Orland OKs senior apartments

By Matthew Bruce Correspondent February 7, 2012 1:32PM

Updated: February 7, 2012 11:08PM

Orland Park officials have given the go-ahead for construction of an 80-unit senior apartment building on Harlem Avenue.

Thomas Place of Orland Park would provide affordable housing for area seniors, according to the project’s developers, Ryan Cos. U.S. and Jim Bergman. Tinley Park-based Providence Life Services also will be part of the development team.

Construction of the four-story building, at the northeast corner of Harlem Avenue and Wheeler Drive, is expected to begin in the spring.

Orland trustees on Monday approved a pair of motions which finalized development agreements for Thomas Place.

Age-restriction guidelines require that at least one resident in each unit at Thomas Place be 55 or older, and income restrictions will apply, according to the developers. There will be 25 one-bedroom units and 55 two-bedroom units.

The monthly rents for the one-bedroom units will range from $355 to $895, and range from $422 to $1,095 for the two-bedroom units, the developers said.

Ryan officials have said the yearly earnings cutoff for eligible seniors will be 60 percent of the average median income. For single-family occupants, that amounts to an annual income of about $32,000, and roughly $36,000 for couples residing in the facility.

The complex will not accommodate assisted-living seniors.

The building is expected to be completed about a year from now, and pre-leasing will begin three months prior to occupancy, according to the developers.

The Orland Park development is the latest senior housing project in the Chicago area for Ryan Cos. and Bergman. They built Thomas Place apartment buildings in Fox Lake and Glenview, and are under way with a building in Gurnee.

The project was initially approved by Orland’s planning commission last March, but did not go before the village board until October, as Ryan awaited a state tax credit to help fund the development.

“The village has been great to work with,” said Richard J. Skrodzki, an attorney representing the developers. “They found us a good site, and have been nothing but helpful in bringing what I think is going to be a great project to the village. So we’re very pleased.”

Ryan Cos., which built the Brookside Marketplace shopping center in Tinley Park, previously had proposed a similar apartment building for that village, but plans fell through due to funding issues.

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Orland OKs senior apartments