More than five years after the original concept of an affordable housing development geared toward artists was presented to the Redevelopment Agency, The Willows at Rahway, will host its grand opening with a ribbon cutting on May 1.

The project is working to obtain final approvals from the engineering and building departments, with punch list work to be completed this month, according to City Administrator Cherron Rountree, who also serves as deputy executive director of the Redevelopment Agency. She briefed commissioners during their monthly public meeting last week.

While a grand opening is scheduled later this month, she said, some residents already already have begun living in the facility.

Construction on the 58-unit project began about 14 months ago and began accepting applications in December. The four-story project was constructed on what had been a parking lot behind the original 6,500-square-foot Elizabethtown Gas building at the corner of Hamilton Street and Central Avenue. Of the 58 units, 24 are one-bedrooms, 28 are two-bedrooms, and 6 are three-bedrooms; three-bedroom units were a requirement to obtain financing through state tax credits.

Preliminary site plan approval was granted in May 2015, granting variances and a subdivision so the building would be on its own lot, with ownership retained by the Redevelopment Agency, and the rest of the property sold to the developer, Ingerman Group. Final site plan approval was granted in March 2016.

City Council approved a Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT) in February 2013. A concept plan for the project first was presented to the Redevelopment Agency in April 2012.

A survey in 2013 indicated strong demand for artist housing in Rahway, more than four times as much as the 58 units planned. Of 1,072 individuals who responded to the survey, 725 expressed interest in relocating to an affording housing development in Rahway, or about 68 percent.

Collingswood-based Ingerman secured $15 million in tax credit financing from the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (NJHMFA) for the project.

UPDATE, May 5: According to this report from NJTV, 21 of the 58 units are occupied, 57 have applications pending and 15 of those 57 are qualified artists.