City officials will soon celebrate the opening of a new affordable apartment complex for seniors.  Phase I of the Senator Richard Bryan Senior Apartments, located at 2651 Searles Ave., will offer 120 affordable housing units for seniors 55-years-old or older, who qualify financially.

The land for this project is owned by the Housing Authority of the city of Las Vegas. The authority is leasing the land to the nonprofit developer for 50 years at a nominal rate. Of the 120 units, 20 will be built with $1,670,000 in federal funds allocated by the city of Las Vegas. The total cost of the project is $13,409,085.

The project is being developed by Community Development Programs Center of Nevada. The 120 units located in Ward 3 of the city will include 20 studio units, 48 one-bedroom units, and 52 two-bedroom units.  

The project is owned by the Senator Richard Bryan Limited Partnership, which consists of Affordable Housing Program, Inc., a subsidiary of the Housing Authority of the city of Las Vegas, and SunAmerica Housing Fund 1316, a Nevada limited partnership and tax credit investment firm that will invest a total of $7,363,527 in the project. Senator Bryan served as a member of the Nevada Senate; as the Nevada attorney general; as governor of Nevada and in the United States Senate from January 1989 until January 2001.

The City Council has made affordable housing a priority and has worked with local organizations to develop new options for residents. This priority became all the more important with the sharp rise in housing prices. In 2006, the city celebrated the opening of Bonanza Pines III, which offers 62 one and two-bedroom apartments for low income seniors, and unanimously approved plans for seven new, affordable homes on the city’s west side, to be developed by Habitat for Humanity.