THE PLAINS — A new affordable housing complex for older adults has opened its doors in The Plains, where Woda Cooper Companies this week showed off The Lofts on First, a 51-unit apartment building for renters age 55 and older at 65 E. First St.
The $20 million development held its first community viewing and open house on Tuesday, Oct. 13. Six of its apartments were already occupied by Tuesday afternoon, and the developer says several more applications are in hand as leasing continues.
The building offers one- and two-bedroom apartments reserved for seniors earning between 50 and 80 percent of the area median income, a range that works out to roughly $29,844 to $47,750 a year. One-bedroom units rent for $620 to $800 a month and two-bedroom units for $700 to $900, with most of the 51 homes built as one-bedrooms. The monthly rent covers trash service but not other utilities.
Residents also get a community room with a kitchenette, a media room and a fitness room, and the Hocking-Athens-Perry County Community Action agency — known as HAPCAP — will provide on-site services for the people who live there.
The Lofts on First is the third Athens County partnership between Woda Cooper and HAPCAP, following Kershaw Greene and Beaumont Greene. Jonathan McKay, Woda Cooper’s vice president of development, said the company studied the local market before applying to the state for low-income housing tax credits in 2024, and found a significant unmet need for affordable senior rentals — including a waitlist at Beaumont Greene, where some older adults are looking to trade the upkeep of a house for a new apartment.
State support helped make the rents work. In May 2025 the Ohio Housing Finance Agency approved a $2.5 million Housing Development Loan for the project, alongside $9.4 million in Ohio low-income housing tax credits and $4 million from the Ohio Housing Trust Fund. Construction took about a year to finish.
The project did not arrive without argument. When the East First Street developments were first proposed last year, more than 60 people signed a petition raising concerns about the scale of the building and traffic in the neighborhood, and the site sits in the Wolf Plains area, known for its ancient Native American earthworks. McKay said questions from neighbors are not unique to The Plains, and HAPCAP said its board backed the project because rising costs make it especially hard for seniors on fixed incomes to find a place they can afford.
The opening adds to a small but growing stock of income-assisted senior housing around Athens, alongside Woda Cooper’s Beaumont Greene on Della Drive and Fairfield Homes’ Beasley Mill, which serves residents 62 and older on Union Street. Qualifying seniors can apply for the remaining Lofts on First units online or by calling 220-248-5622.