Seniors' affordable-housing community on Daniel Island took 'village' to build

Marilyn Price, 71, was looking forward to an affordable place of her own after living with her daughter for the last two years.

Mary Broderick, 70, of Huger, just wanted to find a smaller home without a yard to take care of.

Larry Salley, 65, of West Ashley, needed a handicapped-accessible and updated space.

All of them plan to move into Seven Farms Village Apartments, an affordable senior citizens community, by the first of the year.

Price planned to move into the 42-unit community just a day after the Humanities Foundation dedicated the new complex on Daniel Island Dec. 8. The Daniel Island complex was scheduled to open in the fall of 2011, said Don Cameron, president of Charleston Housing Authority, but contractor Connelly Builders completed the project in just nine months.

"This is a national model of how you do it," said Charleston Mayor Joe Riley, adding that the affordable building project was a complicated process.

Eight entities were involved in funding its construction, including the Daniel Island Development group that sold the property, Riley said during a dedication of the Daniel Island complex.

The complex is one of two new senior complexes the Humanities Foundation is building in Charleston where rent will be based on income. The second, the 72-unit Grandview Apartments in West Ashley is expected to open in February. The Humanities Foundation received $3.5 million through a Tax Credit Assistance Program as part of the federal stimulus package and garnered funds from the South Carolina State Housing Finance and Development Authority, Charleston Home Program, the city Housing Authority, the Lowcountry Housing Trust, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and The Richman Group.

Rich McCauley, vice president of The Richman Group, said people say it takes a village to raise a child. "It takes a village to raise a village," he said.

Construction was Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified, meaning the apartments are green and energy efficient, so seniors should find the cost of utilities affordable due to energy-saving appliances and construction, Riley said.

Those features should save residents about $400 a year when compared with traditional construction, said Michael Mansson, Humanities Foundation LEED AP Development & Sustainability Manager. He said the project will be registered with the U.S. Green Building Council as the highest-ranking LEED Gold multifamily homes in South or North Carolina.

The Daniel Island project was $5.5 million, and about 6 percent of that cost went toward making it LEED compliant, Mansson said. Energy cost savings would pay for the upgraded features in one year, he said.

The complex, just steps away from Seven Farms Apartments, a low- income apartment complex and also a Humanities Foundation project, would also give the island a wider array of housing, Riley said.

Managers expected the building to be full by the end of the month. For more information on the application process, contact Gary Scott at: 284-5140.

Reach Jessica Miller at 937-5921.