Finishing touches being put on Knitting Mill Apartments in Fall River

FALL RIVER — Pity the poor youngsters. They have to wait for hardwood floors, high ceilings, big windows.

At Knitting Mill Apartments at least.

Construction crews are in the former granite mill at 69 Alden St., finishing the 100 apartments, fitness center, community rooms and senior center that will fill the building.

“We’ve had a tremendous response,” said John Varecka, president of CRM Rental Management, which will oversee the building.

“Right now, we have 60 percent of the apartments rented. We expect to be fully occupied by the middle of August.”

Liberty Affordable Housing of Rome, New York, bought and rebuilt the former Wampanoag Mill. The company, which specializes in rehabilitating and renting affordable housing, said the project would cost $27 million.

The apartments will be open to people age 62 and older. It will also follow federal guidelines for affordable housing to make it available to lower- and middle-income tenants, according to Liberty officials.

There will be 74 one-bedroom and 26 two-bedroom apartments over five floors.

David Anselmo, a superintendent for Waterman Construction, showed a fifth-floor unit.

Its 20-foot-high ceilings were unpainted wood. Oak support columns were varnished but left with the wood visible. The windows are 4 by 8 feet and set into sills 3 feet deep. Much of the structure of the building is left exposed, including brick and granite.

Leland Powell, the office manager, is on site Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., to accept applications and speak with prospective residents.

“We have heard from a lot of people,” he said. “A lot of people are downsizing or retiring. Coming here, they get a great apartment and they move into a community.”

There are posters on the walls of the hallways and community rooms from Fall River history, including advertisements for the Fall River Line and Fall River Knitting as well as news photographs, blown up to large poster size, of big events in the city’s history.

A city-run senior center is scheduled to open at the back of the building in mid July, Varecka said.

CRM Rental Management is based in Utica, New York, next door to Liberty Affordable Housing in Rome, New York.

The connection to Fall River was made through Colgate University, based in Rome, New York, and the Reitzas family, which includes Colgate graduates, according to Liberty officials.

“This is our first venture in Massachusetts,” Varecka said. “Hopefully, it will be the first of many more to come.”

The interest is there, he added.

“A lot of people who applied don’t fit the age range,” he said. “We’ll put them on the waiting list for the future.”

Email Kevin P. O’Connor at koconnor@heraldnews.com.