$5 million apartment project begins in Fallon

The Sunridge Quarters Apartments in Fallon are getting a $5 million facelift.

The 45-year-old, 48-unit affordable housing complex is being updated with new plumbing, a new common area with business center and library, and new site security. Each unit will be refurbished with new kitchen counters and appliances, flooring, patios or porches and storage space.

And through small grants from Southwest Gas, Wells Fargo and Bank of America, solar panels will be installed as part of an effort to improve energy efficiency throughout the development.

“Our goal is to offset at least 10 percent of consumption,” says Lisa Dayton, real estate project manager for the Nevada Rural Housing Authority.

Precision General Commercial Contractors Inc., a Sausalito, Calif., firm that specializes in rehab of occupied affordable housing, is the general contractor managing the project, but most of the construction is being subcontracted out to local companies, says Dayton. That includes civil engineering work conducted by Hunter Creek Engineering in Reno and geotechnical services provided by Pezonella & Associates in Reno.

The site consists of four buildings with 12 apartments each. Through 16 vacancies, and moving some tenants around within the development, one building has been entirely vacated. Work on that building should be completed by Thanksgiving, says Dayton. Tenants then will be relocated there, freeing up another building to be overhauled. Dayton says the entire project is scheduled to be finished in spring 2014.

The bulk of the funding for the project is through tax credits awarded by the Nevada Housing Division, says Dayton. The remainder comes from Enterprise Community Investment Inc., Nevada Rural Housing Authority and the U.S. Department of Agriculture as well as the solar panel grants.

The development, built under a USDA program, is open to households with incomes at or below 50 percent of area median income.