HRS Gearing Up For Phase III Housing Development

The Highlands Residential Services (HRS) has begun planning for a new housing development off Buffalo Valley Road.

HRS Director of Operations Chris Cassetty said the agency will apply for tax credits to determine the specific amount of homes for what he calls phase III.

“It’s probably going to be right in the 60 unit range,” Cassetty said. “These will tend to be more family units and what we call affordable units. It’s targeted to that market a little more so than the lower income that some of our other properties target.”

HRS purchased 60 acres off of Buffalo Valley Road a few years ago. The agency will designate five acres of the site for a mid-rise apartment complex known as Oak Tree Towers. Crews will build the new phase III homes on 15 to 20 acres of the property.

Cassetty said phase III will represent the largest construction project ever undertaken by HRS.

“This is more of what we call affordable housing,” Cassetty said. “There’s such a huge need in our community for that. That has kind of been our longterm plan. When we bought that property we knew we would work on it in phases, but this phase III came up quicker than we thought it would because of these tax credits.”

HRS will submit the tax credit application next month. If awarded, the agency will have until the end of 2021 to complete the project.