Buffalo Court senior housing to hold ribbon cutting

A Tuesday afternoon view of Buffalo Court senior-citizen housing, located just past the District IV Human Resources Development Council building along 5th Avenue south.

Following months of construction and years of preparation, the Buffalo Court is getting ready to swing its many doors open.

The low-income senior-citizen housing project, and the District IV Human Resources Development Council office that coordinated it, are holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony, open to the public, on Thursday, July 26, to show off the brightly colored village they've built.

The day begins at 11 a. m., with the actual ceremony starting at 11:30 a. m.

HRDC Executive Director Karen Thomas said the event is less formal than most ribbon-cuttings, aside from "a few speeches, " with entertainment and lots of food.

"It's really a celebration, " Thomas said. "This has been a couple of years in the making, so I just wanted this to be celebratory and fun. "

The event will also include tours of the new housing units, for which HRDC is already taking applications.

The nearly $5 million project is made up of 20 new units, four two-bedroom spaces and 16 one-bedroom spaces, with a community-use space for meeting and socializing.

Thomas said she hopes to have all of them occupied "by the middle of September. "

As a project of the nonprofit HRDC, Thomas said that the facility will not be making any profit. The rent will be low enough for low-income senior citizens, but high enough to keep the housing self-sustained.