Valley’s latest affordable housing project dedicated

By Jeff Pope

Wednesday, May 13, 2009 | 1:34 p.m.

Government officials today welcomed the valley’s newest affordable housing project with a ribbon-cutting at the Arbor Pointe apartment complex.

A provision of the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act allows the Bureau of Land Management to designate federal parcels in the valley to be used for housing at below-market rate.

County, state and BLM officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony today with the project’s developers, Fore Property Co.

Located in the southwest, Arbor Pointe, 8855 Arby Ave., is the second project built under the legislation and is available for rent by residents who earn 60 percent of the area’s median income.

To qualify, household annual income cannot exceed the maximum limit. For an individual, the limit is $27,480 and for a family of four it is $39,240.

“In today’s economy, there’s a lot of people that are in financial difficulties and this offers affordability for all people at certain income levels,” said County Commissioner Susan Brager. “So the more that we can open up not only for our seniors but for our young families or any age of a family is so beneficial.”

Arbor Pointe offers 1,081-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bath units starting at $750 and 1,224-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bath units from $850.

Arbor Pointe has 180 units, which are 44 percent leased.

RealFacts Inc., a data analysis company based in Novato, Calif., reported in January that in the Las Vegas area, average rents were $996 in Henderson, $967 in North Las Vegas and $860 in Las Vegas. The report did not specify the average size of a unit.

Shirley McKnight was one of the first residents to move in when the complex opened in January. McKnight said she works in customer service and that affordability was her main reason for choosing Arbor Pointe.

“They’re affordable but they’re beautiful,” she said. “A lot of times when you go by your income, it has a negative connotation behind it. A lot of people think because it goes according to your income that they’re going to be run down or it’s not going to be in so good of a locale.”

Fore Property purchased the 10 acres at a 95 percent discount from the market value. BLM appraised the site at $9.5 million and sold it at $475,000.

Fore operates 76 complexes in 14 states, some at market value and others for low-income families and seniors. The company operates nine affordable housing complexes in the valley, two of them just for seniors.

The county and BLM have identified other parcels, mostly in the southwest, for future affordable housing projects, but none are under construction, county officials said.

The Harmon Pines Senior Apartments, 8220 Silver Sky Drive, developed by Nevada HAND was the first affordable housing project to open based on the SNPLMA provision.

“These times are not going to go away quickly,” Brager said. “So the SNPLMA money does make a difference in letting the project get there a little bit easier with the land not being quite so expensive.”