communities is set to open a similar project in September in east Cobb County, Hansen has said, noting this type of facility is a new niche in the market.
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