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Groundbreaking held for Gateway Senior Hosuing

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Pictured, from left, are Nancy Wrick and Barbara Kirby, both of Waynesburg Prosperous and Beautiful, and David Burg, principal of PIRHL Development LLC, the project developer.

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Groundbreaking ceremonies were held Friday for Gateway Senior Housing. Pictured, from left, are Waynesburg Mayor Duncan Berryman, county Commissioner Blair Zimmerman, state Rep. Pam Snyder, Commissioner Archie Trader, Commissioner Chuck Morris and state Sen. Camera Bartolotta.

WAYNESBURG – Officials gathered Friday morning at High and East streets in Waynesburg to break ground for a new 52-unit senior apartment building.

Gateway Senior Housing, which will rise four stories above High Street in the area known as Town Hill, is being developed by PIRHL Development LLC of Warrensville Heights, Ohio.

“This has been about three-and-a-half years in the making just to get to this point,” said David Burg, a principal with PIRHL, who dedicated most of his brief comments to thanking the many people involved in making the project possible.

In his many years of developing projects, Burg said he never received the welcome he experienced in Greene County.

“I don’t think I ever walked into a situation like I did in Greene County and Waynesburg. It was unbelievable,” he said. “It was like the table was already set … there was so much cooperation.”

The project didn’t have to be sold to either local officials or the community, Burg said.

“The need was here, it was evident, and there was so much cross-collaboration and synergy between all the different entities,” he said.

Speaking over the roar of trucks on High Street, Burg thanked many who supported the project from the beginning including the county commissioners, Waynesburg Borough Council, Waynesburg Prosperous and Beautiful, Greene County Housing Team and state Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Jefferson.

Construction on the building is expected to begin in June and be completed next summer. The project is estimated to cost $10 million. The building will contain 31 one-bedroom units and 21 two-bedroom apartments for independent seniors, ages 62 or older, whose income is 60 percent or less of the medium income for the county.

It will have a full-time management staff and include a large community room, laundry rooms, computer room and a wellness center with exercise equipment, Burg said.

The project was announced by PIRHL in September 2012. The company failed to receive federal housing tax credits, which was a key to project financing, the first year it applied. PIRHL continued to pursue the project, however, and received the federal tax credits the following year.

“This is a day that has been anticipated for a long time,” county Commissioner Chuck Morris said in his remarks.

The opening of the building will not only help the county address the need for senior housing, he said, but also may possibly address one of the county’s other housing needs. Some of the county residents who move into Gateway Senior Housing will obviously be selling their homes, and this will free up those homes, making them available for others’ uses, Morris said.

Snyder, who supported the project as a county commissioner and later as a state representative, said she was grateful to PIRHL for staying with the project.

“If you have been following housing needs in Greene County, you know how hard everyone has worked to move this forward,” she said. “This is a critical project for Greene County and particularly for the borough.”

The building will enhance the downtown area, Snyder said. Residents will be able to “walk up the street and shop, and patronize what is happening here in our downtown.”

State Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Carroll Township, spoke about the importance of having senior housing in the community. The new complex will provide a place where older residents will not be isolated from the community, she said.

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