EXPANSION OPPORTUNITY

---

Lower Merion’s Ardmore House II project was awarded full funding through the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA)’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) program. This award equates to approximately $13.2 million in funding towards the project.

This award brings the project to 100% funded. Staff plans to meet with housing partners, HumanGood East and Genesis Housing, to discuss next steps.  

A feasibility plan was presented to the Board of Commissioners, with the recommendation to build a separate apartment building, funded by tax credits.  This second building would accept residents with income up to 60% of the Area Median Income limits.

A site plan drawing is shown to  the left.  The proposed building would operate under separate ownership from the original Ardmore House, and is expected to include 48 apartments.  At this time, funding is still being sought.  

The Lower Merion Board of Commissioners approved the following action as part of the  Consent agenda at the April 19,  2023 BOC meeting

COMMITTEE: Grants and Community Development Committee

ITEM: APPROVAL OF CONTRACT WITH CONSULTANT TO PREPARE FEASIBILITY INFORMATION FOR EXPANSION OF ARDMORE HOUSE

Consider for approval to execute a consultant agreement with Genesis Housing Corp. and Diamond & Associates to prepare necessary feasibility information to seek funding and construct an addition to Ardmore House.

From The Montgomery County website, on August 18th:

 The Montgomery County Board of Commissioners adopted the final Recovery Plan for use of $161.4 million in American Rescue Plan Act- State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds on August 18, 2022. This historic investment into communities across Montgomery County is intended to support an equitable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as address longstanding community challenges that were made more severe by the pandemic and related economic crises.   See the plan document here:

https://www.montcopa.org/DocumentCenter/View/36093

The county awarded half ($3 million) of the requested amount for an Ardmore House expansion. 

The expansion is projected to cost up to $12 million, which means the balance must be obtained via other funds.  The Township and Ardmore House will continue to explore options.

From The Montgomery County website:

As the Recovery Office prepares to release the Draft Recovery Plan on July 18, 2022, we are encouraging all submitters and residents to register for a Town Hall presentation of the Draft Recovery Plan. This discussion will include a brief presentation of how Montgomery County intends to allocate $161.4 million in Pandemic Recovery Funds. Participants will be able to provide feedback on the plan during this session.

Please click below to register for the Draft Recovery Plan Town Hall (note that both times will offer the same information):

Wednesday, July 20, 2022
2:00- 3:00 pm
Virtual meeting
Click here to register

Wednesday, July 20, 2022
6:00- 7:00 pm
Virtual meeting
Click here to register

Additional town hall sessions are also being scheduled, including a Spanish-language option, and will be posted soon.

From The Montgomery County website:

The Montgomery County Recovery Office has almost completed its initial reviews of the 426 project submissions to the Pandemic Recovery Fund.   As the Recovery Office completes its reviews, eligible and complete submissions are being forwarded to the External Review Committee for scoring. The Committee is now in the process of scoring all submissions against our scoring rubric. Each submission will be scored by up to 10 reviewers. The average score of all reviewers will be the submission's final score. 

Submitters can expect to receive an email notification with their submission's final score by June 24, 2022. Once all eligible submissions have been scored, the Recovery Office and County Management will prepare the list of funding recommendations into a "Draft Recovery Plan." All submitters will receive an email notification regarding their submission's conditional acceptance or rejection into the Draft Recovery Plan by July 18, 2022. The Recovery Office will be hosting a series of community conversations to share the Draft Recovery Plan during the weeks of July 18 and July 25. The public will have the opportunity to provide feedback on the Draft Recovery Plan during this time- we will share how to register for events or provide written comment in future updates. The Recovery Office will take any feedback received into consideration as it prepares the final Recovery Plan, which will be approved by August 18, 2022. All submitters will receive a final confirmation of their funding status at that time and all funded projects will be posted on the County's website. 

The Township submitted a proposal to the Montgomery County Recovery Office in the amount of $6 million to expand Ardmore House.   An estimated additional $3 million would be needed to make the expansion a reality.  At any given time, Ardmore House has a 4 year waiting list with 70-80  people on it.