BELLEVILLE, ILL. — Southwestern Illinois Development Authority (SWIDA) and Bywater Development Group have completed the $14.2 million transformation of a 90-year-old building in Belleville into an affordable active adult community named Lofts on the Square. The building originally opened in 1931 as the Hotel Belleville. It was renovated in the early 1960s and converted into a residential community for seniors known as the Meredith Home. The building sat vacant for 10 years before SWIDA and Bywater acquired it from the city for $600,000. In 2018, the property earned a place on the National Register of Historic Places, making it eligible for federal and state historic tax credits.
Holland Construction Services served as general contractor for the renovation project. Units are designated for residents age 55 and older who earn at or below 60 percent of the area median income. The six-story building is comprised of 47 units and more than 3,000 square feet of street-level commercial space. Amenities include a common room, library, computer lab, exercise room and storage facilities.
Joining Holland on the construction team were Blank, Wesselink, Cook & Associates and Kaskaskia Engineering Group LLC, which handled the engineering; Louer Facility Planning Inc. for interior design; and WJW Architects, Mike Jerabek and Jane Sloss for architectural services. Michael Allen of the Preservation Research Office served as the historic consultant.
Lofts on the Square is fully leased. Monthly rents range from $550 to $750. Beacon Property Management is the property manager.
SWIDA and Bywater received $930,792 in affordable tax credits through the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA); $2.3 million in federal historic tax credits through the National Park Service; and $2.3 million in Illinois state historic tax credits through the Illinois State Historic Preservation Office. These three tax credit allocations generated roughly $12.5 million in equity investment from PNC Bank. A $1.3 million loan from IHDA’s HOME Program funds and $472,000 in developer loans rounded out the financing.