Senior Housing Developer Gets Help with Financing Proposals

The Executive Director of a real estate development company created a community for low-income persons fifty-five years of age and older in the Town of Abingdon. The head of the City of Bristol planning office recommended that she contact the Virginia Highlands SBDC for assistance with her business plan and financial projections for the project. During the initial meeting in January 2002, it became apparent that she also needed assistance with coordinating her financing needs among grant and conventional financing sources and developing a plan to market to potential owners and renters.

Over the course of the next six months the center reviewed various iterations of the business plan and financial projections, which were accepted by the Retirement Research Foundation, Virginia Housing and Development Authority and the consortium of banks in June 2002. During 2003 and 2004, the client continued to contact this center for assistance with the loan request, grant applications, demographic data, fair housing rules and regulations, and marketing of the investor-owned and rental houses.

The ground-breaking for the development was held on March 13, 2003. To date, the company has received $1.2 Million in grants from the Retirement Research Foundation and $2.0 Million in loans from the Virginia Housing Authority and the consortium of local banks. A two-year grant totaling $80,000 was received to help defray the cost of operations. Sales of housing units since the groundbreaking have totaled $1.3 Million. As a result of the success of this project, the Town of Abingdon has requested that the client conduct a feasibility study for a similar project in another area of the Town. The Virginia Highlands SBDC is assisting with this new initiative.

In response to the 2004 VHSBDC Economic Impact Survey, the client wrote: "Jim Tilley & Sue Wagner are a great resource for helping us start building a co-housing community. Thanks! Great at networking!"