Officials say Millington Senior Village edging toward construction as financing, lease and permit await finalization
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Summary
County and Home Partnership representatives told commissioners the 52-unit Millington Senior Village is close to vertical construction but must finalize a leasing-center lease, secure the town building permit and lock tax-credit syndicator financing by an April 15 deadline to stay on the spring funding round.
County and town officials said an affordable senior-housing project in Millington is close to starting vertical construction but faces three near-term hurdles: finalizing a lease for a leasing center, obtaining the town's building permit for that space and securing a low-income housing tax credit syndicator by a mid-April funding deadline.
The update came at the Kent County Board of Commissioners meeting, where Mayor Kevin Hemstock and developers from Home Partnership joined project partner Mike Sheedy to brief the board on the Millington Senior Village, a planned 52-unit development tied to renovation of the town's old school building.
Project representatives said site work is complete and the county-funded horizontal work has been used as intended, but the syndicator's financing schedule is driving the next steps. "Without a tax credit syndicator and without that group on board, we do not have financing for the project," a Home Partnership representative said, urging a finalized lease and documentation to meet the syndicator's spring offering.
Mike Sheedy, a partner on the project, described the lease and permitting steps for the leasing center inside the school: "We can draw up that space such that we do not ourselves need to have individual fire suppression systems... We do not have the town's building permit yet for the leasing space," he said, noting the project already has the fire marshal's comments and a letter that the team will share with the town to expedite review.
Speakers described the leasing space as 2,345 square feet within a roughly 37,766-square-foot school building and said the leasing center lease is needed for syndicator underwriting. Developers said an investor syndicator takes two offerings a year (spring and fall); missing the April 15 packaging deadline would likely push the project into the fall round and delay closing and construction.
County commissioners and staff asked how they could help. The mayor and project team asked the town to review the lease and consider processing the permit quickly; developers said they will provide the fire marshal's letter to help the town's permit review. "If those three things happen, we're moving forward," the partner said.
The developers and county officials also discussed additional fundraising and grant steps, including roof work on the school building and pending state and federal grant applications the town is pursuing. Officials said coordination between the team working on the senior village and a separate school renovation project (Millington Village Commons) remains important to align drawings and drainage work.
If the syndicator does not accept the spring submission, the developers said they would re-engage the syndicator in the fall offering and continue pursuing financing and permits in the meantime. Project partners said the development team expects the housing to fill quickly and has a list of potential occupants.
The board offered to assist where possible, including having county counsel review or help shepherd documents, and Commissioners expressed strong support for the project and a desire to help meet the syndicator deadline.
