New apartments nearly complete for low-income seniors in Naperville
A major expansion and renovation project to benefit low-income seniors is wrapping up at Martin Avenue Apartments in Naperville.
A new wing offering 66 1-bedroom and two 2-bedroom apartments is expected to be complete in October, and Naperville Elderly Homes, the nonprofit organization that operates the facility is now accepting applications from prospective residents.
To qualify for the new apartments, residents must be at least 62 and must meet requirements that cap their annual income at 30%, 50% or 60% of the area median income. That means a single person applying must make below limits set at $19,150, $31,850 or $38,220 a year.
The $29 million project has relied on $24 million in low-income housing tax credits and other grant funds from the Illinois Housing Development Authority and DuPage County, as well as support from Wintrust Bank and the city of Naperville.
Naperville Elderly Homes originally proposed the project to expand the Martin Avenue Apartments building in 2016 and aimed to complete it in 2019. But at that time, the plan was only to add new apartments.
In 2018, the idea grew to include a renovation of all 121 existing studio and 1-bedroom units. Residents in those homes now have fully renovated bathrooms and kitchens as well as new doors and lighting, said Dave Weeks, president of the board for Naperville Elderly Homes.
“In the units, we really spiffed it up,” Weeks said. “There's nothing that we haven't renovated.”
Work has spread to the common areas, too, where old lighting has been replaced with LED bulbs to “get away from that ‘70s dark look” of the building, which opened in 1973, Weeks said. The renovation and expansion also has created a new multimedia room, a bistro kitchen, an exercise room, a computer room, an atrium and a courtyard with a firepit, grilling area and walking path connection to the nearby Knoch Park.
“When you walk in, you really wouldn't recognize the place,” Weeks said. “Now you walk into a lounge with a fireplace.”
The target date for completion of the new units originally was scheduled for this month, but the project has been delayed amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Weeks said. Two residents of the building have contracted the respiratory disease and have fully recovered, he said. With each positive case, management paid for a complete professional sanitation of the affected wing, Weeks said.
During the pandemic, Naperville Elderly Homes has been encouraging residents to stay in their homes as much as possible and has limited visitors to one at a time. But the facility is not a nursing home or a health care center, so it cannot forbid residents from going about their business.
Martin Avenue Apartments offers an activities director and a shuttle bus driver to help residents with errands as well as laundry on site.
Apartments in the original portion of the building continue to rent for a market rate of $470, with most residents paying less than that based on a formula, under which they contribute 30% of their income toward housing costs, while subsidies or grants cover the rest.
Weeks said he expects apartments in the new wing to have market-rate rents of $550 to $750, but most residents there also will pay less, depending on their income level and subsidies.
To apply to live at the facility at 310 Martin Ave., visit https://martinave.org/, call (630) 357-0909 or email info@martinave.org.