Filling A Need Developer Harry Green Completes Phase 1 Of Clare House - An Affordable Home For Seniors

Harry Green might be considered a socially responsible developer.

He has committed himself to building affordable housing for the elderly. Today, his dream is three stories tall on the South Side.

Phase One of the Clare House Retirement Community on the Palouse Highway opened in February with 124 independent living apartments.

It also has a community center, handicapped-accessible swimming pool and property for three more construction phases. So far, $7.2 million has been invested.

When it’s completed, the Clare House complex will be home to more than 400 seniors, the majority of whom will be able to rent apartments or move into care facilities at below-market rates.

“For the aging population, it’s a big need, a growing need,” said Kasey Kramer, community development director for Spokane County.

Green worked for four years with government officials, private lenders and architects to make Clare House happen. The county contributed $625,000 in federal HOME housing funds. The project also qualified for tax-exempt state bonds, federal tax credits and other special financing.

“We share the same goal,” Green said, “to give seniors of this community the most for the least amount of money.”

The combination of low-interest loans and tax credits keeps repayment costs down, and allows for low rental rates.

In exchange for the government financing, Green agreed to maintain the affordable rates for at least 50 years under government standards low-income housing.

For example, a studio apartment at Clare House costs $235 a month for a single person earning $10,700 a year or less. One and two-bedroom apartments are also available and are priced on the basis of size and income levels.

A person making $15,300 a year or less would rent a one-bedroom apartment for $361 to $375. That income level is considered half of the county’s median income for single persons.

“I think we are going to get a big bang for our dollar,” said Tim Crowley, a community development specialist for the county.

Green didn’t just throw up an architectural box. The Clare House has a hipped shingled roof, decorative dormers and central facades on all four sides. The entryway lobby includes a second-floor balcony.

The interior of the apartment building has a courtyard and soon will have a landscaped fountain.

The exterior facades are reminiscent of the outside of the former Holy Names Academy girls school on the North Side. Green, years ago, converted the former Catholic girls school into the Academy Retirement Community, his first effort to provide decent housing for seniors.

The Clare House is Green’s fourth senior housing project and it’s named after Sister Kathleen Clare Gorman, the former superior at St. Aloysius School when Green was a first-grader there.

She will be the guest of honor at an April 24 grand opening ceremony at 1:30 p.m. at the facility. The public is invited.

Clare House is the first time Green has gone to new construction in Spokane. He bought 16.6 acres of previously undeveloped land four years ago and has an option to buy eight more acres adjacent to the existing parcel.

He said he designed the building to take advantage of the latest in technology as well as an energy efficient design.

His contractor, Inland Construction Co. of Spokane, completed work more than a month ahead of schedule, allowing Green to start collecting rents this spring.

Inside the apartments, seniors will be able to hook up to cable television for about half the cost of a regular residential hookup through a deal negotiated between Green and TCI Spokane.

Telephones will have many of the new features such as call forwarding. The apartments are wired with emergency bathroom cords that can summon help quickly. A continuous power is ensured by installation of emergency generators.

The library will have computers with Internet and e-mail capability. Green said he wants to install video conferencing.

The apartments are equipped with shower stalls that have bench seats, and heat lamps in the bathrooms. Green said he doesn’t want seniors getting chilled after taking a shower.

He said he didn’t skimp on floor space. The smallest of the two floor plans for the one-bedroom units has 503 square feet.

The building is laid out in a large rectangle with continuous hallways. Green said that was done so that seniors could get exercise indoors by walking the hallways during cold weather.

“It’s real important for me to have the little things for seniors,” Green said.

The adjacent community center is being used by Holy Family Adult Day Health for its day care program for seniors.

Other community programs are being provided and Green is trying to get the Southside Senior Activities Center to offer classes at Clare House.

The pool and exercise room are equipped so handicapped persons can work out. The pool has a hoist and sling so people who use wheel chairs may swim.

Susan Brudnicki of the Moran Prairie Neighborhood Association said Green chose a good location for the complex, but it will add more traffic to the congested South Regal corridor near the Palouse Highway. She said the county needs to install a traffic light along that route.

To get the project built, Green worked with the Washington State Housing Finance Commission to obtain $4 million in low-interest bonds.

Also, private lenders were brought into the financing mix through tax credit programs for housing investors. The tax credits are granted under compliance agreements to ensure the housing continues to benefit low-income persons.

Now, Green is reassembling a new financing package for the second phase of Clare House, a 120-unit congregate care building.

That will be followed by an assisted living facility for 98 residents, an Alzheimer’s care wing for 48 people and 28 bungalow-style homes for more independent living units.

The idea is to provide a facility where seniors can stay as their health needs change, a concept called aging in place.

“It really provides the continuum of care we are looking for,” Kramer said.