| F&M Trust Participates in Funding for Affordable Housing Projects near Southgate Shopping Center Chambersburg, PA - Officials from F&M Trust were on hand to participate in the ground-breaking of two residential developments near the Southgate Shopping Center in Chambersburg, part of a massive revitalization effort of the neighborhood totaling more than $15 million.
Trish Hanks, vice president – retail services market manager, and Lorie Heckman, vice president, joined representatives from Interfaith Housing Alliance, PIRHL Developers LLC, Housing and Neighborhood Development Services (HANDS), Paran Management, and various community leaders and key supporters including Chambersburg Mayor Pete Lagiovane, Borough Council President Bill McLaughlin, and Lou Conlon from the PA Department of Community and Economic Development.
Hanks remarked about the bank’s participation in the projects, “We are pleased to sponsor funding for affordable housing. And we’re proud to be one of the lead participants in the revitalization and rehabilitation efforts of this area in Chambersburg.”
The Chambersburg Senior Housing project will consist of 32 residential apartment units on what was the former location of the Sherwin-Williams paint store at the intersection of West Washington Street and Black Avenue. F&M Trust sponsored $275,000 in funding for nonprofit group Interfaith Housing Alliance of Frederick, Md. This is the bank’s second partnership with Interfaith Housing, having participated in a project in Shippensburg in 2008.
Interfaith Housing, who will partner with developer PIRHL, will own the senior apartment building. The apartments will be geared toward seniors 55 or older with incomes less than 60 percent of the median income and people with qualifying disabilities, according to Frank Lucician of Interfaith Housing Alliance.
The building consists of two-bedroom apartment units, a health & wellness center, a business center equipped with computers and a gazebo. Units will be digitally accessible and Green Building features will be incorporated. Rent levels will be very reasonable for market-rate quality housing, said Lucician. According to David Uram, a principal with Ohio-based developer PIRHL, construction for the apartment building should begin within a month and completed by the end of next year.
Nearby on Buchanan Street, PIRHL and Housing and Neighborhood Development Service are partnering to build a 40-unit affordable townhouse development called Redwood Park Townhomes. The Chambersburg Family Townhomes project received funding through F&M Trust from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh. FHLBank of Pittsburgh serves the housing finance and community/economic development needs of its member banks, like F&M Trust, with access to low-cost funds and grants so that members can better serve their communities. FHLBank grants help create affordable housing for low- and very-low-income individuals including victims of domestic abuse, the physically disabled, mentally impaired, and individuals recovering from alcohol and drug addiction. F&M Trust participated as a sponsor of the project with $650,000 in a Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh grant.
The Redwood Park Townhomes project encompasses 11 acres near Buchanan Road on which two-bedroom, three-bedroom, and four-bedroom units will be constructed. Six will serve the physically disabled while three will accommodate residents with a mental health issue or women who are victims of domestic abuse. Most units will include accessibility features for physically disabled residents and all units will feature energy efficient building materials and appliances, central air conditioning, and porches or patios. Residents may be eligible to purchase units after fifteen years. The Franklin County Housing Authority will offer support services to prepare residents for home ownership.
Other partners in the funding of the project included the Borough of Chambersburg (Community Block Development Grant), the Community Development Corporation of Franklin County, and Pennsylvania’s Department of Community and Economic Development. The two projects also tie into the Elm Street program, a community revitalization program. One of the priorities of the Chambersburg Elm Street program is to increase home ownership among neighborhood residents.
F&M Trust is an independent community bank headquartered in Chambersburg with over $975 million in assets. The bank presently operates twenty-five community banking offices in their network throughout Franklin, Fulton, Cumberland and Huntingdon Counties in Chambersburg, Marion, St. Thomas, Mont Alto, Waynesboro, Shippensburg, McConnellsburg, Carlisle, Hustontown, Orbisonia, Boiling Springs, Newville, and Warfordsburg.
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