For the week of Oct 30 - Nov 5, 2002

Affordable-housing units near completion

72 apartments to open in Hailey

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"Market studies have demonstrated a huge demand for affordable housing in the Wood River Valley. The demand is astronomical, and here we have a supply."

— TOM MANNSCHRECK, Balmoral Limited Partnership

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By GREGORY FOLEY
Express Staff Writer

With more and more residents being forced out of the Wood River Valley because of the high costs of housing, developers of a large residential complex in Hailey announced this week that they will soon be able to offer some relief.

Tom Mannschreck, majority owner and general partner of Balmoral Limited Partnership, said the company in November and December will offer 72 new units at the Balmoral Apartments in Woodside to qualified low- and middle-income renters.

Construction of 72 new units at the Balmoral Apartments in the Woodside area of Hailey is scheduled to be completed in November and December. Express photo by David N. Seelig

Mannschreck said the partnership expects construction of seven new apartment buildings at Balmoral to be completed between Nov. 1 and the end of December.

"Market studies have demonstrated a huge demand for affordable housing in the Wood River Valley," he said. "The demand is astronomical, and here we have a supply."

The 72 new apartments coming on line will include 36 two-bedroom, two-bathroom units and 36 three-bedroom, two-bathroom units.

Jano Wiedemann, manager of Balmoral Apartments, said the two-bedroom units will range in monthly lease costs from $525 to $579, and the three-bedroom units from $805 to $820.

The new apartments are a part of the second phase of development at Balmoral. The City of Hailey issued a Planned Unit Development permit for the project in April 2000, allowing a total of 192 one-, two- and three-bedroom units to be constructed at the site on Shenandoah Drive.

Balmoral Limited Partnership constructed 120 units as part of Phase One, which was completed in June 2001. The 72 new units will complete the development.

Balmoral Limited Partnership operates under Boise-based affordable-housing developer Thomas Development, which is headed by Mannschreck. Thomas Development has built approximately 40 housing communities throughout the West.

The Balmoral complex was constructed as part of a federal program that allows developers to receive tax-exempt financing to construct projects that provide low-to-middle income affordable housing.

Specifically, the program under which Balmoral was constructed stipulates that the combined income of all members of a household fall within a range between 30 and 60 percent of a figure called the "Area Median Income." Determined by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, the figure is essentially an estimate of the average income of residents in a given area.

Mannschreck said the median income for a family of four in the Wood River Valley is currently hovering around $45,000. He noted that the apartments constructed in Phase One are "by-and-large full," with occupants including schoolteachers, police officers and public officials.

As part of the PUD permit issued by the city, the developers agreed to convert 3.5 acres of the 16-acre site to a public park that would be dedicated to the city.

Hailey Planning Director Kathy Grotto said the agreement stipulated that the park must be completed and turned over in order for the Phase Two apartments to receive an official Certificate of Occupancy. She explained that the transfer of the park has not been completed in time to meet a pre-established deadline, but said adequate progress has been made that she did not foresee the city barring occupancy of the new buildings.

 

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