Affordable housing includes planned component

Frontiersman

WASILLA — Stretched along the Parks Highway, Wasilla’s loose retail core is marked by strip malls and big box stores. A new residential/commercial development is bringing the shopping close to home.

Valley Residential Services is developing Yenlo Square, a planned unit development along Swanson Avenue near the intersection of Yenlo Street, said John Weaver, CEO of Valley Residential Services. Under construction is a 26,000-square-foot building that, when finished by the end of February 2008, will have commercial and residential uses. The ground level will be used for commercial business with the top floor reserved for living space.

“Everything is so close to the housing that folks can walk to go shopping,” Weaver said. “It puts them right in the heart of a central business area.”

As an organization that provides housing for special-needs clients, Valley Residential Services will equip the 20 one-room apartments for people with developmental disabilities, Weaver said. The $9 million project, which was designed by Architects Alaska, also includes an apartment building in the same area. The 14-unit apartment building will feature seven two-bedroom apartments and seven one-bedroom apartments. All are classified as affordable housing and will be available to low-income families.

Yenlo Square is a new development, but Valley Residential Services has experience providing Mat-Su Valley residents with affordable and special-needs housing, Weaver said. The company has 125 housing units in the Valley and when the Yenlo project is complete it will have 160 units.

Jim Holycross, Wasilla city planner, said there are several reasons why a mixed-use and planned unit development is good choice for a city like Wasilla.

“There are advantages of mixed-use development,” Holycross said. “One is that it reduces vehicle travel [by] miles.”

Not only does it reduce reliance on vehicles, but people without motorized transportation won’t have to spend extra time and money trying to make it to the grocery store, Holycross said. “People can live, shop and work in the same place.”

Valley Residential Services originally owned all of the 7.5-acre lot, but decided to sell a portion to the Cook Inlet Housing Authority in February, Weaver said. Although the sale reduced the size of Valley Residential Services portion of the development, it provided a useful partnership and knowledgeable neighbor.

“They are really the premier organization in this state for what they do,” Weaver said. “It was a perfect complement to maintaining the vision of the project.”

Lindsey Dixon, communication officer for Cook Inlet Housing Authority, said the organization is reviewing options for its portion of the lot. When building begins, possibly in 2009 or 2010, CIHA plans to build with the Valley Residential Services development in mind.

Contact Chris Gillow at chris.gillow@frontiersman.com or 352-2284.