RON KARAFIN This is the main entrance of the Chestnut Station Senior Apartments in Merchantville, which is scheduled to open in January.

For Mayor Patrick Brennan, the opening of senior citizen apartments next month is the culmination of 10 years of work.

"For eight of those years I worked on this every day, in one fashion or another, and it gives me an inordinate amount of pleasure to see it come to fruition," Brennan said.

Chestnut Station, a 74-unit age-restricted apartment complex is the only housing designated for senior citizens in the small community.

The four-story building sits on a 4-acre lot between Chestnut Street and Park Avenue behind the business district.

A driveway alongside the drug store was the entrance to the decaying lot that was used for limited parking.

The borough was one of the first communities to designate a redevelopment zone, Brennan said.

Developers who build on redevelopment properties receive financial incentives from the state.

Despite those incentives, Brennan said during those 10 years, it was difficult convincing developers the project would be successful.

"It was an almost instant overnight success that took 10 years," a laughing Brennan said.

Vincent T. Cangelosi, the development director for Conifer Realty of Rochester, N.Y., was pleased with the $7.3 million project that took about a year to build.

"We had a really good turnout. It went well, really well," said Cangelosi, whose East Coast office is at the Ferry Station Apartments in Camden.

Leasing manager Wendy Pritsky said she has received 300 applications since August and is still in the process of completing the paperwork.

"We will be filled," said Pritsky, who lives in Clementon.

"Anyone applying at this point will go on a waiting list and they're more than welcome to do so," she said.

For Merchantville's senior population, it gives many a chance to stay in a community where they've lived for years.

"That's the key thing," said Claire White. "We wanted a home base in Merchantville," she said.

Claire and her husband, Frank, both in their 80s, will be moving into Chestnut Station in January.

"We have a lot of history here," Claire said.

The Whites attend St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church and are graduates of the grammar school.

Claire's grandfather used to spend summers in Merchantville in the early 1920s and Frank's grandfather opened a pharmacy there in 1922.

The couple considered moving to Florida to be near grandchildren but didn't want to leave the community where they've lived for 46 years.

"Everybody we dealt with has been very nice, we think they're going to be what we wanted," Claire White said of the apartment complex.

Leasing manager Pritsky said in addition to the 60 low-income and 14 regularly priced apartments, there is a community room and computer room.

Rent for the one-bedroom apartments range from $481 to $800 a month. Rents for the two-bedroom are $572 to $1,000 a month.

Tenants applying for affordable, lower-priced apartments must meet income requirements.

Pritsky said each floor has a lounge and laundry facilities. She said the apartments are from 625 square feet to 1,112 square feet, depending on the layout.

"It's really a prime location," Pritsky said.

"Everything is within walking distance," Pritsky said referring to the pharmacy, banks, several cafes and a small grocery store nearby.

Former councilwoman Edith Silberstein, who will move into the complex in January, said the complex will be good for the downtown businesses.

"A hundred people sitting there on top of the stores is not bad," Silberstein said.

In the meantime, Silberstein has been keeping busy packing, getting ready for the move.

"I'm getting sick and tired of cartons all around the house," Silberstein said. "I open closets and there's stuff in there I don't remember buying," Silberstein said trying to keep her sense of humor.

She has lived in Merchantville for 44 years and said she understands a lot of the borough's approximately 570 senior citizens are going to move in there.

"I'm glad because I would not have really considered living in an apartment anyplace else, I would be a stranger there," she said.