Georgia City Sees its First Affordable Seniors Community
The city of Johns Creek, Ga., will soon have its first affordable seniors living community. NorSouth Development Company has broken ground on HearthSide Johns Creek.
Johns Creek, Ga.—The city of Johns Creek, Ga., will soon have its first affordable seniors living community. NorSouth Development Company has broken ground on HearthSide Johns Creek.
HearthSide Johns Creek, designed by Foley Design Associates Architects Inc, will offer 90 apartments for seniors ages 62 and older.
The building will be gated, and includes a resident bistro, fitness center, media room and art studio. Individual apartments will feature open designs with Energy Star appliances, microwaves, entertainment bars and walk-in closets. But what will be especially appealing to residents is how accessible the apartment building is.
“We have been focused on finding walkable communities,” Thurston Cooke, vice president of finance at NorSouth Development, tells MHN. Cooke explains that it is important for seniors to be able to easily access stores and nearby amenities.
HearthSide Johns Creek will also feature many green elements. According to Cooke, the building was designed to meet Earthcraft House Multifamily standards. Additionally, it was built to be sustainable, including LED lighting and rainwater harvesting.
The affordable housing community represents a coup for the neighborhood. Cooke explains that it was financed with an allocation for low income housing by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.
“It’s a combination of affordable housing and market rate,” Cooke says. “It’s a mixed-income project, with 85 percent of the apartments affordable.”
HearthSide Johns Creek is set to be completed in August 2012.
“We worked very hard to bring HearthSide to Johns Creek and are delighted NorSouth is underway with the project,” John Kachmar, city manager for Johns Creek, said in a press statement. “On a scale of one to 10, I give it a 12.”
