Historic school building will now serve Globe as affordable senior housing

GLOBE – The 105-year-old Hill Street School has been given a second life as affordable senior apartments, adding the first new housing to the mining city in 15 years.

The project’s developer and general contractor, Gorman & Company, converted the historic landmark and constructed a new building to create 64 mixed-income housing units. Tenants moved in just before Christmas, and the grand opening was celebrated April 11.

“This is an icon,” said Globe Mayor Al Gameros at the ribbon cutting. “This is the infrastructure of east side, historic downtown Globe. It’s important, vital to us, and we really are glad that this has come.”

Sally Schwenn, Arizona market president for Wisconsin-based Gorman & Company, said providing affordable senior housing is not just a statewide need but a national one.

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It’s especially hard for rural communities to meet the housing needs of low-income seniors, said Ruby Dhillon-Williams, Arizona Department of Housing interim director.

She cited fewer financial resources, a shortage of developable land and a dearth of workers for subcontracting jobs.

About 20% of Globe’s 7,179 residents are 65 years old or older, and of those, 8% live below the poverty line.

“A lot of folks have … aged out of their houses and they can’t afford to continue to maintain houses,” Schwenn said. “Ironically, a lot of the new families moving into Globe can’t find houses. So it’s made it really nice to be able to have people move in here and make houses available for new families to move into.”

For Matthew Reed, the new development provided him more than a home.

A year ago, Reed and his wife were living in a fifth-wheel trailer in Apache Junction, he said. After a medical emergency, his wife required a series of treatments and extensive care.

Eventually, Reed’s wife was moved to an assisted care facility in Globe. Meanwhile, his daughter-in-law contacted the Hill Street School Apartments’ property manager and helped the couple apply for a unit.

Reed said he was receiving unemployment at the time they were applying for an apartment at the Hill Street development. In the process, management asked Reed if he’d like a job in maintenance. Reed said he researched Gorman & Company and thought that it was too much to ask to work for them and live in the apartments. But on his birthday, Dec. 17, he was offered a job and an apartment.

“It’s a godsend,” Reed said. “If this all wouldn’t have happened, I don’t know where my wife and I would be right now. She could still be in assisted living, I could still be some place else, we could still be separated. This brought us together, put a roof over our heads, and a future.”

The apartments are in downtown Globe, within walking distance to the senior center, grocery store, post office and library. Hill Street residents have access to a large community room, a walking track, outdoor garden seating area and a small gym.

The total development cost for the project was $22.8 million, Schwenn said.

Dhillon-Williams said federal housing programs, Arizona low income housing tax credits and federal low income tax credits through the “9% program” provided funding.

The Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program is a “dollar-for-dollar credit against the federal income tax liability of the owner of a low-income housing development. Tax credits that are allocated to a development are claimed in equal amounts for a 10-year period,” according to the Arizona Department of Housing website. The National Multifamily Housing Council website says a 9% tax credit subsidizes 70% of new construction and cannot be combined with any additional federal subsidies.

Through federal housing programs, supplemental funds provided $1 million each for the Hill Street project from the HOME program and the National Housing Trust Funds, Dhillon-Williams said. The Home Investment Partnerships Program is a block grant program administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that offers funds to states and local governments to build affordable housing for low-income households.

Gorman & Company bought the historic school and adjacent property in 2021. Built in 1920, Hill Street School operated for 85 years. It was sold in 2005 and sat vacant for 18 years before construction started in June 2023.

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