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More than 250 housing units could be built at Dayton VA

The St. Mary's Development Corporation received a $4.6 million grant from the Office of Housing and Urban Development to construct a building on the campus of the VA Medical Center. A letter of commitment signing ceremony was held Monday Feb. 6 on the VA campus. Signers included Herbert Burton of Dayton (left) who represented veterans and Sister Rose Wildenhaus (right) of the St. Mary's Development Corporation. The building will house 67 units for low-income housing for veterans. In the rear is Congressman Michael Turner (left) and Brooke T. Hill, the Southwest Regional Director for Senator Sherrod Brown's office.

Staff photo by Lisa Powell The St. Mary's Development Corporation received a $4.6 million grant from the Office of Housing and Urban Development to construct a building on the campus of the VA Medical Center. A letter of commitment signing ceremony was held Monday Feb. 6 on the VA campus. Signers included Herbert Burton of Dayton (left) who represented veterans and Sister Rose Wildenhaus (right) of the St. Mary's Development Corporation. The building will house 67 units for low-income housing for veterans. In the rear is Congressman Michael Turner (left) and Brooke T. Hill, the Southwest Regional Director for Senator Sherrod Brown's office.

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By Ben Sutherly, Staff Writer 1:41 PM Tuesday, February 7, 2012

DAYTON — After several years of delay, the Dayton VA Medical Center on Monday took a symbolic step toward returning its campus to its Civil War-era roots as a permanent home for veterans.

Representatives of the federal hospital and St. Mary Development Corp. on Monday signed a letter of commitment that lays the groundwork for St. Mary to lease six acres in the southwest corner of the VA campus. At that site, the nonprofit plans to build an $8 million, 67-unit apartment complex for low-income veterans who are at least 62 years old.

“What this does is begin the transformation of the campus to its original mission, which was a home,” said Glenn Costie, director of the Dayton VA.

All told, in the next few years, more than 250 housing units could be built along the southern portion of the campus that faces U.S. 35.

The Dayton VA disclosed Monday that it is working with a second developer, Florida-based Communities for Veterans, LLC, to build 186 permanent and transitional housing units for homeless, disabled and senior veterans and their families.

That housing will be built on 14 acres next to the six acres St. Mary is leasing.

Ground will be broken no later than September for the St. Mary apartments, which are scheduled for completion in July 2014. A timeline for the Communities for Veterans apartments wasn’t available Monday.

St. Mary recently received a $4.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development — as well as $3.3 million in tax credits — to fund the project.

St. Mary obtained a similar grant from HUD more than six years ago with the intention of building senior housing on the Dayton VA campus, but those efforts were complicated by two conflicting sets of federal rules.

“The problem basically was this: the VA required that you have the money first, and HUD required that you have the land first,” U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, said Monday. He said HUD also prohibited preferences for veterans in housing, while the VA required such a preference.

So St. Mary instead used the grant to build senior housing at 1300 Genesis Way off Hoover Avenue in West Dayton.

The nonprofit intends to build an exact replica of that three-story facility, called Lyons Place, at the Dayton VA.

“This brings 24-hour life back to the (campus),” Turner said. “People will once again call this home, not just a site where they go and see their doctor.”

St. Mary plans to coordinate shopping trips and other outings for apartment residents.

Demand for the housing is expected to be strong. A St. Mary-commissioned market study in April found nearly 2,000 local homeless and low-income veterans would qualify for such housing.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7457 or bsutherly@ DaytonDailyNews.com.

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