© 2024 Peoria Public Radio
A joint service of Bradley University and Illinois State University
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Area residents object to a plan for affordable housing at a north Peoria apartment complex

A California-based corporation is seeking multifamily housing revenue bonds to fund a $45 million purchase of the Prairie Vista Apartments in Peoria. The business plan would convert up to 75 percent of the units into affordable housing.
Joe Deacon
/
WCBU
A California-based corporation is seeking multifamily housing revenue bonds to fund a $45 million purchase of the Prairie Vista Apartments in Peoria. The business plan would convert up to 75 percent of the units into affordable housing.

A corporation seeking to purchase the Prairie Vista Apartments on Peoria’s north side is seeking multifamily housing revenue bonds to fund the sale, but several neighborhood residents are concerned about how affordable housing will impact the area.

A group of about 50 citizens attended Monday’s public hearing before the Tri-County River Valley Development Authority (TRVDA) to be heard on the bond issue.

“We don't want to see the change of a great property to where people don't want to live there anymore, and there is no economic reason for this to happen,” said Mark Slover, who lives in the adjacent Trails Edge Villas.

“There is no benefit to the city; there's no extra money coming in. The only people that seem to benefit from this are going to be the seller who's going to make a lot of money, and the buyer who seems like they're going to make some money. So the risk versus the reward doesn't make any sense.”

The morning hearing came after TRVDA on March 10 passed a resolution in favor of issuing up to $65 million in bonds to facilitate a purchase of the 304-unit Prairie Vista complex. Peoria City Manager Patrick Urich said California-based Integrity Housing has agreed to a $45 million sale price, with the additional amount included for potential extra fees and expenses.

“It's one of those things where there's too many unknowns here, and there are no questions being answered today,” said Slover. “So how do we get those questions answered so we can say, ‘Oh, we feel reassured that the right things are going to happen.’

“I cannot see why we'd want to do it from the city standpoint. We don't see any reward coming for it and a lot of risks that go along with all the things that might happen.”

TRVDA executive director Warren Ribley said the issuance still needs final formal approval at the state level, and Urich said the city council could vote to disapprove the bonds at its April 12 meeting, or it could take no action and let the project move forward.

“The one area that's a question that needs to be clarified is the property tax question,” said Urich. “Clearly, we don't want to see the property taxes impact for Dunlap school district. But overall, having affordable housing and housing for middle income residents throughout Peoria is important.”

A public meeting organized by council member Denis Cyr is scheduled for 6 p.m. on April 6 at Hickory Grove Elementary School in Dunlap. Urich said an Integrity Housing representative will be on hand to discuss the project.

The multifamily housing revenue bonds require 20% of the units to be reserved for families making no more than 50% percent of the area's median annual household income, which Urich said would be $34,350.

Urich said the developer’s business plan also indicates another 55% of the apartments would be for households earning 80% of the median income, or $54,950. All affordable housing units would have reduced rents, while the remaining 25% of the apartments would stay at the market rate.

Residents who live in the vicinity of Peoria's Prairie Vista Apartments speak during a public hearing of the Tri-Valley River Valley Development Authority on Monday in Peoria.
Joe Deacon
/
WCBU
Residents who live in the vicinity of Peoria's Prairie Vista Apartments speak during a public hearing of the Tri-Valley River Valley Development Authority on Monday in Peoria.

Others speaking against the project included Dunlap Village President Jack Esterdahl and Dunlap school board president Dr. Abby Humbles, as well as some representatives from homeowners’ associations in the area. Robert Lord, who lives less than a mile from Prairie Vista apartments, said he's worried about how the change would affect the surrounding neighborhoods and property values.

“I'm concerned about the deterioration of the neighborhood,” said Lord. “There are plenty of historical examples of what happens with low-income housing when people don't have a stake in their properties, and I'm afraid that's what's going to happen here. Nobody can tell me for sure that it will or won't, but I'm afraid that history in this case is going to repeat itself.”

Ribley said the property transfer would be between two private entities and the only government involvement is issuing the tax-exempt bonds. He added that he doesn’t believe Integrity would be eligible for any other tax breaks, and Urich said he didn’t believe other property values in the area would be affected.

“This is a purchase of $45 million; it's a significantly higher purchase price than in prior sales of this property,” he said. “I think their business model is they're looking at how they could market towards middle income housing. And this is an opportunity that they saw that they wanted to get into the LMA market, and I saw this as a property that might be viable.”

Trails Edge resident Cathi Hawkinson said she’s concerned about safety in the area, noting 29 of their association’s 51 units are occupied by widows and elderly single women.

“One of my major concerns is just from a safety issue, but I also after being at this meeting I view this as a scam,” she said. “For them to go ahead and have voted on the bond issue and then have the meeting, and not have the meeting first and then vote for the bond issue, it's pretty scary.”

Ribley said the order of the vote coming before the public hearing was not unusual, but merely a matter of timing surrounding project submission dates and TRVDA’s scheduled board meetings.

“There's no really set requirements on that sequence of timing, so it really just kind of depends on the pace of the project and what the overall timeline is for closing,” he said. “It was necessitated to have the hearing after the board action, just because there wasn't time to give proper notice for the hearing prior to the time of the board's regular scheduled meeting occurred to approve the bond resolution.”

Lord said he doesn’t believe an out-of-state corporation will keep the best interests of the area in mind.

“When I first heard about this, I simply said follow the money and having listened to all this I still think it's the same thing,” he said. “See who's going to make the profit, and those people don't give a rip what happens out there in the neighborhoods.”

Contact Joe at jdeacon@ilstu.edu.