TRAVERSE CITY — Board members of a bank that helped finance 46 new senior apartments in Traverse City got a peek inside.
A busload of Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis board members streamed through the nearly-finished fourth floor of the Eighth Street building Thursday. They got a firsthand look at Parkview Apartments, the future homes of income-qualified residents age 55 and older.
The tour group checked out the kitchen, bedrooms and bathrooms of two units, one a two-bedroom and another a one-bedroom. Each had a balcony overlooking the neighborhood around the site that once was a florist with greenhouses.
“It’s a great location for seniors who want to be active at the civic center,” Traverse City Housing Commission Executive Director Karl Fulmer said after the tour. “The park is just a block-and-a-half away and you wan walk the trails, and walk to a brewery and bakeries within a couple blocks of the property.”
Seeing that walkability firsthand is one reason why members of the bank’s board and affordable housing advisory committee make trips twice a year to see the different projects the bank helps, said Anna Shires, Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis’ vice president and associate director of community investment outreach. The bank invested just shy of $30 million so far in 2025 in projects in Michigan, Indiana and elsewhere.
“I think it absolutely brings the need for housing to life,” she said of getting to see the new apartments. “It’s really incredible to get to see the walkability in which more and more community members of Traverse City will be able to access, and it’s really just incredible to see the fact that they all get access to balconies and all these amenities.”
Fulmer said the bank granted $300,000 to the project through member institution Independent Bank. That helped fill a gap of about $2 million on a project previously reported to cost more than $16 million.
Other funding sources include a $750,000-plus loan from the Traverse City Housing Commission, which part-owns the project, and both a loan and grant from the Grand Traverse County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, Fulmer said.
Joe Heaphy, president of co-owner Ethos Development Partners, said the project uses a mix of both 4% and 9% Low Income Housing Tax Credits. It’s a more challenging process than using one type of tax credit but is becoming increasingly common.
“It works because essentially, what you’re doing is one project, two transactions that have to be done separately, but for all intents and purposes, here’s the project,” he told the tour group. “The other stuff is behind the scenes.”
Alisa Korn, TCHC’s deputy director, said management company KMG Prestige is looking for tenants. Everyone in a household must be 55 and older, and fall within 30 to 60 percent of area median income. Applicants can email parkview@kmgprestige.com or call 231-409-4860.
Fulmer said the first apartments should be ready for move-in by late September at the earliest.