HISTORY
After seeing the need for affordable senior housing, Family Eldercare raised $5.6 million in private and public funding and opened Lyons Gardens in September 2004. The 54-unit community is an award-winning model providing housing options for persons 62 and over. Tenants live independently in one-bedroom apartments and have access to a large community building and a beautiful interior courtyard.
PROPERTY
Designed by Tom Hatch, senior partner at hatch + ulland owen architects (huoarchitects.com), Lyons Gardens is a three-story apartment complex with 54 one-bedroom units surrounding a triangular pocket park courtyard. Amenities include a large community room, TV/game/reading room, computer lab, kitchen, raised gardens, laundry, playscape, lobby and conversation space, pavillion with two gas grills, barber shop, secure parking, and an on-site service and volunteer coordinator.
OWNERSHIP
Lyons Gardens is a program of Family Eldercare, Inc. (familyeldercare.org), a 501(c)(3) charity that provides essential services to seniors, adults with disabilities, and caregivers.
GOVERNANCE
A nonprofit community development board oversees the project. Board members, one-third of whom live in the surrounding neighborhood, include experts in the field of housing and elderly issues.
MANAGEMENT
The property is managed by Alpha-Barnes Real Estate Services, LLC (alpha-barnes.com), a Texas-based company specializing in property management, multi-family investment and acquisition, and apartment development.
TENANTS' ASSOCIATION
The Lyons Gardens Tenants' Association (LGTA) is an Unincorporated Nonprofit Association organized in accordance with Title 24, Part 245.100 of the Code of Federal Regulations, which states that tenants of a covered multifamily housing project "have the right to establish and operate a tenant organization for the purpose of addressing issues related to their living environment, which includes the terms and conditions of their tenancy as well as activities related to housing and community development."