Westmoreland County housing authority to begin construction of Rostraver senior apartments
Willowbrook Commons is a $16 million project on six acres adjacent to Willowbrook Plaza on Route 51 in Rostraver.
By RICH CHOLODOFSKY
TribLive
Construction of a four-story, 50-unit senior apartment building in Rostraver is poised to start next month as work nears completion on low-income townhouses in Mt. Pleasant Township.
Westmoreland County Housing Authority officials on Tuesday updated board members on the status of several of its ongoing projects to increase the agency’s inventory of low-income senior housing. That inventory has substantially increased during what is now a 15-year building boom.
State approvals authorizing the financing and regulatory requirements were finalized in recent weeks by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency. The approvals pave the way for construction of Willowbrook Commons, a $16 million project on six acres adjacent to Willowbrook Plaza on Route 51 in Rostraver.
“We anticipate breaking ground in July,” said housing authority Executive Director Michael Washowich. “This is a great project where we will add to our inventory.”
Funded through the use of federal tax credits and a $1.3 million allocation from Westmoreland County, the project will include new apartments for low-income seniors. Construction is expected to take about a year.
The Willowbrook project is the latest construction undertaken by the authority since 2013, when it opened its first new housing complex, South Greengate Commons in Hempfield, and an adjacent complex, Odin View Apartments in 2020.
Housing authority officials next month will begin to interview prospective tenants for the soon-to-be completed Church View Senior Residences in Mt. Pleasant Township. That $5.3 million project, started last year, features 20 single- family townhouses that are expected to be ready for move-in in late August or early September.
“We have 75 people on the waiting list, and we’ll start interviewing them in July,” said Erik Spiegel, the authority’s director of architecture and engineering.
Officials said the authority continues to seek funding for the second phase of its Grand View Senior Residences development in the North Huntingdon-Irwin areas. The authority opened a 50-unit apartment building in 2024 and is planning an expansion that includes construction of nine single family cottages and another 38 homes for low-income seniors.
