WESTMINSTER : Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony Held at Senior Apartments

City officials Thursday celebrated the grand opening of Rose Gardens, an $8.6-million apartment complex financed in part with city redevelopment funds for low- to moderate-income senior citizens.

Tenants have been moving into the three-story, Old English-style complex since late May, officials said, but the construction of a central courtyard and garden was recently finished.

The 132-unit complex, at 13th and Monroe streets near the Civic Center, has about 45 tenants so far, officials said.

“This is an alternative for seniors who [might otherwise] be living in mobile-home parks in the community,” said Mayor Charles V. Smith.

On Thursday, city officials gathered in the center court for a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by federal and state housing officials.

“As America ages, the need for senior housing is going to explode,” said Sam Sandoval, a regional coordinator for the federal department of Housing and Urban Development, which provided a portion of the city’s redevelopment funds. “This is exactly the type of project HUD wants to bring about.”

Rose Gardens was built by Elderly Development Westminster Corp. on 1.75 acres that the city’s Redevelopment Agency bought for $1.4 million in 1991.

Officials said the complex will allow Westminster to meet its state and federal requirements for low- to moderate-income housing. The city also provided $1.2 million for construction.

The complex is owned by Elderly Development Westminster, which will pay the Redevelopment Agency $1 a year during the course of a 50-year lease. Tenants’ monthly rent payments will go toward the repayments of $6.1-million in revenue bonds that helped finance construction.