Kearney apartments will get $4M update, first in Nebraska from HUD program
KEARNEY — The companies that own and manage Centennial Park Apartments in south Kearney have been awarded $4 million from HUD's federal Green and Resilient Retrofit Program.
The Tangram Group, which owns the Centennial Park Apartments at 1000 Fourth Ave, and the apartments' manager, Seldin LLC of Omaha, will use the $4 million to retrofit the apartments with energy efficiency and climate resiliency upgrades.
Among the upgrades the $4 million will make possible are energy and water efficiency, reducing climate pollution, generating renewable energy, using "green" building materials and reducing housing operating costs, said Peter Hunter, who oversees 64 Department of Housing and Urban Development offices in the Great Plains.
Hunter acknowledged the acute housing shortage in Nebraska and the Great Plains, but said it's important to take good care of existing housing resources.
"We need to build more housing, but we also need to keep the housing we have," Hunter said.
The $4 million awarded Tuesday is the first funding of its kind in Nebraska from the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program. In all, the Biden-Harris Administration will be dispersing $279 million through the GRRP program, which is part of President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act.
The 50-unit Centennial Park Apartments is rent-subsidized. About 150-200 tenants reside at the complex.
GRRP provides federal grant and loan assistance to existing HUD-assisted multifamily property owners to make sustainability focused updates to their properties.
Louis Harrison, co-founder and managing partner of the Tangram Group, accepted the $4 million in federal funding during a short ceremony followed by lunch with residents of Centennial Park Apartments. Also representing Seldin was Cindy Powers, chief administrative officer.
Harrison said he is excited to see what the federal money will do to update and modernize the Centennial Park Apartments.
Cindy Powers of Seldin LLC said improvements to the Kearney property come as the United States attempts to address the nation's housing needs.
"It's a critical time in our history, with the shortage of housing," Powers said.
