Riverview Retirement Community says it plans to pay for a major remodel, refinance debt, and fund ongoing construction through the sale of $16 million to $20 million in tax-exempt revenue bonds.

The majority of the bonds would fund remodel projects at the 153-unit Riverview Terrace independent- and assisted-living apartments and the 75-unit Riverview Lutheran Care Center nursing facility, says Patrick O'Neill, Riverview's president and CEO.

The 28-acre Riverview Retirement Community, at 1801 E. Upriver Drive, includes the nursing facility, the apartments, and the 153-unit Riverview Village independent-living cottages and multiunit buy-in residences.

The bonds also would pay off the $4.2 million aquatic and fitness center under construction in the retirement community and refinance about $2.5 million in debt, O'Neill says.

The Washington State Housing Finance Commission heard Riverview's request to sell the bonds last month.

"We're awaiting approval from (the housing commission's) construction review in Olympia," O'Neill says.

The housing commission likely will forward a recommendation for approval of the bonds to the governor's office this month, says David Clifton, the agency's assistant director of multifamily housing and community facilities.

The commission's role is to ensure that the bonds qualify for tax-exempt status under federal tax codes, Clifton says. As such, the income investors receive in interest on the bonds would be tax free. In exchange for the tax-free income for the investor, the borrower obtains interest rates that often are below market rates, he says.

O'Neill says the work on the remodel projects is scheduled to begin in November.

"This is a great time," he says. "The cost of construction and materials is down now, and interest rates are favorable."

The remodel projects will include new lighting, painting, wall coverings, carpeting, and handrails, in Riverview Terrace and Riverview Lutheran Care Center.

The Terrace project also will include new elevators and windows, as well as upgrades to the main kitchen in the three-story apartment building.

During construction, Riverview Retirement Community plans to leave six units vacant in Riverview Terrace and six units vacant in the nursing home to allow residents to be moved temporarily if needed, O'Neill says. "Otherwise we're full," he says. "Our occupancy is excellent."

Robert B. Goebel General Contractor Inc., of Spokane, is the construction manager for the remodel projects and is seeking bids for them.

Goebel also is the contractor on the 13,000-square-foot aquatics and fitness center, which is scheduled to open June 1.

Riverview Terrace, Riverview Lutheran Care Center, and Riverview Village are nonprofit affiliates supported by the congregations of 22 Lutheran churches in the Inland Northwest.

Together the affiliates provide housing for about 450 residents and employ 250 people.