Gateway Apartments
The Gateway Apartments is a complex of two, three, and four story buildings totaling 38,700 square feet, which suffered from abandonment and neglect. Originally constructed on the York Harrisburg Pike as a hotel, it became an osteopathic hospital in the 1920s. In the sixties it was a business school and finally an SRO owned by an absentee landlord.
The buildings were deteriorating and were candidates for demolition before a local developer decided to take them on and restore them. The first step was to get the buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This allowed the developer to take of advantage of Historic Investment Tax Credits to develop them into apartments. In addition to the rehabilitation tax credit, the project also qualified for Housing Tax Credits from the PHFA. This required ownership of the buildings to remain with the developer for 20 years. One result of that requirement was that the design approach took greater care to ensure long-term durability and energy efficiency in the thirty-three one, two, and three bedroom apartments. The buildings are well insulated and heated with geothermal heat pumps served by wells drilled onsite. In order to qualify for the historic rehabilitation tax credits, care had to be taken with the rehab as to not remove an character defining features and to restore the buildings exterior. Critical items included retaining public hallways, paneled doors, wood trim, stairs and windows throughout the project.
The exterior the building was repaired and kept in tact with steel sash windows replaced with new insulated aluminum windows made to resemble the ones they replaced. The exteriors were all restored including replacement of a metal shingle roof in frame front of the hospital tower.
The completion of this historic complex provides the community with a diverse project of many unit types in an urban context. The project is 100% occupied with a waiting list. It is a tribute to the joint efforts of the county, state and federal incentives and a client willing to take on an immense task of revitalizing an old and neglected complex of buildings and make it an integral part of the community.