AURORA VILLAGE GROWING 140 APARTMENTS IN NEXT PHASE.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

LANCASTER - With its owners seeing a demand among aging Antelope Valley residents for different living arrangements, a 3-year-old senior-citizens apartment project will more than double in size.

The 132-unit Aurora Village on 15th Street West will be joined by a second phase with 140 units on what is now vacant land next door, and the owners have plans for third and fourth phases.

``We saw a real need for senior housing in the affordable area,'' Aurora Village owner William Wagner Sr. said.

Partially financed by bonds issued through Lancaster's Redevelopment Agency, Aurora II will be for senior citizens whose incomes are below 60 percent of the county median, which is about $28,600 a year for couples.

The redevelopment bonds will provide $7.7 million toward the $14 million project, with the remainder coming from the owner's sale of federal tax credits to a New York firm and from personal investment.

``When you build in the affordable market, the financing is tight and very hard to put together,'' Wagner said.

Builders think they will have no trouble finding tenants for what will be at least the fifth senior-apartment complex built or under construction in Lancaster.

``Based on the interest we have so far, we think it's going to come together very quickly,'' Wagner said.

There is a waiting list with more than 100 names for any vacancies that occur in the 132 units already built at Aurora Village, said housing consultant Frank Thompson.

Almost 80 percent of Aurora Village's residents are Lancaster senior citizens who have moved out of houses or mobile homes after the death of a spouse or other life changes. The other 20 percent are people who moved to the Antelope Valley to be close to their children.

Like the already-built complex, the second phase of Aurora Village will be for elderly people who might be frail but are still able to live independently.

It also will be a three-story structure with a central courtyard, Spanish-tile roof and balconies. It will have a library, computer room and salon. The first phase has its own restaurant.

The new central courtyard will contain a spa building and gardens. If the second phase fills up when it is finished, work could start immediately on the next phases, Thompson said.

One of the later phases is envisioned as a neighboring subdivision of eight duplexes or houses for the middle-age or older children of elderly people living in Aurora Village, said Steve Fairly, construction manager of the Melchiori Construction Company.

Another phase would be a multistory, assisted-living complex, at which residents would be offered more care.

The land for Aurora Village was purchased from Lancaster's redevelopment agency. Wagner said the site is a good one because it is less than one-half mile from Antelope Valley Hospital and across the street from doctors' offices, restaurants and other services.

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Lancaster's vice mayor, the Rev. Henry Hearns, looks at the Aurora Village apartments for senior citizens Tuesday. A second phase is planned next door.

(2 -- color) Earth movers level the site for a second phase of the Aurora Village senior-citizen apartment complex, which will more than double in size.

(3 -- color) ``We saw a real need for senior housing in the affordable area,'' Aurora Village owner William Wagner Sr. says at a ceremony Tuesday.

(4 -- color) Some community leaders ceremoniously wield shovels Tuesday as work starts to more than double the size of the Aurora Village senior complex.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer