SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — Wednesday afternoon, Related Midwest hosted the reopening of Poplar Place, a 100-unit affordable family apartment community. After 15 months of renovations, the $46.5 million redevelopment has been completed.

Shreya Singh, a senior development associate at Related Midwest, was involved in the revitalization of the affordable housing units. 

"This project is truly a strong representation of what it takes to get affordable housing done in not only our state, but in our country," said Singh.

The redevelopment required a decrease in units from 244 to 100. Now, the 50 rehabbed single family homes and the 25 duplexes have brand new kitchens and bathrooms, new interior finishings, and in-unit washers and dryers.

They also added 2.5 acres of green spaces as well as a community center, featuring a playground and management office. Singh said the design process was conducted to ensure that affordable housing would look and feel the same as market-rate housing.

"Its important to us the quality of housing that we wanted to create, to be reflective of just how important a home is to families and ensure that it's a really lovely place to spend time," explained Singh.

The Poplar Place apartments range from two to four bedrooms and rents range from $800 to $925. Qualified incomes for the income-restricted apartments range from $44,400 to $83,640. Applications can be completed online, mailed, e-mailed directly or picked up at the management office located at 1121 Oakdale St. between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. 

"We are so excited that this project has been redeveloped and we are fully occupied. We reached 100% occupancy this past month, and I think it's representative of how important affordable housing is to our local communities and how important it is to ensuring that there are great places for families to grow," explained Singh.

Financing for the redevelopment was achieved with support from the Illinois Housing Development Authority, Springfield Housing Authority, Heartland Bank and Trust Company, Red Stone Equity Partners and CVS Health.

Singh said completing the project and being able to see how it positively impacted the community was very fulfilling.

"It was also just great to be able to see the kids coming out and playing and really, having a space where they know it's their home, it's their community. And we were just part of that story of creating it."

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