Westminster Place at Huntingdon Accepting Applications on Affordable Apartment Building for Seniors

HUNTINGDON, PA – Presbyterian Senior Living (PSL) is proud to announce that its latest affordable apartment community, Westminster Place at Huntingdon, is more than 60 percent complete, and is now accepting applications for move-ins anticipated to begin late February/early March 2022. The four-story 48-unit apartment building, situated on the campus of Westminster Woods at Huntingdon, a PSL life plan community, includes 37 one-bedroom and 11 two-bedroom rental apartments for seniors aged 62 and up. Forty of the total apartments are rent-restricted with income limits applied to resident applications. The other eight apartments are market-rate rentals. The new building will be located on an approximately 4.85-acre site at 149 Beech Lane on the campus and will include a community room with a kitchen, common laundry facilities and management office. This new construction is possible by a tax credit award from Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA).

This new construction is being built to Passive House Institute standards and Enterprise Green Communities New Construction criteria in an effort to provide environmental sustainability in line with the values of PSL. By pursuing these standards, the building will be highly energy-efficient, benefiting the health and well-being of both its residents and the community at large. Passive House certification provides for an extremely air-tight, highly efficient building. The concept of “Passive House” is simple: The more airtight the building, the less the HVAC system must work, yielding a more quiet, comfortable indoor environment and lower monthly energy consumption.

“Environmental stewardship is a foundation of our organization. Presbyterian Senior Living is committed to the moral responsibility of managing and maintaining our valuable energy resources as guided by our faith-based values,” said Jim Bernardo, PSL’s CEO.

This building will use one-half to one-third of the energy of similar structures with traditional building and planning. The building will incorporate twice as much insulation, resulting in half of the normal winter heat loss and half of the normal summer heat gain and allow for more efficient heating and cooling. The windows will be triple layers, and all lighting will include LED bulbs. Low flow water fixtures will lower water usage throughout the building. Additionally, the building will be airtight with a filtered fresh air system.  All this and more will result in long-term sustainability and the savings in operation of the building can be reinvested by PSL towards other programs. 

“The focus of these energy programs is on resident comfort. Residents will experience healthy fresh air ventilation and greater thermal comfort throughout the year. They will also be involved in education that explains the intent, benefits, use, and maintenance of the project’s green features and practices,” said Daniel Rothschild, of Rothschild Doyno Collaborative, the architect of this project. 

PSL recognizes the need for affordable senior housing in the Huntingdon area. “As we look forward to the opening of Westminster Place at Huntingdon apartments, we are eager to be offering seniors a high-quality living experience that is affordable, accessible and environmentally sound,” said Dan Davis, COO at PSL. “We are delighted to be serving seniors with limited income in Huntingdon County and surrounding areas.”

Westminster Place at Huntingdon will provide affordable housing opportunities for seniors who do not have the resources for market-rate senior communities in the surrounding county. Specifically, the apartments will have residences available in a range of income restrictions from 20 to 60 percent of the area median income. Westminster Place at Huntingdon will also offer three apartments that are fully handicap accessible, two apartments that are accessible for individuals with hearing and/or vision difficulties and three additional apartments that are equipped with all features. Housing Voucher holders are welcome to apply.

Staff will be available to distribute and accept applications at Westminster Woods at Huntingdon located at 160 Aspen Lane, Huntingdon, PA 16652 on December 13 & 14, 2021, from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM and December 15 from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Also, beginning at 9:00 AM on December 13, applications will be available to download at www.wphuntingdon.org. Please note that no applications will be distributed or accepted at the actual Westminster Place at Huntingdon building, as it is still under construction.

Check out a video of the building during construction from the architect.