COEUR d'ALENE - A mixed-use workforce housing and retail development project proposed for Midtown has some neighbors concerned the subsidized-living facility won't mesh well with the revitalized neighborhood.

They worry renters won't care for their units as owners would.

"It's a big deal for Midtown as far as the original development they proposed," said Adam Graves, Midtown resident. "We would have had a lot of neighbors who would have owned their property. It's a different neighbor than one who rents their property."

The proposed $9 million project, led by nonprofit group The Housing Company, originally aimed to sell condos atop commercial space on Fourth Street and Roosevelt Avenue.

But in the roughly three years since the idea was pitched, the nonprofit organization shifted the plan to rental units because the economic market favors rentals over condos, it said.

The company has already applied for federal tax credits to help fund the project, and Lake City Development Corp., the city's urban renewal project that has funded Midtown street improvements, pledged around $540,000 in financial support for the project should Idaho Housing and Finance Association approve the tax-credit application as soon as this spring.

Graves requested police records that show the amount of calls for officer assistance at the other two subsidized-housing developments THC operates in Coeur d'Alene.

Those records, which could not be verified by the Coeur d'Alene Police Department Monday, show around 160 calls for police at the complex at 1421 Ninth St. in 2011, and around 60 calls to police at 3157 Fruitland Ave.

"I personally think that's going to bring riff-raff to this part of town," said Mick Arzola, co-owner of The Stash Box store, across Fourth Street from the proposed project site. "I can only imagine."

But project proponents say that couldn't be farther from the truth.

Kathryn Almberg, THC housing development officer, said in an email last week after Graves circulated the police log numbers to various stakeholders that the Midtown project wouldn't be geared for a non-working population, as the Ninth Street low-income facility is.

"The properties for which the police call logs were pulled do not reflect the type of property or tenant population that would be residing at the proposed Fourth Street development," she wrote. "The property on Ninth Street is a rent subsidized housing property that serves mostly a non-working population. The Fruitland property is an older development located in a different setting. Neither of these properties reflect the tenant population that would be at the Fourth Street property."

The Ninth Street facility is for people who earn 30 percent or less of the median income, while the proposed Midtown project would rent studio, one and two-bedroom apartments to people who earn less than 60 percent of the median area income.

The median income for a family of four locally is $57,000. Workforce housing is defined as affordable housing for people who are employed but generally can't afford to live close to their work. So for a single person earning $16,000 to $24,000 a year, rent for a studio apartment in the proposed complex would range between $351 and $579 a month, THC said during previous meetings.

Much of where the proposed project would go is vacant land.

"Anything is better than what's there right now," said Eric Carpenter, owner of Clean Cut Modern Barber in Midtown, on the proposed building. "I'm OK with that."

THC's complex on Fruitland Avenue, called Maple Grove Apartments, is more similar to the proposed Midtown project than the Ninth street complex because it's also geared for people who earn around 60 percent of the median income.

That complex, which has about 30 units, has had fewer police calls in 2011 than the other one.

But police logs aren't good indicators on the overall safety of a place anyway, especially when there's nothing to compare them to and the calls could have been made for any reason, said Mindy Harn, Maple Grove resident manager.

"In reality who's pulled the market (value) complex ones to see how many calls they generate?" she said, adding she considers the place safe and has had few complaints from neighbors.

"I'm happy as can be here," said Richard Hart, tenant at Maple Grove. "Shady characters? They're gone. They actually never get in here and it's nice."

"I've never seen anyone taken out of here in handcuffs," he said.

Midtown stakeholders will have a meeting 6 p.m. Wednesday at the American Legion, 754 N. Fourth St. to discuss the latest about the project.

The proposed project will include 9,000-square feet of commercial space on the street level. The commercial component would not be subsidized, and THC said in previous interviews that it has potential businesses interested in moving to the building.