Cook Inlet Housing Authority plans 72-apartment complex for older people in Airport

A bicyclist rides past undeveloped land near Columbine Court and DeBarr Road where Cook Inlet Housing Authority plans to break ground this summer on a multi-phase senior housing campus. Photographed on Wednesday, Feb. 25. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Cook Inlet Housing Authority plans to build a new apartment complex in Airport Heights for aging adults in Anchorage, making use of looser zoning rules the municipality has adopted over the last year.

The housing authority plans to begin constructing 72 affordable apartment units for adults 55 and older as soon as this summer. The project, planned for a roughly 4-acre piece of undeveloped land the organization owns north of DeBarr Road, will add density to the neighborhood.

The Anchorage Assembly approved the rezoning of the parcel on Feb. 17, after a public hearing. It comes on the heels of the LaFrance administration’s attempts to relax some zoning regulations that they’ve said make it cumbersome to build in the city.

“When we launched the ’10,000 Homes in 10 Years’ strategy, we promised to cut the red tape that stalls projects,” Mayor Suzanne LaFrance said in a Feb. 18 statement. “(This) approval is proof our reforms are working.”

The project would be split into three phases, the first of which Cook Inlet Housing Authority hopes to break ground on this summer, Tyler Robinson, the vice president of community development and real estate at Cook Inlet Housing Authority, said during the Assembly meeting.

Phase one, a three-story complex, will have 24 units that are a mixture of studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments. A “mixed-income” housing project, some apartments will have income limits and others will be available at market rate, according to the city.

At the Airport Heights location, Cook Inlet Housing Authority favored the proximity to public transportation, health care and other supportive services for future residents, said spokeswoman Sezy Gerow-Hanson. Phase one is set for completion in fall 2027.

A person walks his dog along DeBarr Road near undeveloped land that Cook Inlet Housing Authority plans to break ground this summer on a multi-phase senior housing campus. Photographed on Wednesday, Feb. 25. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Intentional design choices, such as the inclusion of elevators, will increase tenants’ ability to “age in place and live independently longer,” she said. The apartments will also have accessible floor plans that can be modified as residents’ needs change over time, she said.

Gerow-Hanson said the organization knows from its property waitlists that the demand for all types of affordable housing is high. In a healthy market, households can move from rental apartments into starter homes and eventually, a larger house, she said. As residents age, they often shift into smaller condos or back to rental housing.

“Our elders need opportunities for quality affordable housing that allows them to downsize. … If we don’t have enough of any one of these types of housing, we will see a bottleneck, or worse, complete gridlock,” she said.

Snow-covered undeveloped land near Columbine Court, right, where Cook Inlet Housing Authority plans to break ground this summer on a multi-phase senior housing campus. Photographed on Wednesday, Feb. 25. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Prior to the Assembly’s vote last week, the zoning on the parcel limited the height of building and required a “longer, more expensive” permitting process, Daniel McKenna-Foster, a long-range planner for the municipality, said in an email.

At the meeting, Robinson asked for the municipality’s help working around the special limitations, which date back to the 1980s, on the property. If no changes were made, zoning requirements could have cost the housing authority an additional $30,000 and require a four- to six-month wait, he said.

“(We) are asking your help to streamline the process and allow us to move forward with this development,” he said to the Assembly.

When the municipality’s zoning restrictions get in the way of residential development, “that’s a problem,” said Assembly member Daniel Volland, who represents North Anchorage, where the project is located.