James Arthur Court, an affordable housing project on Royal Palm Boulevard created to provide homes for low-income U.S. military veterans, is nearing completion after years of effort by owner/developer Sandy McLaughlin, with a number of veterans already in residence.
McLaughlin and husband Art McLaughlin bought the 1.47-acre property for $1 million in February 2017, planning to transform it into a top-notch affordable housing complex for homeless veterans.
Once the site of The Courtyard Villas, a classic Florida tourist court built in the 1950s, the property had fallen into disrepair since its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s when the motel industry was at its peak and families traveling north or south on U.S. 1 would wheel in to spend a night or two, attending a Dodgers spring training game or traveling across a rickety bridge to the barrier island for a day at the beach.
In recent years, the rundown five-building complex housed a dozen veterans, a veteran’s widow and several non-vets in tiny, shabby apartments with bathrooms but no kitchens or other amenities where some residents had lived for years.
Now, the old, worn-out motel units are gone, and a new single-story concrete block/stucco structure with clean lines and a pleasant façade stretches east to west along the property’s southern boundary. The 20-unit apartment building was designed by Jeff Ray of Atelier de Architecture in a West Indies-style and each 514-square-foot apartment contains a living room; kitchen with range, oven and fridge; bedroom with closet; bathroom with shower; and porch.
“The British West Indies style of architecture will enhance Royal Palm Boulevard,” says McLaughlin, who named the project after her father and father-in-law, both veterans.
Fourteen existing residents were able to stay on the property during construction, with city permission, remaining in some old units while others were torn down, before moving into completed sections of the new building.
Consignment Gallery is donating consignment pieces that can’t be sold to help furnish the apartments and Steve Milesic of Mattress Market has donated mattress sets, bed frames, sheet sets, mattress pads, delivery and set-up for all 20 apartments. In addition, 20 TVs have been donated by the dating app HINGE, founded and run by McLaughlin’s son.
In 2019, the McLaughlins established the James Arthur Court Foundation, Inc., which, McLaughlin says, “primarily provides necessary transportation for the vets to appointments and the grocery store.”
Due to city the City Land Development Code’s Affordable Housing Incentives, McLaughlin can’t restrict the complex to veterans, but most residents have served in the military, and she is working with the veterans council to find additional vets in need of housing who would be appropriate tenants for the complex.
McLaughlin says she knows the life stories of her tenants and checks in on them frequently, knocking on their doors, making sure they’re OK. “So many of our veterans live alone and are at risk of isolation and are left to die alone. James Arthur Court is designed to prevent that from happening.”
An example is octogenarian Terry Slifer, a longtime resident and Air Force veteran with no family, who was dealing with the onset of Parkinson’s when the McLaughlins purchased the property.
Slifer had been eagerly looking forward to a new apartment when, recently, fellow-residents Roger and Linda discovered him sick and unable to get out of bed. They used Foundation-provided gift cards to ensure he had food and drove him to the hospital and the VA.
McLaughlin contacted Social Services and it was determined that Slifer needed to be in an assisted living facility. Arrangements were made and with the help of McLaughlin and his neighbors, he was moved.
“We have created a real community for them. For some, the other residents are their only family. They know they can call me any time, day or night. And they do.”
With front porches, lots of green space and pleasant landscaping, McLaughlin pictures residents being able to gather together and socialize, grill outside, and enjoy the pleasures of community.
Recognizing the critical importance of service dogs for veterans, especially those with PTSD, McLaughlin says pets definitely will be allowed, with a fenced area for exercise.
About a fifth of the county’s approximately 15,000 veterans live below the poverty line, including some who “camp” or are homeless, according to the Veterans Council of Indian River County, but council executive director Jim Romanek says the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issues “only about 45 housing vouchers for Indian River County annually. We wish there were more.”
For more information about James Arthur Court or the foundation connected to it, contact Sandy Mclaughlin: sandymclaughlin58@gmail.com.
Photos by Kaila Jones
