Parkside Apartments almost ready for tenants Women's Resource Center project aims to help homeless and mentally ill people

Aug. 13--WENATCHEE -- Phoebe Nelson was thrilled when she heard the cyclone fence was coming down around part of the old Parkside nursing home on Tuesday.

"It seems a little magical to me at this point," said the director of the Women's Resource Center. Her non-profit organization, which provides housing and support to individuals and families in North Central Washington, is operating the new Parkside Apartments. They include 15 studio units that make up part of the old nursing home in the 1200 block of Monitor Street.

The apartments will house single, disabled people with a long history of homelessness. The target tenant is someone with a mental health diagnosis.

"This is housing that we did not have in this community before," she said. Previously, people eligible for the Parkside Apartments lived on the streets or in shelters.

The apartment managers moved in late July, and the first tenant is expected before the end of the month.

It's been a longtime coming.

Carl and Betty Campbell donated the old nursing home building to the city of Wenatchee in 2009. Plans for a mental health complex there, which would include services, began shortly after that.

"It's been a very complicated project," Nelson said. "It involved a number of partners to rehabilitate an existing building that really needed to be pretty much gutted and rebuilt."

The apartments cost $2 million, which included asbestos removal and a complete renovation of the space. That money came from a variety of sources, including federal and local funds, Nelson said. There have also been in-kind contributions and volunteer labor.

Operation of the apartments will be paid for by tenants, who will pay 30 percent of their income for rent; and from donations and housing grants through the city of Wenatchee, Nelson said.

Of the 42,000-square foot building, 11,000 was remodeled into the apartments. The other 26,000 square feet is planned for offices of Catholic Family & Child Service. That agency contracts with the Chelan-Douglas Regional Support Network to offer mental health services in Chelan and Douglas counties.

Douglas County Commissioner Ken Stanton said there is no timetable for that to happen because construction work still needs to be done on future Catholic Family offices.

Stanton said he expects the city to deed the property to Chelan County sometime this year. That, he said, should make it easier to manage the property because only Chelan and Douglas counties will be involved in the construction process.

Nelson said tenants will move in slowly over the next several weeks to avoid a big influx that might be hard on people. She expects the apartments to be full by late September.

Reach Dee Riggs at 509-664-7147 or deeriggs@wenatcheeworld.com.

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