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Albuquerque’s first housing development dedicated to deaf, deaf-blind and hard-of-hearing folks is officially underway – finally.
PAH! Hiland Plaza, located near San Mateo and Central, draws its name from the American Sign Language (ASL) sign meaning “finally,” a nod to the project’s near 20-year effort to be built, according to Laurie Frappier, Greater Albuquerque Housing Partnership director of community relations.
“This is a huge gift to us and a huge opportunity to our community; it’s really the result of 20 years of work through various frustrations, what we thought would be successes (and) false starts,” Chad LeBlanc, Deaf Culture Center of New Mexico president, said via a sign language interpreter at a virtual groundbreaking event held Thursday morning.
Built through a partnership between the Greater Albuquerque Housing Partnership and the Deaf Culture Center of New Mexico, the development will feature 92 apartment units with one-, two- and three-bedroom layouts, with preference given to deaf, deaf-blind and hard-of-hearing individuals. It will also include a small community park.
The apartment complex is only the fourth development of its kind in the country.
It will also be home to 23 affordable units set aside for people using housing vouchers from the Albuquerque Housing Authority, according to Dan Foster, housing development director for the Albuquerque Housing Authority.
Such special design features as strobe fire alarms will be incorporated into the building since the development caters primarily to deaf individuals.
Construction is anticipated to take 15 months and pre-leasing is set to begin in the fall.
Hartman + Majewski Design Group are the architects for the project which will be constructed by Jaynes Corp. with special development support from Green Insight.
Financing and funding was provided by the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority, Raymond James and PNC Bank.
Monarch Properties will manage the development upon completion.
Hartman + Majewski Design Group are the architects for the project which will be constructed by Jaynes Corporation with special development support from Green Insight.
Financing and funding was provided by the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority, Raymond James and PNC Bank.
Monarch Properties will manage the development upon completion.
For more information, or to fill out an interest form, visit www.dcc-nm.org/pahhilandresidentinterestform.
