A $23 million assisted living senior housing project is closer to reality with the Evansville City Council’s help Monday night.
Council gave the unanimous go-ahead for a $17 million bond to pass through the city for Chicago-based Vermillion Development to build the apartments.
The city has no obligation to the bond. The deal gives the developer a better tax rate and tax-exempt bond, according to Evansville City Attorney Nick Cirignano.
Silver Birch of Evansville will be a three-story 100,000-square-foot, 119-unit apartment complex, featuring studio and one-bedroom units.
The housing complex will be an assisted-living facility, so the company has certified medical staff on hand around the clock and provides all meals. Silver Burch will also include a salon, common spaces, walking paths, housekeeping and other services to residents. The residents must have a medical need to live at Silver Birch.
Vermillion Development will build the housing units at 475 Governor St. and Canal Street, which is a nearly eight-acre vacant lot in the Baptisttown neighborhood. The complex will take up about three acres of the land.
It was the former site of Erie Homes public housing, which were demolished in 2008. Erie Homes was built in 1954 on a former salvage yard. It was a 108-unit complex that became derelict in its final years before the Evansville Housing Authority razed it.
The housing authority still owns the land, but will sell the lot to Vermillion. The housing authority will keep the chunk of the old Erie Homes lot along Lincoln Avenue, the site to which the Vanderburgh County Health Department wants to move its offices.
The project will also add 35 full-time jobs and will generate property taxes since it’s a private operation. Vermillion has similar projects ongoing in Muncie, Kokomo and Michigan City, and it has already completed a Silver Birch project in Hammond.
Darrin Jolas with Vermillion said the project will be financed using federal low-income housing tax credits.
Department of Metropolitan Development Director Kelley Coures said, “It’s very attractive, and it’s something I think Evansville needs.”
The Economic Development Commission approved the bond Monday afternoon. The City Council approved the ordinance 9-0.
Jolas said they hope to break ground in September and wrap up the project by the end of 2018.